FOODIE
Timeline
8 WEEKS
Role
UX RESEARCHER & DESIGNER
Type of Work
FREELANCE
Existing restaurant recommendation platforms mainly focus on search engines and maps, offering simple ratings and basic information. The FOODIE app, on the other hand, emphasizes user experience by enabling social, visual sharing of real dining experiences to spark users' curiosity and connection.
“Dine, Snap, Share!" 📸🍜 makes finding restaurants more social and fun, helping people share real dining moments and connect through food.
CHALLENGE
Indecision
01
Users find it hard to choose a restaurant without recommendations.
02
Users want to see basic info of a restaurant directly without using maps.
03
Ensuring community retention.
UNDERSTANDING USER FRUSTRATION
Surveys of 40 college students who frequently dine out and socialize revealed that most struggled to pick restaurants as they have limited choices in mind.
🍽️
"We spend so much time trying to agree on a restaurant — it’s hard to think of new places."
🍦
"When browsing through restaurant recommendations, I tend to ignore places with only text reviews."
🥐
"I wish I had a list of good places saved from other people’s experiences — so I don’t have to search in a hurry when making plans."
🍳
"I’m more likely to visit a restaurant if I can see pictures or videos of the food and the atmosphere. It helps me get a feel for the place."
🍧
"Seeing real photos and reviews from other people makes me more confident to try a new place — otherwise I wouldn’t know if it’s worth it."
SOLUTION
-
Displaying large photos of food instead of text reviews to attract users attention.
-
Allowing users to see review details after clicking.
-
Allowing users to interact (like, save, comment) with the post.
"Large, visual content displays attract users and encourage them to explore restaurants further."
EYE-CATCHING VISUALS
DISPLAY
🔍
USER TESTING
1/3
80%
of users preferred image-based posts
over text-only reviews, citing them as "more appealing and intuitive".
85%
of users described the restaurant
discovery process "faster and more enjoyable".
CHALLENGE
Accessibility
01
Users find it hard to choose a restaurant without recommendations.
02
Users want to see basic info of a restaurant directly without using maps.
03
Ensuring community retention.
UNDERSTANDING USER DECISION-MAKING
Results show that most users want to confirm detailed opening hours and address before heading out. However, they find it a bit annoying to switch to Google Maps to view detailed information.
Users see food images
Not attracted by it
Attracted by it, click on it
Thinking about choosing it
Not interested anymore
Check the address & opening hours
Final Desicion
Decide to go or not
SOLUTION
-
Providing a link under posted images to the restaurant page to view opening information.
-
Allowing users to see or add recommended food on the menu.
-
Allowing users to view or write a comment.
"Direct access to opening information of a restaurant leads to faster decision-making ."
ONCE ATTRACTED
Once attracted by visuals, users want to explore further about a specific restaurant. By clicking the restaurant link below, users can directly access detailed information, including opening hours, address, menu, and customer reviews.
🔍
USER TESTING
2/3
55%
Restaurant info click-through rate increased by
after adding the link under food posts.
75%
of users found it faster to make dining
decisions with direct access to basic restaurant info.
70%
of users said seeing or adding recommended
dishes made them more likely to try the restaurant.
CHALLENGE
Retention
01
Users find it hard to choose a restaurant without recommendations.
02
Users want to see basic info of a restaurant directly without using maps.
03
Ensuring community retention.
CONCERNS BY CLIENT
❓
"How can we keep the platform thriving over time?"
❓
"What if there aren't enough users posting content?"
SOLUTION
-
Providing rewards for users who actively engage with the platform:
-
Level Titles
-
Publicly visible and helps others assess the user's credibility
-
-
Collaboration with restaurants
-
Food tasting invitation
-
Marketing partnership
-
-
"Providing rewards to users who consistently contribute high-quality and engaging content."
USER INCENTIVES
Users whose posts receive high numbers of likes and saves will be recognized as trusted "Top Taster." They will gain increased exposure on the platform and may also receive invitations from restaurants for exclusive dining experiences and collaboration.
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USER TESTING
3/3
90%
of users are interested in earning
rewards from engagement.
65%
of users said public titles made them
feel recognized and more credible in the community.
80%
of users reported that rewards like food tasting
invitations or collaborations made them more willing to stay active and post regularly.
FINAL DESIGN
REFLECTIONS
Foodie reduced users’ decision-making time by 40%, compared to using traditional social apps and maps separately to find a desired restaurant.
OUTCOME
40%
USER DECISION-MAKING TIME
Empathy
Integrating Nigerian nurses’ relocation challenges into the UI, displaying common struggles and peer testimonials prominently made users feel deeply understood. This boosted feature adoption by 87% and increased the membership join rate by 45%.
FUTURE WORK
The current product successfully helps users discover restaurants through visual content and basic information access. Future work could focus on personalizing restaurant recommendations based on users’ behaviors and preferences or expanding partnerships with restaurants to co-create content and offer reward-based promotions, encouraging more user participation and brand engagement.
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