Blissfulbites is a wedding catering marketplace for customers to book tastings delivery and order wedding catering. Currently it is serving in a few countries, US, UK, Australia, China, and Malaysia.
I worked on this project from July 2023 to October 2023.
My Contributions
I am the lead UI/UX designer for the project from conception to delivery.
I conducted interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.
The Problem
Engaged couples lack the time to go for catering tasting and order catering.
The Goal
Design an app that allows engaged couples to order tasting and catering for their weddings
Understanding the User
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Interview
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was working adults who don’t have time to research for wedding caterer and go for tasting.This user group confirmed initial assumptions about wedding catering app customers, but research also revealed that time was not the only factor limiting users from finalizing their wedding catering. Other user problems included preferences, finances, obligations, family’s interests, or challenges that make it difficult to go for tasting in-person.
Users' Pain Points
1
Time
Working adults are too busy to research for catering and go for tasting in person
2
High expectation
Making both the family's cultural food and the friends' tasty wedding feast expectations work together can put a lot of pressure on the couple.
3
IA
Text-heavy menus in apps are often difficult to read and order from
User Persona
Problem statement: Ying is a young marketing executive who needs to have a Chinese and Indian fusion wedding catering within her budget because she and her partner want to embrace their respective cultures during the special moment.
Problem statement: Lynn is a busy and successful professional who wants to find the most suitable wedding caterer without impacting her schedule much because she wants every detail of her wedding to be flawless and wants her guests to thoroughly enjoy the event.
User Journey
Mapping Ying’s user journey revealed how helpful for her to find her wedding catering via the app
Mapping Lynn’s user journey revealed how helpful for her to book wedding catering’s tasting via the app
Starting the Design
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Paper wireframe
By drafting design on paper, it helped me visualize the user journey quickly. I prioritized features that help users find the caterers with catering menus they are looking for more efficiently.
Digital wireframe
I prioritized the search filter and recommendation on the homepage to help users find the caterers they are looking for more efficiently.
I introduced message and call feature so that users can enquire the caterer more effectively. There are action buttons like placing tasting order and catering order
Low-fidelity prototype
The low-fidelity prototype connected the primary user flow of searching for a caterer and making a tasting order, so the prototype could be used in a usability study with users.View Blissfulbites app low-fidelity prototype
Usability Study: Findings
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups need refining.
Round 1 findings
1
Users need a more intuitive way to search for caterers without being bombarded with too many options
2
To surface more pictures and highlight them in the caterer selection and booking process.
3
Users need a more intuitive way of booking a tasting via minimal contact with the caterer
Round 2 findings
1
Users prefer to have guidance on how to search and select wedding catering as this is their first time
2
Users prefer to know more about the caterer and clearer navigation on how to contact caterer
Refining the Design
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Mockups
Early designs allow 2 entry points to search for caterer, one is search bar on home page and another is on search. After usability studies, I combined both entry points and now users can only search for caterer via the homepage (Search). And a new search bar design is created to stand out.
The second usability study revealed confusion with the search and order flow as most users are first time to host a wedding. To guide users better, I created a milestone guide on homepage for the users.
Provided access to users who are vision impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.
2
Initial focus of the home screen on personalized recommendations help define the primary task or action for the user.
3
Provide images for all items on the menu to help all users better understand the food.
Going Forward
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Impact
The app makes users feel like wedding caterer app really thinks about how to meet their needs.
One quote from peer feedback:“The app guided me on how to select my wedding catering to booking final order.”
What I learned
While designing the wedding caterer app, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback are so important as reality check and contributed to each iteration of the app’s designs.
Next steps
1
Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
2
Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.
