PROJECT TYPE

Personal Project

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DURATION

September 2022

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MY ROLE

UX researcher and designer

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RESPONSIBILITIES

Conducting research and interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.

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The Problem

Chefs who feel isolated and barely have enough time to socialize outside of work, find currently existing networking sites too general and not tailored to their needs

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The Goal

Design a profile creation flow that will be the entry point for new users who intend to use ChefsConnect

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User Research

I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users that I will be designing for, and also to know their needs and identify pain points.

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Initial Assumptions

I initially assumed that since we were building a networking site for chefs, the primary user group would be professional chefs. Researched proved this wrong, as I discovered that the user group was quite larger: it also included other workers in the food industry, culinary students and even hobbyist chefs.  This discovery helped in framing the problem in a more inclusive way. Researched helped me to identify their frustrations about being an excluded group in social networking websites.

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Painpoints

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User Personas

Problem Statement: Doylla is a Culinary Student who needs to connect with professional chefs in her community and beyond because she needs to find a mentor that can help her grow in her career

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Problem Statement: Brychel is a Professional chef who needs to connect with other professionals online because he wants to discuss ideas and feel as part of a community

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User Journey Map

Information Architecture

It was important that the profile creation flow be as simple and as direct as possible. Thus, the information architecture followed a sequential structure in addition to a minimal hierarchical structure. I chose this to simplify things for the user

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Ideation

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Paper Wireframes

I started off the design process with drawing paper wireframes. Due to pain points discovered during research, I made the decision to keep the interface as clutter-free as possible.

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Digital Wireframes

I reinforced the idea of simplicity and warmth, a site that will draw users in and make them comfortable, with as little clutter as possible.

I opted for a carousel of large background images of other chefs to show a sense of community and diversity. I also included a prominent call to action button to get users focused on the task: profile creation

Click here to view low fidelity prototype

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Usability Testing

It was important to test functionality so I connected all the digital wireframes to create a prototype for user testing.

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Study type: Unmoderated usability study

Participants: 5Location: Lagos and remote

Duration: 30 minutes per user

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Refining the Design

Based on insights from the usability study, I made some changes in the next design iteration on the mockups.

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Mockups

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Click here to view high fidelity prototype

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Impact

Users were happy with the simplicity of the flow and the lack of clutter. They were also pleased about not being required to overshare details.

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What I learned

I discovered that implicit bias creeps up on us unaware despite our best intents. So it is important to keep checking oneself for any designer bias. Earlier, I had assumed that the user group for the design was professional chefs, but research helped reveal and fix that bias to include a wider range of catering and culinary workers.

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Next Steps

1. Conduct follow-up user tests to determine if the design meets requirements

2. Check for more accessibility issues and reiterate on the design to be more equitable

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Thank you!

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Click here to view View Case Study Slide Deck

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