Case study:
iThaiBot Food Ordering App!
Role: Lead UX/UI Designer
Responsibilities: User research, wireframing, prototyping, UI design, usability testing, and information architecture.
Project overview.
— The Challenges
The owners of Thai restaurants in New York City are looking for a better solution to take food orders while they are short-staffed and help customers make decisions about what to order during busy hours.
— The Goal
iThaiBot Food Ordering App will allow users to ask questions, order food, and chat at the same time with others without waiting in line.
— Target Audience
17+ audience who wants to order food faster and doesn’t want to wait in line.
User Research Summary.
I conducted a survey of 2 different groups of people. One was young ages that have time
to cook but like to try apps for trending. Another group was busy business owners who don’t have time to cook their own dinners and are new to apps and ordered food 5 days a week.
After the group survey, I randomized interviewed 2 people, one from each group to understand their thoughts about a chatbot food ordering app and if they would like to use this app in their daily life. Both of them have similar ideas in that they want to order food faster and don’t want to wait in line or on the phone to order.
Personas
— Problem Statement
Justina is a Physical Assistant who is single and needs to find a restaurant nearby that serves the food she wants five days a week because she is very busy during work and tired after work to cook.
— User Story
As a Physical Assistant, I want to hire someone to cook for me or suggest to me what to order so I can focus on my practice.
— Problem Statement
Adena is a Premedical student who is single and needs to learn how to cook but still likes to try new foods and new apps because she has time to cook and loves to play with apps for experience and compare the apps.
— User Story
As a Premedical student, I want to have income so that I can order food often and explore more options.
Paper Wireframes
Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensures the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points. For the home screen, I prioritized a quick and easy ordering process to help users save time.
Digital Wireframes
An easy way to order food and a simple design is a key user needs. As the initial design phase continued, I made sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from user research.
Low-fidelity prototype
The low-fidelity prototype connected the primary user flow of chatting and ordering food with a bot so the prototype could be used in a usability study with users.
High-fidelity Wireframes
Usability study
— Research questions
What is the user’s reaction when they order food from a chatbot app?
Are users able to successfully order the food that they want?
What can we learn from the steps users took to order food from the app?
Are there any parts of the food ordering process where users are getting stuck?
Is the payment process easy for the customer?
— Participants
5 Participants between the ages of 18-60 residing in metropolitan and suburban areas. Participants order out at least once a week
— Methodology
Time: 25-30 minutes
Place: In the United States, remote
Type: Unmoderated usability study
Method: Users were asked to order food with a chatbot on a low-fidelity prototype
