PROJECT: Healthswitch
ROLE: UX Designer
DURATION: 12 Weeks
Project Vision:
Healthswitch strives to provide a healthy, wholesome and enjoyable food experience for all. Health Switch targets customers like commuters and workers who lack the ability to prepare a family dinner.
Challenges:
1) Eliminate barrier to entry on application startup.
2) Create an interface capable of exploring endlessly .
3) Construct a detailed information page for each item.
The problem:
Busy workers and commuters lack the time necessary to prepare a meal.
The goal:
Design an app for Healthswitch that allows users to easily order fresh and healthy dishes.
User Research
Summary:
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was working adults who don’t have time to cook meals. This user group confirmed initial assumptions about Healthswitch customers, but research also revealed that time was not the only factor limiting users from cooking at home. Other user problems included obligations, interests, or challenges that make it difficult to get groceries for cooking or go to restaurants in-person.
Pain points:
1) Working adults are too busy to spend time on meal prep.
2) Platforms for ordering food are not equipped with assistive technologies .
3) Text-heavy menus in apps are often difficult to read and order from.
Meet the Users
Name: Juhi
Age: 35
Family: Single
Occupation: Project Manager
Name: Karan
Age: 20
Family: Mother and Brother
Occupation: Student
Juhi is a well-established project manager with a busy and demanding schedule. Juhi has Dyslexia for which she uses screen reader technologies. This technology makes online shopping much more convenient for Juhi, but not all, platforms are effectively equipped for screen reader users. Juhi specifically would like for there to be an easier way to order food to pick up on the go.
Karan is a recent immigrant to Mumbai who’s partially fluent in Hindi. He is able to speak many phrases and read well when given adequate time to translate the text. Karan sometimes encounters difficulty in restaurants, here staff tends to speak very quickly and limited translation options are available. Karan wants to experience all-new foods and experience what their new neighborhood has to offer!
Preparing the Journey
I constructed a user flow of what a basic start to finish journey looks like while purchasing an item. This helps us in understanding ways users can interact with the product, as well as allowing us to see navigation through user goals.
Paper Wireframe
Wireflow
After sketching out some paper wireframes and thinking through the preliminary flow, I reviewed what was necessary, unnecessary, and what areas needed improvement. I poured a lot of my time into this step to make sure that I had the finishing touches on the underlying UX before moving on to the visuals.
Usability study: findings
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.
Round 1 findings:
1)Users want to order food quickly.
2) Users want a delivery option.
Round 2 findings:
1) The checkout process has too many unnecessary steps.
Mockups
Early designs allowed only pickup option, but after the usability studies, I added additional delivery option to this screen.
Before usability studies:
After usability studies:
Mockups
The second usability study revealed frustration with the checkout flow. To streamline this flow, I consolidated the “Current order” and “Checkout screens” to one “Checkout” screen. I also added the pickup or delivery option to this screen.
Before usability studies:
After usability studies:
Challenge 1:
Eliminating Barriers
A key factor when trying to gain a userbase is to create a splash screen void of conflict. If the user wishes to browse the items within the app before creating an account, they might be more inclined to create one later on. Along with the login and register options, the "continue as guest" option allows for that users to browse the app without an account.
Challenge 2:
Endless Exploration
I created a browse feature with numerous filters and categories. With this, I believe users will be able to find exactly what they are looking for.
Challenge 3:
Food Item Summary
The heart and soul of HealthSwitch; displaying each and every food item possible for users, and additional options to choose the size and sauce.
High-fidelity prototype
To get a sense for the flow and test the experience an interactive prototype was created of the high fidelity design
Accessibility considerations
1
Provided access to users who are vision impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.
2
Used icons with name to help make navigation easier.
Style Guide
Takeaways
Impact:
The app makes users feel like Health Switch really thinks about how to meet their needs.
What I learned:
While designing the HeathSwitch app, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs.