UXR + UXD
Contribution​​
Kick-off
Project scope
Statement
Balance is an app that provides an organized way to plan your meals by automating curated grocery lists and suggesting recipes based on your previous orders.
Applied assumptions
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Meal prepping is scheduled weekly.
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Meal-prepping apps can sometimes feel overwhelming.
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Users want easy meal plans and preps for Breakfast, Lunch, and dinner.
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Ability to integrate/share this list with Amazon Prime accounts and delivery services.
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Friends and family can view and add to the user’s grocery list. Is that experience similar to a wishlist?
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Stored recipes users can search.
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Set reminders
Discovery
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Understanding
the user
User Research
Identifying Needs
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Brainstorming Ideas
Wire-framing &
Prototype
UXR
User interviews
In order to get a more precise understanding of the problem, I conducted group interviews with a targeted audience. The group was given 45 minutes to answer 25 questions geared toward understanding their current eating and shopping behaviors. I focused on the user's pain points and desires that could help shape the features, UX/UI, tone, and functionality of the app.
Sketching the experience
Users journey map
Search recipes by items in shopping cart
Recipe screen
Select
Add necessary item to shopping list
Cart
Home screen
Shopping list
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View
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add
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edit
Categories
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Search items by category
Recipes
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Shop by recipe ingredinates
Prodcut page
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View nutirtionl details about the prodct, and recommaned recipes.
Favorites
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Items in the faavorties are added to the cruated gorcey list for reorder.
User Flow : adding items to shopping list
Meal
planning
Recommend
recipes based on nutritional
diet
Search by food
category
Add necessary item to shopping list
Recipe sceen
Select
Moderated useability testing
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15 ideal users, 3 scenarios, and task
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Measure functionality and ease of use.
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What new things did I learn?
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Discoverability
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Observe during testing:
User expectations, discoverability, pain points, and desires
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Learn from interviews:
How much time guests had to prepare meals, their lifestyle, how often they ate out, what food choices were made, and what health changes and goals options the guests wanted to see within the in-app.
Feedback
Testing the prototype gave me impactful insight into how the user thinks and most importantly what they enjoyed about the app as well as what added more frustration to the process. I learned of their behaviors, the challenges that prevented them from successfully meal planning, and which areas of the process they hoped could improve.
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I learned more about features I could add in future iterations to help improve the guest's health, food choices and continuously think about more ways to save the guest more time.
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Downside - no big deals
Though the app had great features, it was revealed that users found navigating through the app a bit overwhelming, and crowded. The navigation wasn't as robust as expected.
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Ideation
I reimagined the layout, finding several ways to address user concerns. I improved the way users were able to transition between screens, creating a new UX concept that functioned smoothly.
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The color scheme was also tested for accessibility and followed the WCAG guidelines.
Hi-fi prototypes
Creating an experience that is smooth, intuitive and robust.
Splash screen
Meal plan screen
Meal plan +
amazon prime
Recipe screen
Testing the end-to-end experience to ensure business and guest needs are met.
Favorites screen
Category screen
Product screen
Shopping list screen
Measured: How easily users navigated through the app, what expectations they had when certain buttons were clicked, and any moments they felt lost or confused.
Research study results
Tests were conducted with patients participating in a plant-based and herbal study for three to six months.
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70% of participants had an increase in weight loss
85% improved vital signs
90% was consistent with the meal plan
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Most guests ranked that application very high on a scale of 1 to 5 with five being the highest. Users were confident that the application was impactful during the trial and completed more tasks than expected. The users reported being more attentive and disciplined with the assistance of the application.
Takeaways
1. Working on a new project can be exciting but success depends on constant testing, referring back to the research, and addressing business goals.
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2. Communication ensures that the stakeholders, designers, and developers have the opportunity to share ideas, requirements, constraints, capabilities, and give feedback ensuring the end goal of the project is met.