Food For Bears
Elizabeth Sun
The Problem
Lack of accessibility to diverse food options on campus. As UC Berkeley students, this is a problem that we all seemed to relate to.
“How might we… make more diverse and quick food options distributed more evenly across campus?”
Preliminary User Research
Scope: Berkeley student
Recruitment Method: Friends or Classmates
Research Goals:
- Know how the students find food on campus
- Know the students’ preference for food
- Know what the students think about diversity of food on campus
Research Goals:
- Know how the students find food on campus
- Know the students’ preference for food
- Know what the students think about diversity of food on campus
For the user research, we used surveys and interviews to get user's opinions and data. We posted our surveys on social media platforms like Discord and asked our friends. We conducted 5 interviews in total and the participant demographic was mostly Asian because we asked our friends. This is important to note because this may skew our results and our data might include bias.
Survey Results
From the survey, we can conclude that:
- Most responders are neutral about the diversity of food options on campus. A small group of respondents said the food was not diverse enough (Q4)
- Most responders think it is pretty hard to find good food on campus (Q6)
46.2% chose 4 and 5 for question 14, showing that most responders to our survey either feel neutral or that it is hard to carry out their plans for finding food (Q14).
- Most responders are neutral about the diversity of food options on campus. A small group of respondents said the food was not diverse enough (Q4)
- Most responders think it is pretty hard to find good food on campus (Q6)
46.2% chose 4 and 5 for question 14, showing that most responders to our survey either feel neutral or that it is hard to carry out their plans for finding food (Q14).
Interview Results
[Interview #1]:
Interviewee 1 think the food options are not diverse enough on campus. They often skip meals or have energy bars because of the long lines at cafes on campus. They think the food options should be more evenly distributed on campus.
Interviewee 1 think the food options are not diverse enough on campus. They often skip meals or have energy bars because of the long lines at cafes on campus. They think the food options should be more evenly distributed on campus.
[Interview #2]:
Interviewee 2 is a EECS major, so most of the times they eat at the North side of campus, which has a food court. They felt the food diversity is ok, but he felt it would be better if there’s more Asian food options.
[Interview #5]:
Interviewee 5 seems to eat at dining halls more often since they have a dining pass. They feel like the food options at dining halls have improved this year. But they think that dining eateries should be open on the weekends instead of just weekdays.
User Research Insights
From the survey and interview results, there are a couple of key insights I can make:
1. There is a lack of diversity in the food options available on campus.
2. There can be long wait times for the options that are available on campus.
3. Options seem concentrated in one part and can be better distributed across campus – i.e. throughout school buildings.
4. The quality of food needs to be ensured.
5. Needs to have more availability of food on weekends.
6. The food on campus can be a little bit pricey, which makes food options less accessible.
7. There should be places for students to eat food at any building.
9. More food options should be available on the go like vending machines and food trucks on campus.
2. There can be long wait times for the options that are available on campus.
3. Options seem concentrated in one part and can be better distributed across campus – i.e. throughout school buildings.
4. The quality of food needs to be ensured.
5. Needs to have more availability of food on weekends.
6. The food on campus can be a little bit pricey, which makes food options less accessible.
7. There should be places for students to eat food at any building.
9. More food options should be available on the go like vending machines and food trucks on campus.
Ideation: Divergent Thinking
During the ideation phase, I started off with divergent methods like brainwriting and creating a mind map to come up with as many ideas as possible to start off with. This exercise was really helpful in starting the foundation for the project.
Ideation: Convergent Thinking
After the divergent thinking phase, we continue the ideation phase to convergent methods like creating a decision matrix to compare them with each other through analyzing the feasibility, cost, effort, etc. for each one. I also drew out the user flow for my ideas to visualize how they will navigate the app, which helped me figure out which idea I wanted to continue fleshing out and adding detail to.
User Persona
I created a user persona to get a better sense of what the target audience looks like and understanding the user's thoughts, opinions and feelings about the food options on campus. It was not difficult to imagine what the frustrations and motivations would be since I am a Berkeley student and also relate to the problem statement.
Journey Map
I created a journey map next as an example of the user facing this problem and the process that they would go through, consisting of stages in the process and detailing the action, thoughts, feelings of the user and potential improvement areas. This exercise allows me to stand in the shoes of the user when they are facing this issue.
Low Fidelity Prototype
After collecting the user research and gaining insights from the data, I started creating lo-fi prototypes of the best ideas from the ideation phase, which I determined to be the mobile dining app and food trucks. I also asked friends to look at my prototype and provide feedback on what can be improved.
Feedback:
- Add personalization to the account so that it distinguishes between different students tastes and preferences, can add an account registration and login system
- Keep track of previous student’s orders and gives recommendations based on their likes and dislikes
- Needs to take into account accessibility and accommodations for people with disabilities.
- Add personalization to the account so that it distinguishes between different students tastes and preferences, can add an account registration and login system
- Keep track of previous student’s orders and gives recommendations based on their likes and dislikes
- Needs to take into account accessibility and accommodations for people with disabilities.
I chose Lo-fi prototype 1 because I think this app would be very helpful for Berkeley students have better accessibility to the food options that are available to them on campus and addresses some of the insights we gained from the research projects of the problems students faced while trying to find food, such as options seem more concentrated in one part and can be better distributed across campus, more food options should be available on the go and there are long wait times for the options that are available on campus.
Creating a food delivery app for restaurants and dining eateries on campus would be help alleviate these issues as people can get food on the go whenever they need or delivered to where they are, which would reduce long line wait times and solve the uneven distribution of restaurants problem.
I felt like this idea was one of the easier ones the implement from comparing my ideas using the design matrix during the ideation phase in terms of cost and effort, and it would provide maximum benefit for students.
I incorporated user feedback by adding a user personalization feature allowing students to create their own accounts, and taking into account student’s payment methods available such as credit card, flex dollars and meal swipes so that it is accessible for all students.
Improvements to the prototype I’ve made are adding more complexity into the functionality of the app from the lo-fi version, adding a user login feature, creating new steps in the prototype flow to account for the app’s functionality with ordering options and payment methods since they were not fully fleshed out in the lo-fi version design.
I felt like this idea was one of the easier ones the implement from comparing my ideas using the design matrix during the ideation phase in terms of cost and effort, and it would provide maximum benefit for students.
I incorporated user feedback by adding a user personalization feature allowing students to create their own accounts, and taking into account student’s payment methods available such as credit card, flex dollars and meal swipes so that it is accessible for all students.
Improvements to the prototype I’ve made are adding more complexity into the functionality of the app from the lo-fi version, adding a user login feature, creating new steps in the prototype flow to account for the app’s functionality with ordering options and payment methods since they were not fully fleshed out in the lo-fi version design.
Mid Fidelity Prototype
Using the feedback on my lo-fi prototype and additional ideation on potential designs, I created a mid fidelity prototype to figure out the details of the functionality and navigation of the app.
Click here to view the Mid-Fi Prototype in Figma
Usability Testing
The goal for usability testing is the help us understand user pain points using our product and improvements we can make. The overall goals were:
1. To make more diverse and quick food options distributed more evenly across the UC Berkeley campus
1. To make more diverse and quick food options distributed more evenly across the UC Berkeley campus
2. To improve food diversity and accessibility to UC Berkeley students by providing users multiple pickup and payment methods to get food from dining halls and restaurants.
Click here to view the usability testing script used.
Insights from User Testing
- Add more food options, users can scroll down when searching for restaurants and looking at the menu
- Add more sign up options available with Google, Facebook, Twitter, or Microsoft account. “Make it easier for users to access their accounts.”
- Instead of using a scale for spiciness, simplify it to low, medium, and high. “Adding too much information can overwhelm the user.”
- Food item page: To the side sauce or no sauce option
- Delivery method: Provide the option to choose which delivery method (Door Dash, Uber Eats, Hungry Panda) and add promotions/discounts
- Add more sign up options available with Google, Facebook, Twitter, or Microsoft account. “Make it easier for users to access their accounts.”
- Instead of using a scale for spiciness, simplify it to low, medium, and high. “Adding too much information can overwhelm the user.”
- Food item page: To the side sauce or no sauce option
- Delivery method: Provide the option to choose which delivery method (Door Dash, Uber Eats, Hungry Panda) and add promotions/discounts
- Payment details: Provide more options for payment like Credit/Debit Card, PayPal, Venmo, Cash, Apple Pay, Dining Pass
- Order information: Need somewhere to place the custom amount of tip if user chooses to give a custom tip and apply discount codes if they have them.
- Order information: Need somewhere to place the custom amount of tip if user chooses to give a custom tip and apply discount codes if they have them.
Overall takeaway: “It needs more options available for the user to choose from.”
The feedback I got from the user testability from friends and family was really insightful on what the user's struggles and pain points are during different points of the user flow when using the app. It was really helpful seeing at which parts of the process the design can be improved to enhance usability and I use the feedback to make changes and improvements in the functionality, navigation and design of the app.
High Fidelity Prototype
Click here to view the interactive Hi-fi Prototype in Figma
Thank you!
