DEALicious
Designed an end-to-end mobile app that helps people discover “delicious” dinning experience with a budget friendly focus.
Role
UX/UI, Research, Branding
Tool
Figma, Zoom, Canva
Duration
8 weeks/ 2 months
Overview
What is DEALicious?
DEALicious is an app for finding affordable and delicious dining experiences. In today's world, dining out is popular for its convenience and variety, but cost remains a concern for many. Inspired by this insight from research, I used design thinking principles to develop DEALicious. This app streamlines the search for the best local restaurant deals, empowering people to enjoy dining out without overspending.
Problem
People Struggle to Find Affordable Dining Deals within the Area
People love eating out, but finding affordable meals is hard. They often struggle to find the best deals nearby, and miss out on special offers that could save them money. Many simply don't know where to look, or how to find restaurants deals that fit their budget. This means missing out on savings, and can even make eating out feel like an unnecessary expense rather than an enjoyable experience.
Product Preview
A Deal-Hunting App for Affordable Dining
This project will create an MVP app that helps users find affordable, enjoyable dining options. The app will offer deals and promotions from nearby restaurants, saving users time and money while while inspiring their next meal.
One Platform for Dining Deals
Provide a centralized platform for users to discover and access a wide range of cost-effective dining options and restaurant deals.
Comprehensive Information
Ensure each deal and restaurant listing includes detailed information such as pricing, menu options, location, opening hours, and user reviews for informed decision-making.
Streamlined User Experience
Provide a user-friendly interface with intuitive navigation to simplify the process of browsing, searching, and saving favorite deals or restaurants.
Competitive Analysis
The Opportunity for Local Focus Restaurant Deals
Existing solutions in the restaurant deal space offer a variety of services, from general discount marketplaces and reservation platforms with limited promotions to more specialized deal providers. While these platforms address the need for deals, they often fall short in providing a comprehensive, user-friendly experience focused on local restaurant discovery and savings. Here are four key takeaways:
GrouponRestaurant.com
TheFork
Restaurant Coupons MealPalMarket Fragmentation
Deals are scattered across multiple platforms, making it cumbersome for users to find the best offers.
Limited Local Focus
Some platforms lack a strong emphasis on local restaurants and deals, prioritizing larger chains or broader discounts.
Usability Issues
Overwhelming interfaces, irrelevant ads, and complex redemption processes hinder the user experience.
Niche Focus
Some platforms like MealPal caters specifically to weekday lunches, leaving other dining occasions unaddressed.
This analysis highlights an opportunity to create a more targeted, intuitive app that excels in local restaurant deal discovery, offering a seamless user experience and personalized recommendations to help users save money and discover new dining experiences.
User Research
Streamlining Deals with Centralized Platforms and User-Friendly Design
Through interviews with 5 diverse participants, I gained valuable insights into their dining habits, motivations, and deal-finding challenges. The research revealed three key considerations:
Need for Centralized Platform
People seek a single platform to easily find restaurant deals due to limited resources.
Importance of User-Friendly Design
People prefer a straightforward, easy-to-use design for finding deals.
Desired for Comprehensive Features
People expect features like notifications, reviews, and diverse filtering options to enhance their deal-finding experience.
How might we provide a straightforward way that allows people to find nearby restaurants’ deals with ease?
Understanding Diverse User Needs through Personas
Utilizing my research, I created personas like William and Jennifer to further understand user expectations. William, a busy professional, and Jennifer, a freelancer with a flexible schedule, both represent our target audience seeking an efficient solution for deal hunting.
William Murray
A 29-year-old professional in New York City with a demanding job and limited time for cooking. Frequently dines out or orders takeout due to his busy schedule.
Pain Points/Needs
Limited time for researching restaurant deals.
Misses out on deals due to lack of awareness or accessibility.
Needs affordable options for frequent dining.
Struggles to find new restaurants that match his preferences.
Jennifer Barker
A 45-year-old freelancer in Portland with a flexible schedule. Enjoys exploring new dining experiences with her family. Values ambiance, menu variety, and cost savings.
Pain Points/Needs
Irregular dining times make it hard to find deals
Struggles to find deals matching her preferences
Lacks comprehensive reviews and ratings to inform decisions
Desires an easy way to discover new restaurants in her area
Solution Ideation
How This App Helps Users Discover Deals, Explore Local, and Save Money?
Inspired by insights from user research and market analysis, my goal is to create a user-friendly app that enables users to:
Discover & Find Best Match
Find deals sorted by what's trending, newest, or nearest to you. Use the search function to find specific restaurants, cuisines, or deal types.
Save & Personalize
Save the best deals and restaurants you discover, creating a personalized collection of favorite deals or restaurants.
Stay Informed
Receive tailored notifications about new deals and updates from your favorite restaurants.
Product Structure
Crafting Information Architecture with a Site Map
To begin the design process, I first created a site map to outline the organization of the app's content and navigation. It includes main sections such as Deals (Home), Categories, Search, Saved, Notifications, and Account.
Visualizing User Steps with User Flows
Next, I developed user flows and task flows to map out the steps that users will take to complete specific tasks within the app. These flows guided the design process and ensured that the app's functionality aligns with user needs and expectations. Three key user/ task flows are:
Find Deals: Browse, explore categories, or search for deals matching preferences and location.
Save Favorites: Bookmark restaurants for easy access and future dining.
Get Deal Alerts: Set notifications for new deals at favorite restaurants or by cuisine.
Rapid Prototyping
Establishing the Visual Foundation with Low-Fi Wireframes
I created simple wireframes to visualize the app's layout. This included the homepage, deal details, and search pages. These wireframes helped me test and refine the design before creating the final visuals.
Branding
Building Brand Identity
A strong brand identity is key to our success. I began by creating the moodboard and identifying core values that reflect the app's design and the insights I gained from research. These core values are:
Convenience: The app makes finding restaurants and deals effortless.
Savings: Users will save money on their favorite meals.
Exploration: The app helps users discover new dining adventures.
Community: The app helps users share reviews and recommendations.
Brand Name Selection
After brainstorming, I chose the name 'Dealcious'. It combines 'deal' and 'delicious', perfectly representing our focus on finding tasty food at great prices.
Inviting and Energetic Design to Enhance User Experience
I created a style guide to define the app's look and feel. I chose a calming purple-blue for trust, and added yellow for energy. The Open Sans font ensures a clean and readable experience for all users.
Hi-Fi Wireframes
Adding Visual Detail and Polish from Blueprint to Reality
After establishing the basic structure and user interface direction with low-fidelity wireframes, the design process moved on to developing high-fidelity wireframes. This phase involved refining the layout, visual elements, and incorporating branding to create a realistic representation of the final product's look and feel.
Testing
Validating User Experience and Gathering Feedback
After crafting hi-fi wireframes, I conducted usability tests with 5 people that mainly focused on core tasks like browsing deals, searching, and saving favorites, etc. Overall feedback was positive, with users finding the app intuitive and easy to use. Specific suggestions for improvement were also gathered.
Find and view deals and restaurants information
Search for specific deal through the search bar
User Testing Question
Do they find the process easy and straightforward?
Do the layout and presentation seem clear and organized?
Are there any difficulties or confusion during the process?
How would they rate their overall experience using the app?
Are there any areas that they think need to be improved?
User Testing Highlight
Save favorites deal and check notifications/ categoriesPositive:
The app was intuitive and easy to use
Information was presented clearly
Overall design was well-received
Areas to Improve:
Make deal expiration dates more visible
Enhance search filters
Improve how users manage saved deals
Final Revision
Iterating for User Satisfaction
After receiving invaluable feedback and prioritizing iterations from the test results, it was time to implement the enhancements and finalize the design. The final revision involved two main refinements related to expiration information and one advanced filter option related to price and distance based on usability test results.
#1 Display Expiration Dates on Deal Detail Page
User testing revealed the need for clearer expiration dates. A black "Date Ends" indicator was added below the deal name for easy visibility. This aligns with the overall design focus on simplicity and avoiding distractions.
#2 Craft an Expired Section on the Saved Page
Users shouldn't miss out on expired deals they saved. I’ve created a separate section for expired deals on the "Saved Deals" page. Users can keep them for reference or easily remove them all at once with a "Clear All" button. This keeps the page clean and avoids confusion.
#3 Advanced Filter Related to Price and Distance
Users wanted to filter deals by price and distance. We created filters for "price range," "discount percentage," and "distance" to make finding the perfect deal easier. I used a simple pill design for easy selection based on user feedback about preferring straightforward options.
Final Prototype
Introducing You to Delicious App
“Dine Out, Save More, Delicious Deals for Every Bite”
Lessons Learned and Beyond
Through the journey of developing the Delicious app, I've learned several valuable lessons through the overall process. Here are three key takeaways:
Listen to Users
Their feedback provided invaluable insights that I wouldn't have discovered on my own. Understanding their struggles and what they liked showed me how to make the app genuinely useful.
Pay Attention to the Details
While the big picture matters, small design choices can have a major impact on user experience. The time I invested in refining things like font choice and color schemes made a noticeable difference.
Keep it Simple
Users' positive comments about the app's ease of use reinforced the importance of streamlined design. This experience made me realize that complex features aren't always better. Focusing on solving user problems in a clear way provides a much better experience.
I'm excited to apply these lessons to future projects, always working towards designs that are not only visually appealing but more importantly, solve real problems and make a positive impact.
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