THE BURGER MENU MOB-APP
My Role
● UX Researcher
● UI/UX Designer
Context
The "Burger Menu” is a popular fast-food restaurant and outlet. The restaurant is well known for its delicious and unique burger varieties as well as quick and quality service. To keep up with the increasing demand and to provide a better experience to its customers, the company decided to launch its own mobile application for online food ordering and delivering.
In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the business environment, both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were used in the design of this app.
Empathizing Phase
The Quantitative Research
The Survey
Recognizing the large customer base that the business already possesses, it became tough and time consuming to collect the opinions of the majority. To achieve this, a surveys was distributed to a wide-ranging audience, enabling the gaining of valuable quantitative data and insights.
Throughout the survey, the following objectives were planned to gather as quantitative data.
1. Assessing user demographics.
2. Understanding ordering habits.
3. Assessing available similar apps, favorite features and demanding functionalities in the market.
4. Gathering feedback on available user interfaces and designs of other apps.
5. Identifying the foundation for leading qualitative research includes investigative pain points, user requests, and areas for improvement.
Based on the quantitatively information gathered from the survey, several highly valuable insights were synthesized as follows.
The Qualitative Research
Interviews
Through the insights gathered from the surveys, a series of interviews conducted with a selected cluster of the customers to gather richer and more in-depth qualitative information with the initiatives learnt by the survey answers. These interviews aimed to gather information about
● Understanding what customers need.
● Exploring how customers behave.
● Identifying what customers expect.
● Gathering opinions about other similar mobile apps in the market.
● Finding out the obstacles that prevent customers from adopting new apps.
Identified user groups
Based on the insights gathered from both surveys and empathy interviews, the user groups have been identified as follows.
Contextual Inquiry
The interviews provided valuable insights, such as identifying groups of users who share similar interests and concerns and who regularly purchase food from the restaurant. They also helped define the set of tasks that customers typically perform when ordering burgers manually. Based on this information, a contextual inquiry session was planned to observe customers’ behavior and the challenges they face in real-time, in order to gain more qualitative insight into the empathizing process. To accomplish this, the following steps have been taken.
1. Identify participants.
2. Define the research objectives.
3. Plan the context and tasks.
4. Observe and take notes.
5. Reinterviewed a selected cluster.
6. Analyze and synthesize the data.
7. Generate insights and recommendations.
After reviewing and analyzing the data collected from surveys, interviews, and observations, it enabled us to discover patterns, common themes, and important information that emerged from the data. This data helped to understand the customer’s perspective and identify the issues, challenges, or opportunities they face.
Then collected data was synthesized into below research artifacts to make it more understandable and useful to the qualitative analysis.
1. Empathy maps
2. Pain points categorizations
3. User Personas
4. User Stories
5. User journeys Maps
Empathy mapping
Utilizing the insights gathered during the empathizing interviews, empathy maps were created to Visualize and articulate what is currently known about the user’s behaviors and attitudes and make shared understanding across the team and stakeholders to make better decisions.
Pain points categorizations
Based on the empathy mapping, there was a greater ability to empathize with the users and their requirements. Consequently, Pain points were recognized and categorized into four major sections as Financial, Product, Process, and Support.
User Personas
User personas were created based on relevant and meaningful commonalities identified among the user groups in the UX research. These personas built as fictional representations and generalizations of clusters of targeted users, representing the primary users who exhibit similar attitudes, goals, and behaviors.
This UX persona provides insights into the unique needs and preferences of “Health-Conscious Individuals.” It can guide design and development decisions, helping to create User Experiences that caters effectively to users like Lisa who prioritize health and nutrition in their food choices.
This UX persona provides insights into the preferences and habits of “Legacy Customers (Old School Customers).” It can guide design and development decisions, helping to create experiences that is accessible and user-friendly for individuals like Robert who value tradition and simplicity in their ordering experience.
This UX persona provides insights into the needs, preferences, and pain points of the “Office Teams” user group. It can guide design and development decisions, helping to create a mobile application that caters effectively to this specific audience.
This UX persona provides insights into the needs, preferences, and pain points of the “Families” user group. It can guide design and development decisions, helping to create a mobile application that caters effectively to this specific audience’s desire for convenient and family-friendly burger options.
User Stories / Use Cases
User stories or use cases have been created for each user persona, serving as sources of inspiration and information to guide design decisions. Multiple user stories were developed for each of our personas, representing specific scenarios or interactions that a user might have with a product or service. This approach aids in capturing the various tasks, goals, and needs that the persona may have in different contexts.
Happy Paths & Edge Cases
By creating user stories for each individual, we identified both the ideal scenarios (happy paths) and potential challenges (edge cases) to anticipate and prevent unfavorable user experiences. This proactive approach has allowed us to explore new opportunities for enhancing the functionality of the product. In this context, we have specifically identified a set of happy paths and corresponding edge cases tied to the key tasks users go through while navigating through the application.
User Journey Map
Based on the personas and user stories created, a user journey map was developed to identify the series of experiences a user undergoes while interacting with the product. This map serves as an illustration of what the user goes through to achieve their goals and enables us to understand and empathize with the user’s thoughts and feelings.
Defining phase
The Problem Statement
The insights obtained from both quantitative and qualitative research conducted during the Empathizing phase are channeled into creating a human-centered, well-defined problem statement in the Defining phase.
This problem statements are striking a delicate balance, offering enough range to foster creative freedom while maintaining the necessary focus for resolution through design.
In this case, three distinct problem statements have been formulated to correspond with three primary Personas, as described below.
Ahmed is a tech savvy Digital marketing manager, who needs a one-piece and uncomplicated burger delivery service for both himself and his team members. Because he needs to ensure a reliable and trusted food delivery experience that doesn’t introduce complications, enabling him and his team to maintain productivity during demanding work hours.
Liza is a both fitness enthusiast and a nutritionist, who needs quality and seamless food supply that aligns with diverse nutritional requirements, ensuring timely delivery. Because this is crucial for maintaining her own dietary schedules within a tough daily routing and offering timely recommendations to her clients when required.
Robert is a senior citizen with a preference for traditional values, who needs a dining experience with quality food in a calm and quiet setting, within a supportive restaurant environment without any complicated processes. Because he desires to enjoy a good time with his old friends and engage in conversation while enjoying a great meal.
Hypothesis Statements
After the problem is well-defined through the problem statements, possible solutions were brainstormed as hypotheses — a sort of educated guess — to address the identified problems.
Ahmed and his team require a user-friendly mobile app accessible across all major platforms, which allows them to effortlessly browse through various burger choices without cumbersome registration processes with essential features of customize food, manage order histories, and favorites for a swift ordering experience, along with options for order progress tracking, delivery, delivery tracking, trusted payment methods, and customer support to order delicious burger items and enjoy reliable service even during their busy working hours at the office without compromising their demanding work schedule.
Liza needs a user-friendly mobile app for her favorite burger restaurant that allows her to access nutritional and caloric information for each food item, with essential features including the ability to customize food, various filtration options based on different dietary preferences, and the management of order, customization histories and favorites. The app should also offer various payment methods to facilitate an easy ordering experience, helping her find the right food that aligns with her meal plan. Additionally, she could extend dietary consultation suggestions to her clients based on the provided filtration options.
Robert needs a simple and easy-to-use mobile app with descriptive and well-structured menu pages, enabling him to educate himself and choose the right food options without any complications. Additionally, the app should feature table reservations in advance, in person customer support to providing complete satisfaction for hanging out with his old buddies, enjoying great food, and engaging in conversation.
Ideation Phase
Competitive Audit
To provide valuable insights during the ideation phase, a comprehensive competitive audit was carried out. This involved the analysis of three prominent mobile applications, each belonging to one of the world’s three major fast food companies as well as the direct competitors of the client . Below, you will find a compilation of key features and aspects to be taken into consideration.
1.User Interface & Experience.
2.Menu Presentation.
3.Customization Options.
4.Search and Filter Capabilities.
5.Cart and Checkout Process.
6.Delivery and Tracking.
7.User Profiles and Accounts.
8.Ratings and Reviews.
9.Notification System.
10.Customer Support and Help.
11.Promotions and Loyalty Programs.
12.Geolocation and Maps Integration.
13.Security and Data Privacy.
Prototyping Phase
Following an extensive analysis encompassing both qualitative and quantitative research, the Designing and Development team has opted for an iterative model. This approach facilitates the continual collection of user experiences and allows for the enhancement of requirements based on real-world usage of the product.
As a preliminary step, the team conceived the idea of developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) — This MVP incorporates the most essential functionalities required for the system.
The Information Architecture
We created a user flow outlining the entire journey from the initiation to the completion of a purchase transaction. This approach assists us in understanding the various ways in which users can interact with the product, while also providing valuable insights into the navigation process aligned with user goals.
Hand-Drawn Wireframes
During the ideation process, we created hand-drawn wireframes due to their exceptional flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and time-saving attributes. This proved particularly beneficial for accommodating rapid changes in ideas during the ideation process and brainstorming sessions.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
Prior to developing high-fidelity wireframes, we prioritized the creation of low-fidelity wireframes for their pivotal role in facilitating swift iterations, promoting effective communication among stakeholders, achieving cost and time savings, and obtaining user feedback at an early stage in the design process.
Hi-Fidelity Wireframes
Below, you'll find high-fidelity wireframes created for the initial phase of this project. This version serves as the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for the associated mobile application. Subsequently, newly identified customer requirements, stemming from ongoing research, will be integrated into the application. Further design and development iterations are anticipated to refine and enhance the application based on evolving needs and insights.
