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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:
4-month group project in 2024 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
Context
Research
Define
Test
Ideate
Build
Final Design
Research
Research
Understanding Users
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
Define
Framing the Problem
The user journey map exposed critical moments where users lose trust and confidence, helping us prioritize features that reduce decision fatigue and improve review credibility.
User journey map based on our ideas as a team and created by my teammate with some revisions by me.
Ideate
Ideate
Exploring Solutions
We mapped potential features by impact and effort with a priority grid.
The green items notes were the selected notes because they were solutions that directly addressed reliability, customization, and helped build a community while remaining within our project scope/timeline.
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Visual Direction
To support our vision, we established a style tile with visual direction that is warm and inviting.
The style tile was a group effort and helped align the team before moving into higher-fidelity designs, and ensured consistency during iteration.
Test
Testing and Iterating
Usability testing revealed which elements of our wireframes needed changes to improve clarity.
The following images are some examples of the feedback we received on some of the wireframes.
Test
Build
Build
Final Outcome
High-fidelity mock-ups were created based on our usability testing results.
Home screen with personalized recommendations
Similar to social media, there are recommended restaurants based on your search history, and your friends reviews.
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Search filter for focused discovery
Helps users narrow options quickly and reduce decision fatigue with clear, flexible filtering.
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Restaurant details to build confidence at the moment of choice
Includes verified reviews, photos, and breakdowns to support informed decisions.
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Reviews that provide clarity without overwhleming
Balances quick scanning with access to detailed reviews when users need reassurance.
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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.
Feel free to use your mouse to explore our final prototype!
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 within our group, delegating tasks and guiding them 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 number of screens we created. I would have liked to showcase additional flows of writing a review and the map functionality.
We had initial user tests. However, our final prototypes could benefit from additional user testing to provide us with more insight into how to improve them.
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