Context

Overview

Designing a new flow of ordering from food trucks on grounds was very rewarding as I was able to tackle a problem I’ve noticed from my own experience and from other students as well. The ask was to create a platform to solve an issue on campus.

Problem Statement

Students need an easy platform to order from food trucks around grounds, providing better access to the foods everyone loves.

Conducting a survey to gather initial opinions and user viewpoints on accessibility, we wanted to learn more about the food ordering process from the user’s perspective. Gathering 22 responses to our 8-question survey, we were able to apply our knowledge to the greater student population.

View full survey here !

Key Insights

• Full-time students may be picking up food in between classes

• How can we design a product to incentivize more people to order from food trucks?

• The current platform does not satisfy most users, negative elements of their design

Taking findings from our survey to create user personas, we were able to pinpoint the exact needs and frustrations students might have when it comes to ordering food on grounds. These use cases were instrumental in highlighting specific pain points and expanding upon potential solutions.

Narrowing it down.

The process of ordering food contains multiple steps, and we needed to address the greatest frustrations.

Style Guide

To maintain our school colors, we decided on a similar look and feel to other UVA platforms. By choosing more modern elements of rounded buttons and a sans-serif font, we can create a convenient and easy-to-use app.

We also needed a name for the app - so we had an ideation session of about 15 min where we wrote down all the names that came to mind, without rejecting any ideas. We settled on the name CavChow since it was a catchy name that easily encompassed the purpose of our app while recognizing the name of our school.

Jumping into wireframes, we gave structure to our initial ideas, focusing on a simple and straightforward flow for the user to follow through the app. We focused on creating interesting and varied layouts, with clear headings. 

Onboarding.

A simple onboarding process.

• Allows students, faculty, staff, and guests to order from every food option available on grounds

• Easily login with UVA email and a confirmation code without having to use NetBadge

What do we need to design?

• Show all campus dining and meal plan options, allowing users to easily find all possible places to eat

• Giving those who want quick food options a preview of estimated wait times to plan ahead

• A system to pay for cash, card, or university payment

• Ability to browse through food options, by viewing menus, reading ingredients, and browsing restaurants

I was appreciative of the opportunity to conduct this project with a team. Being able to collaborate on both the research and design for this challenge were very insightful into how I could possibly be collaborating on a team in a professional setting. This particular project also allowed me to explore, research, and design an onboarding flow at a higher level of complexity than any of my previous personal projects.

Oftentimes, users have certain needs that they may not realize, and they are not able to see a solution. Finding a solution doesn't necessarily mean overhauling everything and creating something entirely new. It can mean building upon what already exists and adding slight changes that change a user's experience drastically. In this case, the goal was to improve the accessibility of on-grounds food trucks and it evolved into giving all food options the same level of access. While meeting all the needs of users and eliminating as many pain points as possible, it would not have been possible without the user research that drove the design.

Eliminating friction.