UI/UX Case study: Designing a food delivery app (Meals on Wheels)
Food is an essential commodity to existing living organisms as it is needed for growth and survival. It gets more interesting to have a particular kind of food you crave for at any instance.
Some weeks ago, I visited a friend who was out of town for a while. He got hungry soon and desired to eat some real good food. Unfortunately, he ended up heading out for lunch meanwhile, he wanted to stay at home, which was quite saddening for him. What does one do in situations like this?
Introduction
Meals on wheels is a food delivery app that is focused on using technological solutions and artificial intelligence to help and enhance quick and easy access to restaurants across cities in Nigeria. This is a side project tho.
Project Goals
1. To help people in various cities reach out to various restaurants of their choices.
2. To help restaurants reach out to a wider market.
3. To deliver orders to respective customers who place orders using the app.
4. To improve the cashless economy system.
User Goals
1. See various dishes prepared by various restaurants in various cities
2. Place orders
3. Track order
4. Fund wallet, placing order via wallet instead of using a card/pay on delivery.
The Challenge
The challenge was to design and create an app that will help customers place food orders when the need arises using the online wallet or card. And also, help restaurants reach a wider market.
Market Research
Modern fast food restaurants have experienced rapid growth over the past decade of almost 30% year-on-year to reach a total revenue of around $400 million from around 800 outlets in 2009. Expansion in telecommunications, banking, and retail has meant that many more Nigerians are joining the middle class with increased disposable income. In addition, modern fast food companies have gained increased access to capital through bank loans, private equity and stock market listings to roll out many more outlets around primary Nigerian cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
The global financial crisis of 2007 2009 has temporarily slowed down the growth of the modern fast food industry by cutting into short-term consumer spending at modern fast food restaurants. In addition, increasing competition from newer entrants both local and foreign has cut into industry margins. However, over the medium-term (2010 2015), disposable income is forecast to grow due to continued high oil prices which will lead to a preferential shift away from informal fast food vending. Consequently, the modern fast food restaurant sector is expected to expand away from Lagos where half currently operate into other Nigerian cities.
Source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110203006421/en/Research-Markets-Fast-Food-Nigeria-2010
Although consumers are increasingly turning online to buy food and drinks, just a few Americans would like to purchase food through e-commerce. To counteract consumer hesitation and improve sales, grocers should promote cost savings and provide in-depth product information to build trust and convey quality, market research company Mintel research suggests. Also reordering options like Amazon’s “Subscribe and Save” are an appealing feature to busy consumers, especially women (48%) who are more likely than men (37%) to make online food or drink purchases. Source: Grocery Dive
Survey Results
I received a total of 16 responses to our survey. After collecting the results, I analyzed the data using multiple techniques.
The first method of analysis was simple: read and understand the results. The results seemed to indicate that our users were interested in buying food online, but haven’t tried any food delivery app yet.
These results suggest that there is a disconnect between the users intention to buy and executing the action.
Our research also revealed that the majority of users prefer to buy via mobile app / telephone to website.
Comparative Competitive Analysis (CCA)
Once I’m ready to enter the sketching phase, I researched similar problem and solutions that exists in similar industries or from direct competitors to identify best practices. I investigated in various food delivery apps available for download in Nigeria and globally. Due to variance in locations,there was limitations accessing other food delivery apps outside Nigeria. The apps I downloaded and explored include; Jumia Food app, AreaChop and Chopnownow.
To help visualize and compare the apps mentioned above, I did a comparative competitive analysis.
After creating the CCA visual, it was observed that the major distinction between Meals on Wheels and the other apps currently available for downloads is that none of these apps utilizes artificial intelligence.
User Persona
User Journey
After I have gone through the user persons, surveys results, CCA and market research. I created a user journey for users trying to place orders using the app. Below is the user flow.
Sketch
I made a sketch after I had laid out the user journey. This way, I was able to get important features that would be necessary for the app and take off the unnecessary ones.
Wire Frames
After I made a few sketches, I started a low-fidelity design (wireframes) as wireframes are regarded as the skeletal view of a product. For this project, I used Figma for both the wireframe and high-fidelity designs. The wireframe helped me to focus on key functions, elements and actions before proceeding to the high-fidelity (hi-fi) designs.
High-Fidelity Design
The wireframe made the hi-fi design quite easy and fun as I just needed to add a visual skin to the naked wireframes with color, icons and clear images.
Conclusion
The meals on wheels project was fun and awesome as I learnt new things regarding to user interface and experience design, the food industry, etc. Also, I tried to create a simple, functional and minimalistic app to improve the experience of users at the time of placing food orders.
That’s a wrap. for now! If you enjoyed reading, claps would be appreciated.
You can follow my work on Dribble .
Let me know what you think in the comment section below, all feedback is welcome!
Thank you.
