Case Study — What’s for dinner?
Brazado is a mobile app designed for travelling professionals who wish to meet locals and cook with them; the idea is for these travellers to get a chance to book a cooking session with a local family and try out some ethnic cuisine.
Entrée
The week started out with uncertainty as to what it was that I wanted to accomplish, but halfway through the week I saw everything slowly puzzle into a concept that I am now very passionate about.
Life on the go has a tendency to get a bit lonely, a bit anti-social and a bit boring. Stuck in an unknown city, without any family members and/or close friends, life can get a bit dull.
This is where Brazado comes into play. The traveller gets a chance to meet new people, to learn more about other cultures; the way they communicate, embrace each other and to learn a thing or two about some international cuisine. Must be true what they say, food always makes everything better!
Salad
The start was a little rocky, the first interview process didn’t really give me a clear idea as to what it was that I was here to solve. The initial user interview was with Natalie, a classmate. At first sight the concept started out as a productivity issue, Natalie said she didn’t have enough motivation to exercise.
The motivation app idea felt a little flat. Patterns started to emerge through affinity diagraming once my findings were tossed along with other data gathered by classmates. With that, I had uncovered an alternative direction for the project.
The following keywords and answers stood out:
- Likes to travel
- Likes to cook
- Art Director
- Independent
I created a persona to aggregate all the data from our interviews, and to get a sense for who would use the app.
She loves food, but doesn’t have enough time to maintain a daily meal plan. Her job requires her to travel overseas which limits her cooking time even more, not only that but anywhere she goes she doesn’t have the essential utensils and spices to cook on her own, if only there was an app that would help her in these situations. 🤔
Although the idea of an app for travelling professionals who want to cook with locals is quite an interesting concept, when it came down to finding a similar domain or a similar app per say, there wasn’t really a service that just focused on that.
Services such as Couchsurfing and Airbnb have a similar marketplace but they focus more on accommodations rather than the cooking experience, professionals who have to travel because of work have a tendency to get accommodations covered by their company.
Main Course
Whether Christina is planning ahead for an upcoming trip or if a few hours have opened up in her busy overseas work schedule, Brazado has the ability to locate desired city, desired meal she wants to learn and accommodating time frames.
Christina can modify her profile to include preferences, any food allergies, and payment information. She will be able to choose from a variety of meals near her location and narrow down her search by ratings system set by other users.
The meal page will include the cook’s name, cooking start time, seat availability, address and meal ingredients. Once the user is ready to book, they will be able to review all the information and make sure it’s up to their standards. When the time has been booked, the user will receive a message from the cook anticipating their engagement.
Second Course
Keeping the user persona’s needs in mind, the app itself required a certain feel to it. Christina Smith is an Art Director, the app should be a reflection of her, maintaining a classy, sophisticated look, I was keen on typography and colours to reflect those needs.
The prices of the dishes also became a factor of discussion, she wasn’t dining at a chain restaurant, she was dining with families, families that are rich in culture and wisdom, an unforgettable experience that you wouldn’t get at a popular restaurant.
Dessert
Onto the sweet goodies:
Low-fidelity prototype can be found here. Created on POP
Mid-fidelity prototype can be found here. Created on Invision
The following video illustrates the UI animation. Created on Principle:
Check Please!
I was dead on sure my low-fi prototype would pass the user testing but boy was I wrong. The idea of the app received positive reviews; some mentioned that an app like this would have been a great idea when on a Euro trip or a get away from a resort’s all-inclusive buffets. The low-fi prototype received the following feedback:
- Log in page should include both Login and Sign up options
- Hearts for rating symbols were confusing
- Meal page did not include seat availability nor start time
- Book button doesn’t stand out
- Order confirmation too brief, no sign of feedback reassuring the order was placed
The process had its ups and downs but all in all, I am so proud of this, for it to be my first ever app design, I will forever cherish it just like I cherish chocolate covered churros.
