Digitising Food Exploration
END-TO-END DESIGN | PRODUCT | UX/UI
Revamping Truffle, a social restaurant tracking app, to help foodies log their favourite places, discover new hidden gems and connect with friends over delicious eats.
Timeframe
Feb 2024 - Apr 2024
Client
Truffle
My Role
I contributed to the full design process, conducting market research, user research through leading the questionnarie, and synthesising research for ideation.
I was also heavily involved in ideation and managed the creation of the user profile prototype.
Project Overview
Food as a social tool is an ever-growing industry. Truffle is a social restaurant tracking app which allows users to share their favourite restaurants, find new places to try and connect with friends over food.
Design Process
We followed the Double Diamond end-to-end design process, undertaking research of the problem to final redesign.
*Major contributions in bold
DISCOVER
Market Research
User Interviews
Usability Testing
Questionnaire
DEFINE
Affinity Diagramming
Personas
Empathy Map
User Journey Map
DEVELOP
Brainstorming
Concept Development
Visual Branding
DELIVER
Onboarding Prototype
User Profile Prototype
Map Feature Prototype
Feed Feature Prototype
This is the research phase where we research understand the market, the current platform and our target audience.
This is the design phase where we make changes based on our research, test our designs and iterate.
Problem
Currently, Truffle struggles with its visual branding and feature design with users calling it “boring”. As part of the Prodigi Innovation Program, we worked with Truffle’s co-founder to reimagine their current platform to be more fun and lively.
Solution
We redesign Truffle to include two new gamified features as well as a visual rebrand to embody the exciting journey of the foodie experience.
SKIP TO FINAL DESIGN
Research
Understanding the Problem
Market Research
Food, Dining and Marketing in the Digital Age
For this project, we wanted to know why there is a need for a digital food tracking app in this day and age. Our research showed food and social media are a major space for business opportunities as it is now the major form of marketing for establishments.
Current competitors include popular social media apps like Instagram or dedicated food sharing apps like Yummi. While there are established players in this space, there is currently no mainstream restaurant tracking solution. Most users rely on their memory, meaning they may easily forget names and locations.
87%
of social media users claim food content influences their dining choices
User Research
Why People Consume and Share Food Content Online
Through conducting a survey and interviewing real users, we found that people enjoy sharing food content for aesthetic purposes. Furthermore, as dining is a inherently social experience, the modern day food experience extends beyond the dining table to social media.
60.7% share food posts for aesthetic purposes
Our survey focused on dining habits like what users value when choosing a place to eat and how they track restaurants.
People value other peoples' food opinions
Our interviews dug deeper into their emotions about dining out and sharing it with friends.
Who We Are Designing For
The Struggle Lies in Overabundance of Choice
We created a persona to embody the findings from our user research to introduce constraints to guide our design approach and feature prioritisation.
What Our User Wants/Needs:
Personalised restaurant suggestions
Keep a journal of previous dining experiences
What Our User Struggles With:
Overwhelmed by the many food options
Limited time to document places they visit
Fleshing out her food discovery journey, we identify the key pain point we need to design for. We identified Explore as the main obstacle where she feels overwhelmed.
Consider
Deciding on where to find food recommendations
Explore
Looking for a restaurant, overwhelmed by options
Key Pain Point
Compare
Looking at friend's reccomendations
Decide
Deciding on a place to eat
Reflect
Reflecting and sharing the dining experience online
Product Audit
Identifying Truffle’s User Interface Drawbacks
To see where Truffle was currently falling short, we observed users as they completed basic tasks on the platform (eg. track a restaurant) and asked them to verbalise any thoughts. We discovered Truffle struggles with unintuitive design and boring visual branding.
"I don't know what any of this means"
Users struggled to identify the purpose of different symbols.
"No photos? Is this the right restaurant?"
Users complained that it was visually "boring", which affected the navigation experience
Design Note: I suggested the decision to include usability testing in our research so our redesign can focus on the key pain points.
Data Analysis and Synthesis
Pinpointing the Problem
Based on our research, we organised our notes, quotes and data through affinity mapping - we picked interesting and relevant data and grouped them together to see any emerging trends and themes.
Affinity diagramming works by extracting data from your research and grouping them with other data points. Different groups represent a different pattern or trend
We discovered some key emerging patterns which guided our direction:
It's Got to Look Good
In the food industry, visuals are king. People are drawn to aesthetic images of food as it is not only appetising but also provides a more accurate representation of the restaurant.
Easy to Track, Motivated to Explore More
Users need an intuitive and easy way to track their restaurants as a keepsake. They enjoy seeing achievements slowly build up as they accumulate more and more.
People Want Personalisation
With so many restaurant choices out their, people need a way to filter everything to find things they want. People with similar tastes are also more likely to form a deeper connection through shared joy.
Based on this research, we concluded a problem statement:
Food enthusiasts face challenges documenting and sharing their culinary adventures due to limited tracking features and customisation options.
Design
How can we foster a desire for culinary exploration that is fun and allows users to keep track of their journey?
Visual Design
Creating a Fun and Adventurous Brand
We decided to change the visual design of Truffle based on the complaints of the current interface looking “boring” and “unfinished”. We wanted a fun, light-hearted and “adventurous” vibe to complement the food exploration/adventure theme.
Inspired by the truffle mushroom, a luxury ingredient known its unique aroma and flavour, we decided to incorporate other mushroom species, reflecting the abundance and variety that the culinary scene offers.
Green was chosen for its refreshing look.
Personified mushroom characters to add fun!
New Product Feature 1
Foodie Personalities
Inspired by personality quizzes, users complete an onboarding quiz to discover what type of foodie they are and receive tailored food recommendations based on this. We chose this was a fun way to incite connection between users as well as help users find restaurants based on their taste profile.
Compared to original black platform, we chose green as a primary colour for its refreshing look.
To make the app more fun and welcoming, we added personified mushroom characters.
New Product Feature 2
Gamified Badge Achievements
To encourage users to explore and try more restaurants, we gamified the food adventure experience by giving badges for completing achievements, like visiting a certain number of restaurants. They can personalise their account by displaying these badges on their profile.
Personified mushroom characters to add fun!
Design Note: This was a core feature I pushed for as a way to make food tracking more fun but provide opportunities for monetising the product. For example, through restaurant collabs or promotion.
Notable Exploration in Design
A Streamlined Way to Log Restaurants
To help users keep track of places they visit, we redesigned the tracking process by adding a wizard and intuitive input fields. Through streamlining this process, it can encourage more user input.
Dial to track restaurant atmosphere for a more intuitive experience
Instagram Connect allows for social media integration for automatic restaurant tracking when connected to their socials.
Notable Exploration in Design
A More Visual Way to Discover
The feed, inspired by Pinterest, was made to be more visual and exciting. It shows quick information like price and location for the user to scan. The splitting of the feed into main feed anf following is done to adhere to industry standards.
The Lists feature in Truffle, which allows users to group and save restaurants, was renamed to Clusters to adhere to the Mushroom branding. Users also were confused by the keyword “Lists” to group restaurants.
Design Note: To assist users in finding places to eat quickly and easily, I suggested that key information like price and location needed to be visible on the main feed as well.
Final Design
Truffle: Reimagined
With a fresh new visual identity and interface, we transformed Truffle into a gamified food adventure experience. Track all your restaurants, share it with friends and gain achievements depending on where you visit.
Log places you have visited and create a food adventure journal.
Collect mushrooms by completing challenges and show them off in your profile.
Product Roadmap
Next Steps
To release this redesign update to the public, we will undergo the following steps by combining integration process, testing + feedback and marketing to ensure a successful transformation.
Impact
Winning 1st Place
Awarded 1st Place out of 5 teams presenting to the founder for the Prodigi Product Innovation Program
Features Implemented
Our Achievement Badges feature was chosen to be implemented by the founder
Lessons Learnt
This project was one of my first experiences of the end-to-end design process and taught me very important lessons about teamwork and product design.
Always link design decisions back to the user and do not be afraid to revisit and redefine your problem statement, insights and personas.
Communication is key. Agile retrospectives help to surface concerns regarding task delegation, deadlines and group morale.
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