Sushi for all
Case study for Google's online ux design cert
project overview
The product
Sushi for All is a (make believe) sushi restaurant that welcomes first-time sushi diners to sushi extraordinaires. Sushi For All's inclusive menu serves for any diet and/or dietary restrictions. The Sushi For All menu app caters to this experience by providing a fun, efficient, and clear way to find the perfect meal for your dine-in visit.
The problem
The goal
Restaurant diners often experience difficulty or have to spend extensive time in finding options that are compatible to their dietary lifestyle.
Create an app for Sushi For All that allows for easy filtering of diet friendly options for hungry sushi lovers.
Duration
October 2, 2021 - February 5, 2022
My role
UX designer designing an app for Sushi For All from conception to delivery
My responsibilities
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.
Understanding the user
user research in summary
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps for the initial project idea from Google’s UX Design Certification course which was to design an app for a sushi restaurant. It is in actuality that from understanding their needs that the primary user group was identified: diners with dietary concerns/desires.
This user group is a growing population as we can see from how many new vegan-friendly, halal, soy-based etc. restaurants and options spring up all over the country. Interestingly, we struggle to see how existing restaurants adjust to this new phenomenon which is how the need for this product came about. In conjunction with this, other user problems included ambiguity, language barriers, and frustration associated with food menu items just based on their names.
user research | personas | problem statements | user journey maps
user research: pain points
Persona
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problem statement:
maya is a mother of two kids who needs an efficient way to order food at a restaurant because monitoring her kids in public is already a handful.
goals:
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Wants uncomplicated processes to completing tasks in order to focus on other aspects of her life
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Wants an easier process to eating out with a gluten and dairy allergy
frustrations:
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Allergies make it harder to find options when trying to eat out
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Being a non-native English speaker, not having descriptions is a pain
maya is the mother of a 7 year old and 4 year old and personally has a gluten intolerance. Her 7 year old also is lactose intolerant, so it is often difficult for them to find restaurants that accommodate these. She appreciates restaurants that have icons for allergies and needs descriptors for items because she is not a native English speaker.
user j0urney map
Mapping maya’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to a dedicated Sushi for All app.
starting the design
Paper wireframes | Digital wireframes | Low-fidelity prototype | Usability Study
Paper wireframes
Intentionally drafting iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would directly address user pain points. Thus one of the main features included was the filter option - the main feature of the app.
digital wireframes
As the initial stages of the design process continued, I made sure to include feedback from user research
The key for main ingredients are also clearly visible here for the user’s reassurance
The main feature of the wireframe, the filter, is places at the top so that it is easy for the user to find if needed
The main goal for the user is to find a menu item that satisfies their needs efficiently while also being enjoyable. Thus, while the filter system may be helpful for some, it is not the sole way to browse the menu. Each item on the menu will be accompanied by a picture and a short description
Low fidelity prototype
From the digital wireframes I was able to construct a low-fidelity prototype that could be tested in a usability study. The main user flow included viewing the full menu, filtering the menu by selecting the “nut free” and/or the “dairy free” filter options, and viewing the filtered menu.
Usability study: Findings
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first round helped influence the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study utilized a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.
round 1 findings
Users don’t like small buttons/checkboxes
Users like pictures and colors rather than just text
Users like consistency even if information is a “given”
round 2
findings
Users want the option to filter on their own rather than solely through the filter function
Users want the option to jump to different sections of the menu
refing the design
mockups | high-fidelity prototype | accessibility
Mockups
The main purpose of early designs were to articulate the main user flow of filtering the menu, so once usability studies were complete, I was set on adding graphic elements to really bring out the true experience. I made sure to focus on the consistency and proximity of elements to ensure ease of use.
key Mockups
The second usability revealed frustrations that were more related to design elements rather than the user flow itself. Interestingly for most of the users, the icons were more useful than the filter system itself, so making sure these were visible and consistent to the overall designs was crucial.
Before
After
Before
After
high fidelity prototype
The final high-fidelity prototype included other artistic graphics and design elements to personalize the app. It also included cleaner transitions to make the user flow intuitive.
accessibility considerations
going forward
takeaways | Next steps
Takeaways
impact
The app propels an immersive and more inclusive dine-in experience in order to suit the needs today’s multitude of eating lifestyles.
“Being lactose-intolerant, it usually takes a long time finding something that I can actually eat, but the Sushi for All fits my need while still allowing me to see the full menu if I’m curious. It’s so simple yet such a game-changer!”
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- from peer feedback
What i learned
While I originally designed the app with the intention that the filtering system would be the main user journey, my usability studies revealed insights that users actually enjoyed viewing the full menu even if they were restricted to certain ingredients. In turn, the function more importantly serves as an efficient accessory rather than the only path through the app. User s like having the option rather than it being their sole choice.