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Fletcher Green

UX Reflection

General Assembly UXDI |Week 1| Project 1

To be brief week one has been very interesting and has left me yearning to retain more. It is absolute that this program is non-traditional with ample knowledge to be absorbed in short time-line. I’ve never been in a ambiance like this before but it’s refreshing. The design class setting I’ve experienced in the past were typical. Even though I have a multifaceted background which includes design I left that at the waste side. The very first day, I went in with no objectives and no biases. I just wanted to keep an open mind about the experience. I have an inquisitive nature and love learning new things.

What did I learn?

To start off I learned that User Experience Design include many roles from Field Research, Product Design, Information Architecture etc. Beforehand, I just thought it was another designer title. The information I learned is about the methods of User Experience Design.

Design process:

  • User Research
  • Concept Mapping
  • Sketching
  • Prototyping
  • Wire-framing

First Project

Project one was very demanding with little time to spare. I’ve had experience with working at a very fast pace on several projects. I had to understand and empathize with an individuals problem. With there problem being the subject matter, I had to develop solutions. It was definitely a challenge that sparked a drive within. I had the honor of working with Chad (Army veteran). The experience was very fruitful. It was nice working with an easygoing individual. I really enjoyed the conceptual phase. It allowed me the opportunity to alter my mindset. While casually talking to Chad doing some User Research (Contextual) interviews, I learned that he enjoys cooking at home. Chad stated that even though it’s burdensome and tedious “It’s a skill he likes to have and it’s challenging and rewarding.” Using Chad to collect further data, I spoke to other users about cooking.

User Questions:

  • What meals do you eat during the weekdays?
  • How long does the cooking experience take you?
  • How do you set up meals?

Concept Mapping

General Pain points from Chad and users

  • Knowing what to buy/gathering the ingredients to cook
  • Cooking at home in the Kitchen
  • Simple meals to cook within 30mins — 1hour time span
  • Accessibility to make a meal
  • Time consuming

User’s quotes

  • “Time consuming”
  • “Getting ingredients to cook can be terrible”
  • “It difficult trying to figure out what to buy”
  • “No more than an hour”

Solutions

  • Create a food service/application that’s tailored to the user general preferences. You have the option to upload your favorites foods that are modified, prepped and cooked under an hour. The culinary specialist team will be partnered with each Instacart location. Focused on delivering groceries and home essentials, Instacart already has over 500,000 items from local stores in its catalogue. Customers can choose from a variety of local stores including Safeway, Whole Foods, Super Fresh, Harris Teeter, Shaw's, Mariano's, Jewel-Osco, Stanley's and Costco.
  • Connect with existing Home Chef services through a third party system.

I decided to go with the first solution because it seemed more structured in resolving the Users need/frustrations. I developed sketches to make the food service a fluid transition within an application.

Sketching

The sketching phase involved creating a simple interaction for the user. Since the user is already stressed about cooking at home, I thought to create an easy layout that would be less worrisome. With a simple menu option at there disposal.

Several Iterations

Through several sketches. I finally came up with sketch designs that would be enough to proceed to the next step (Prototyping).

Prototyping:

Through the prototyping phase I went back to the users to gain more information about the interaction. Two of them thought the interaction was great. However there is always room for improvement.

Through the prototype I believe I was able to resolve the users frustrations with home cooking service application .

• Users couldn’t decide what to eat during the weekdays:

Solution: Through the service they will be provided with a slew of
recipes that are easy to follow, well-structured and high quality.

• Users wanted variety:

Solution: Though the service provides several meals each week. Choosing a meal can be difficult. There will be a “Shake” setting that will allow the user to randomly choose meals for the week. Using a special designed algorithm.

• Users wanted under an hour meals:
 
 Solution: A seasoned team of culinary specialist would tailor each 
 recipe to cook under an hour with all ingredients pre-planned.