Cal Dining Experience
The Problem
Berkeley's Dining Hall has a negative reputation from its students. The struggle from long lines to low food quality to the struggle to find a table all reduce a student's dining hall experience, leading to lack of interest in meal plans. Dining Halls are a big part of the Cal experience, and we want to do something about that. So we think...
How might we improve the Berkeley on-campus dining experience?
Research
We conducted two methods of user research:
1. User Survey
2. User Interview
Our Research Goals:
• Identify a student’s dining hall experience overall, whether it is satisfying or not
• Identify the key issues (ex. wait time, food quality etc.) that contribute to a student’s poor dining hall experience
Key Insights
1. Students are limited a repetitive range of food and lack accurate cultural food
2. Quality of food does not match students’ worth of meal plan expenses
3. Far distances of dining halls contribute to limited dining experience and range of food
4. Students typically miss dinner meals due to short operational hours
5. Dining halls are more of a social experience for first year students than a enjoyable meal
"The online menus are inaccurate many times which is frustrating…"
"Sometimes Foothill limits our choice to only 2-3 dishes…"
"I like sitting by myself but there’s not a lot of places for single people…"
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User Personas
Journey Map
Ideation: Divergent Thinking
- New Menus with more diverse/cultural/ethnic foods
- Advertisement / Marketing for Mobile Ordering (ex: Tabling, raffles, etc.)
- Ticket Line Number-like System
- RSVP System
- App with Meal Ideas
Ideation: Convergent Thinking
I narrowed down to an app that has all of the essential features of these ideas: wait time, population/crowdedness meter, diverse food menus in each dining hall with descriptions and pictures, longer dining hall hours, and stock quantity indications.
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Implementation
Low-Fidelity Prototype
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
Insights from Usability Testing
• The wait times and crowded population meter made students feel more organized
and more in control by having more planning opportunity
• The picture and description features boosted understanding and interest in new, unfamiliar foods
• The diverse range of menus in each dining halls made users feel more motivated to try new dining halls
• Users feel that the wait time and crowded population keeps traffic flow more tamed (easy flowing)
• The stock feature influences user to plan alternatives in new dining hall or new food item
• Students feel less stress in obtaining food and more inclined to use their meal
plans
Final Product Prototype
