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La Veganesa
Role: UX Designer
Duration: 1 month
Project overview
Brief
La Veganesa is a restaurant in Cadiz, Spain that specializes in traditional Spanish dishes redesigned to be solely plant-based. As one of my all-time favorite restaurants, I decided to create 'La Veganesa' as a concept for a food ordering mobile application for the plant-based restaurant. As the sole UX Designer, I designed this project from inception to final design through research, ideation, and UX design principles.




Problem:
La Veganesa restaurant is located in a rather touristy area of Spain and has no online presence in English, causing users who do not speak Spanish natively to have a poor user experience. Furthermore, with no existing mobile app, users are unable to order food from La Veganesa without going to the restaurant in person.
Solution:
I aimed to design an accessible and inclusive mobile app, with copy in both English and Spanish, allowing users to order meals from within the restaurant and to go.
Understanding the user
User research
I conducted a competitive audit with both direct and indirect competitors. Then I interviewed five people from various countries who have experience ordering food via online platforms to truly understand the users' needs, behaviors, and motivations. Then I used the qualitative and quantitative data to create personas that reflected the users.



Personas

Problem statement:
Pedro is a Cadiz local who needs to effortlessly order food from his table because he wants to focus on spending quality time with his family and friends instead of waving down a busy waiter.
Problem statement:
Victoria is an avid, English-speaking traveler who needs to order food to go because she has a busy travel itinerary and wants to make the most of her time in Spain.

Pain points
From the research I gathered, I defined some of the main user pain points when ordering food from a restaurant, both to-go and when dining in.





Starting the design
User journey map
To begin the ideation process, I mapped out the user flow to create a visual representation and gain an understanding of the steps a user would take to arrive at their end goal. This also helped identify which screens to include in the design.

Paper wireframes

With an idea of the user flow and all the necessary screens for a quick and easy ordering process, I put pen to paper and made several iterations of the home screen and other screens within the main flow.

Digital wireframes
Keeping in mind the pain points acquired from my research, I transformed my paper wireframes into digital versions and added some copy and smaller flows to give the app a more finished feel for user testing. Some of these other flows included making a reservation, adding an item to favorites, and all the necessary screens to make the food ordering menu fully interactive.
The language options in English and Spanish offer increased
accessibility for tourists and locals alike


The option to order food ‘To Go’ or to “Dine in’ gives users the freedom to choose their dining experience while avoiding long waiting times and busy waiters
QR code scanning for the 'Dine in' option to proactively avoid issues from users ordering to the wrong table or while not at the restaurant
The option to order food directly from the mobile app increases accessibility


Clearly listed allergens under each dish with an additional allergen screen improves the user experience for those with dietary preferences
Space for large text on the menu to improve readability and content localization
Designing the content
Voice & tone
Apart from designing clear and informative copy in both English and Spanish throughout the user journey, I also designed additional content to enhance the user experience. When writing the additional content, I added a light and friendly voice with an informative tone when needed to encourage a positive experience for users.
Localization
When I designed the content for La Veganesa, I designed it in English first since the initial problem was that English-speaking customers at the restaurant had a poor user experience due to its online presence and menu being available only in Spanish. I wanted to ensure that I was addressing this pain point from an English-speaking perspective to best empathize with users. However, after finishing the early wireframes and prototypes in English, I localized the content into Spanish since many of the restaurant's customers were still Spanish-speaking. While doing this, I also took into account the cultural differences and made sure those were reflected in the content as well.
Testing the design
Usability study
I aimed to design a product with a user-centered design, so usability testing was an essential part of the design process. The usability study included both a survey and an interview with 5 users. These users had varying degrees of technological experience and had native languages of either English or Spanish. This study offered fantastic insight into which parts of the design were unclear or difficult for the user. Afterward, I used an affinity diagram to group all the feedback received during the testing.


Affinity mapping

Findings






Refining the design
Usability changes

The main menu was simplified and only available on the homepage to have fewer distractions along the user journey
The touch areas of all buttons were made much larger throughout the design as well
'Order' was changed to 'Menu' for clarity
A tip and promo code section was added to the checkout process to improve the functionalities of the user experience
Included 0% tipping since tipping is not customary in Europe - users can still tip as much as they want


The cart button was moved to the top right side of the food ordering screen to promote visibility to the allergen button
"Back" buttons were made bigger and given more descriptive copy to inform the user where the button would take them


A search feature was added to the menu and the filter button was removed and replaced with a 'Sort by' button to improve menu navigation
Accessibility considerations



Finalizing the design
Mockups




Prototype
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Conclusion
Takeaways
As someone who considers Spain, specifically Andalucía, a second home, La Veganesa is an idea very near and dear to my heart. I wanted to communicate the importance of internationalization, localization, and accessibility in design while incorporating both the needs of users and business goals. This project reinforced the fact that these ideas need to be considered from the very beginning of the design process to ensure an excellent user experience and that usability testing is essential for user-centered design.
What I Learned:
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An accessible menu on all pages of the app ensures that the user cannot get stuck while navigating, but it can also distract the user from their end goal.
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Internationalization, localization, and accessibility need to be considered from the very beginning of the design process.
Impact:


Next steps
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I would like to incorporate an intuitive point system where recurring users can gain and track points within the app. This would help users gain rewards and discounts after a certain amount of points gained.
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I would like to expand language options beyond English and Spanish. This would allow greater accessibility to a wider range of users.