Mince Restaurant Website Concept
Mince is a delivery-only web-based restaurant with an emphasis on balanced meals using fresh nutrient-dense ingredients with customizable texture and consistencies as a service for young families with babies and/or with children struggling with picky-eating.
Project
Date
December 2020 to January 2021
This project was a design challenge in which I controlled all aspects of the process to design a delivery-only web-based restaurant with customizability at the center of the platform.
Role
Solo Project
Tasks: Ideation, user research, competition research, mapping, interaction, testing via paper prototypes, wireframes, visual research and design, information architecture
Tools
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Adobe XD, Treejack
Summary
The aim of this design challenge is to develop a website with an emphasis on being a service to young parents and caregivers. It’s uniqueness is in its customizability of food textures and consistencies while ensuring meals are balanced nutrient-wise. Ultimately, the landing page aesthetics have been able to communicate health and freshness and order process design of the website promotes usability and accessibility in a simple and straightforward manner with good use of wayfinding techniques and readability.
Visual Mock-Ups
High-Fidelity
Clickable Prototype
The Challenge
Create an app that appeals to the target audience, fulfills user and conceptualized needs and goals, and stands out from the competition.
Restaurant Concept
Menu
Balanced meals using fresh, nutrient dense ingredients with customizable choices/food consistencies.
Packaging.
Bowl
Bento
Ingredient Choices.
Veggies: spinach, carrot, broccoli, garlic, Brussels sprouts, kale, green peas, Swiss chard, ginger, asparagus, red cabbage, beets, cucumber, cauliflower
Fruit: banana, apple, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, mango, cantaloupe, honeydew, grapes, pears, kiwi, papaya, orange, peaches
Protein: beef, chicken, fish, egg, tofu, shrimp, beans, yogurt
Starch: potato, sweet potato, whole grain bread, whole grain cereal, oats, white rice, brown rice, quinoa, whole grain pasta, gluten-free options, tortilla
Fats: avocado, peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower butter, cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese
Food Consistency.
Level 1 - pureed
Level 2 - ground/minced
Level 3 - soft solid chopped
Level 4 - soft solid
Level 5 - regular
Seasoning.
Low
Regular
Location
Gilbert, AZ (suburban) has 32,300 families with kids, 21% of which are <6 years of age and likely to require food texture/consistency modification either due to stage of development or picky-eating.
Main Target Audience
Young parents with babies and/or children who are picky-eaters.
Caregivers caring for people on dysphagia diets.
Cost
$$ - Midrange
Target Audience & User Personas
Roles
Mother
Father
Primary caregiver for those with chronic disabilities
Busy working mother or father with a full-time job
Single mother or father
Demographics
Most likely more women than men
Late-20s to Mid-30s
Single, married, domestic partnerships, cohabitating
College education or higher
Healthcare workers, Managers and Office/Administrative Support staff, small Business/Financial operations, Education (teacher/professors), Sales
Household annual income of at least $70-80k
Psychographics
Personality and Attitudes
Responsible
Health conscious
Youthful
Active and busy and involved
Tendency to juggle multiple things all at once
Values
Centrist to moderately conservative
Healthy choices and lifestyle
Importance of family
Interests and Lifestyles
Daily walks with family
Swimming lessons for the children
Being active: yoga, gym, hiking
Routine
User Needs
Find out if the restaurant delivers to their area
Order food online
Healthy menu choices
Ability to choose the texture or consistency of the food
Find out about the quality of ingredients and where they are obtained (e.g., organic, local)
Schedule immediate or future deliveries (i.e., date and time)
Show notifications regarding delivery status
Save a custom order
See past orders
Contact support regarding possible issues that may arise
Client Needs
To sell food online that will be delivered
Provide a system for order customization
Encourage future scheduled deliveries
Communicate healthy quality ingredients
Communicate reliability and punctuality
Present self as a great tool to save time for busy young parents or other caregivers
The Conception
A concept come to life.
Process
1.
Ideation (Strategy and Outline of Scope)
2.
Research and Development
3.
Mapping (Flows and Interactions)
4.
Wireframes
5.
Visual Mock-Ups
6.
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Ideation
The challenge was identified that a web-based platform could solve (as outline above in the restaurant concept).
The needs, goals, and targeted outcomes were identified (as outlined above under user and designer needs)
Research & Development
Competition research
Delineation of content requirements and functionality requirements
Target user research (face-to-face interviews of 5 sets of young parents to delineate user needs and content/functional requirements)
The name Mince was chosen. It was simple and succinct fitting the overall design theme. It also represented a central component of the restaurant which was the customizability of food textures.
Competition
Daily Harvest
Web-based food delivery service including items marketed as healthy smoothies, harvest bowls, soups, and other nutritious meals.
BrightGreens
Web-based delivery services marketed as plant-based, frozen, and fresh blenderless smoothies.
Revive Superfoods
Another web-based food delivery service including items marketed as smoothies, oats, supermeals, smoothie bowls, falafel pops, and soups.
Content Requirements
Menu of customizable meals
“How it Works” regarding customizing and scheduling deliveries
Text that area of delivery is limited to Gilbert, AZ area
About Us
A Mission Statement
Information on the ingredients (e.g., quality, local)
Testimonials (from users and healthcare workers)
Information on different food consistencies, feeding developmental stages, and other populations who can benefit from food consistency modification
Statement on “The Promise” of quality ingredients and punctual/reliability of each order
Contact phone number to call regarding issues during business hours and address
Business hours
FAQ
Where do you deliver?
How do I schedule an immediate or future delivery?
Can you cater to dietary restrictions?
Do you charge for delivery?
How much time do you need prior to an order?
What is your pricing structure?
Who can I contact regarding issues or concerns?
Terms of Services
Privacy Policy
Functionality Requirements
Create customized bowls or bento boxes
veggies
fruits
starches
protein
fats
level of food texture/consistency
level of seasoning or fat
Place an order for immediate delivery
contact and delivery information
make payment
get order confirmation
Track real time delivery status
Schedule future deliveries
confirm and make payments on an upcoming delivery
make changes or cancel scheduled deliveries
Create an account
save custom orders
view past deliveries and custom orders
payment information
Indicate food allergies
Get help via a live chat feature
Log in
Delete an account
Mapping
(flows & interactions)
wireframes
Visual Research
Results
Largely, I am pleased with the aesthetics and the simplicity of the order process of the website. One thing that I would do in possible iterations is to consider the elimination of the “checkout” link as the same function can be accomplished under “order”. Furthermore, I would consider adding some testimonials on the homepage to increase likelihood of users to respond to the call to action.