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YumWay
Restaurant Discovery Social Media App
Problem
How can we help people in multicultural cities like Toronto explore diverse food options with the support of a credible review platform.
Solution
By focusing on trust and personalization, we can create a reliable space where users in multicultural cities can confidently choose restaurants based on credible reviews and tailored recommendations, making finding diverse dining options that meet their preferences easier.
Project Type:
Course project for a Master's level Fundamentals of UX course
My Role:
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Created a research plan and did exploratory research
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Conducted usability testing with 2 participants
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Created UI sketches and flow
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Created wireframes and prototypes
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Gave presentations to experts in the UX field
Team members:
Mingting Chen, Yuan Li, Ai Wang, Jiantong Lyu, Cecilia San
Context
Research
Define
Test
Ideate
Build
Final Design
Research
Research
Step 1
After a long day, how much effort would you want to put into finding a great restaurant to eat at?
Based on our user interviews with 12 participants, we learned that:
Users want honest reviews without ads or promotions
Users want a simple and trustworthy app with personalized recommendations
Users want to see reviews from people who are similar to them or who share the cuisine background
Users want an easy way to share their honest reviews
Users want clear details about the restaurant and to get good deals
1 participant stated:
“I usually spend some time browsing on Instagram to find a good restaurant about my destination.”
With major competitors online like Google Reviews and Instagram, what will make us different?
Through research, we realized that competitors like Google Reviews have vast information but lack the reliability and community aspect that users trust. Social media has friend reviews but is not a restaurant review app with quick-to-find restaurants.
We want to fill the missing gap in review sites and social media to create a reliable and trustworthy restaurant community app.
1 participant stated:
“I don’t fully trust Google reviews because a lot of the time restaurants will offer free food or discounts to the people who leave a good review.”
Define
Step 2
While our app created for anyone, when we thought of our perfect user we imagined someone who is a foodie and open to sharing their experiences.
User persona based on our ideas as a team and created by my teammate with some revisions by me.
Our user journey demonstrates how currently users are excited to try new restaurants, but decision fatigue and untrustworthy reviews cause disappointment.
User journey map based on our ideas as a team and created by my teammate with some revisions by me.
Define
Ideate
Step 3
We brainstormed ideas as a group and created a priority grid.
The green ones are the ideas we chose based on our current scope. We felt they were the most important for our app to allow for reliability, customization, and to help build a community
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I created a UI Sketch Storyboard for the map and location check-in functionality.
Every group member created a different flow. Ultimately, we didn't show these features in the mock-up since we decided to show the flow of people finding restaurants rather than the reviewers. But if we could design the entire app, we would include these features.
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Ideate
Test
Step 4
I conducted usability testing with 2 UX experts, and my team conducted usability testing with classmates.
The following text are the feedback we received on the wireframes.
Test
Build
Step 5
Our style tile was a group effort. We had the vision to convey a welcoming, everyday app.
We updated the wireframes and prototypes based on the usability testing results and our style tile.
The wireframes are on the left, and high fidelity mock-up is on the right side.
Home Screen
I primarily designed the home screen, while the rest of the pages were split amongst the team; however, I helped edit the other pages.
Search and Filter
Restaurant Details
Review Filter
Review Detail
Build
Final Design
Step 6
Our final design allows users to confidently choose restaurants based on credible reviews and tailored recommendations, making finding diverse dining options that meet their preferences easier.
Original design
Feel free to use your mouse to explore our final prototype!
Final design
What I learned
Through this class I learned how important storytelling is. Without telling a story the user wouldn't fully grasp why our work is important.
I also practiced leadership skills when it came to our group, since I delegated tasks and tried to lead our group in the right direction.
What I would do next
For this project, we were limited in scope and time and were instructed to limit the amount of screens we created. I would have liked to showcase the flow of writing a review.
We had initial user tests. However, our final prototypes could benefit from additional user testing to give us more insight on improving it.
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