Revolutionizing the Taco Food Truck Experience
A seamless food ordering app for the taco enthusiast.
Project
This UX case study focuses on the design and launch of a food ordering app for a taco truck business. The goal is to create a user-friendly and efficient app that allows customers to easily order their favorite tacos from the taco truck. The case study will address the challenges of developing a seamless user experience from scratch, establishing trust in the app, and ensuring smooth order management for the taco truck.
Problem
People today need convenience more than ever
The taco truck is facing challenges in providing a convenient and efficient way for customers to order their tacos. These challenges include limited accessibility, lack of information, and order management complexity.
Lack of Information
Unable to access comprehensive information about the taco menu, ingredient options, pricing, and dietary considerations.
Limited Accessibility
Customers need to visit the taco truck physically to place their orders, leading to long wait times, overcrowding, and potential inconvenience for customers.
Order Management Complexity
The taco truck staff face difficulties managing incoming orders, ensuring order accuracy, and providing real-time updates to customers.
Solution
Offer reliable customer experience
The primary goal of this UX case study is to design and launch a taco truck food ordering app that improves customer accessibility, provides comprehensive information, and streamlines order management.
Detailed Menu Information
Provide customers with comprehensive information about the taco menu, including ingredients, dietary considerations, pricing, and availability. This will help customers make informed decisions and reduce uncertainty.
Seamless Ordering Process
Develop an intuitive and user-friendly interface that guides customers through the taco ordering process, making it easy for them to select their desired tacos, customize ingredients, choose side dishes, and complete the order.
Efficient Order Management
Implement a back-end system that enables taco truck staff to manage incoming orders efficiently, ensure order accuracy, and provide real-time updates to customers regarding order status and estimated preparation time.
Research
Market Analysis
The food ordering and delivery market has experienced significant growth in recent years, driven by the increasing popularity of online ordering and the convenience it offers to consumers. Consumer expectations have evolved, with an emphasis on speed, convenience, menu variety, customization options, and seamless user experiences.
Market Growth
The increasing adoption of smartphones, improved internet connectivity, and changing consumer lifestyles are key factors driving the growth of the food delivery market.
The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the demand for food delivery services as people turned to online ordering for safety and convenience.
Competitive Landscape
The market is dominated by well-established food delivery apps such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, and Deliveroo. These platforms have large user bases, extensive restaurant partnerships, and established logistics networks.
Key User Expectations and Trends
Users expect the ability to customize their orders. With features like saved order history, easy reordering, and reliable delivery or pickup options. Consumers seek diverse menu options.
User Personas
Role-based Personas
Based on the conducted research, I developed two fictional characters that represent distinct user types for ordering on the app.
"I love spending quality time with family instead of chores."
Jenelle, 35 y.o.
San Francisco, California
Senior Analyst
Goals
Work / life balance
Annual promotion
Organized family schedule
Eliminate small tasks to enjoy more family time
Frustrations
Unable to process information in fast-paced settings
Cooking and cleaning
Difficult to find restaurants
Brief Story
Jenelle has a demanding schedule with work and is often working late hours. She loves to spend time with her family when she can but is met with house chores every week. Jenelle has dyslexia so it is difficult for her to read text quickly and process information in-fast paced settings. She would love an option to skip the line when ordering and have a seat ready available for them when they dine out.
“I’m excited to experience this new town, eat good food, and meet new people!”
Aubrey, 25 y.o.
London, England
Grocery Clerk
Goals
Stay active by playing sports
Make new friends in his area
Enjoy getting to know the city
Help take care of his brother while his parents are working
Frustrations
Unable to pronounce the words on the menu.
The clerk speaks too fast for me to understand.
Brief Story
Aubrey is new in town and is juggling university, work at the local grocery store, and playing sports. English is his second language and has difficulties at places he interacts with. He has strong family values. He loves his family and his younger brother. His brother and him are in a sports league where they often have 2-3 nightly games a week.
Wireframes
Paper Wireframes
When developing lo-fi wireframes, I took on the results from the research and iterated multiple screens to help solve pain points in different ways.
Lo-fi Wireframes
For the home screen, I prioritized a quickly reorder option to help users save time. I also gave a section for deals.
Digital Wireframes
Throughout the initial design phase, I ensured that each screen would be designed from feedback and discoveries from user research.
Menu Items
Images and less words was a key user-need to address in the designs in addition to equipping the app to work with assistive technologies. I emphasized on negative space between images for users to distinguish each item.
Delivery Option
To avoid standing in long lines we made a page to allow users to select which type of delivery they want. There are two options available curbside or dine-in.
Prototype
Low Fidelity Prototype
Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype. The primary user flow I connected was simply ordering food and checking out, so the prototype could be used in a usability study.
Usability Findings
Synthesizing Results
I carried out two rounds of usability studies, with the results of the initial study informing the progression from wireframes to mockups. The second study employed a high-fidelity prototype and highlighted areas of the mockups that required further improvement.
Delivery
The first usability study revealed frustration with the Delivery option being at the end of the transaction. To fix this I added the Curbside or Instore option to the home screen.
Customization
Early designs allowed for some customization, but after the usability studies, I added additional options to add Extra Items for an extra charge.
Titles
The second usability study, users expressed that it would be great to title their orders to separate multiple orders before checking out.
Mockups
Other important screens
The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows for ordering tacos and checkout. It also met user needs for a pickup or delivery option, labeling orders, as well as more customization.
Accessibility Considerations
1.
Enable users with visual impairments to access content by including alt text in images for screen readers.
2.
Used icons throughout the app to simplify the navigation process and minimize the use of text
3.
Emphasized minimal background images to enhance comprehension of menu item for all users.
Takeaways
The impact I’ve had on with this project allowed me to design for others outside my personal bias and allowed users to feel confident when ordering through the Extra Guac! app. I learned that The true design lies within the user. Anyone can create a design, but doing research, empathizing with their needs, and making it fit their needs is the most important underlying part of design.