PIKI

Visual, UX/UI, Onboarding, Prototype, Moodboard

What Do You Want to Eat?

The daunting question that plagues many always comes about so casually, but at it’s worst I’ve seen it pit partner versus partner in an unrelenting match of indecisiveness. Like hosting Thanksgiving dinner, choosing a restaurant becomes a game of passing off responsibility to the next person. Sometimes, you just need someone to step up and make the decision.

Asking the People What They Want

With a problem in hand, I wanted to further elaborate on what features would be most appreciated by users, so I conducted surveys. With the results, I was better able to understand what people expected in a restaurant-based app.

I especially took note of why users experienced difficulty, and began to brainstorm solutions from there. Users gave various reasons for finding it difficult to decide on where to eat.

Some popular responses included:

Too many options to choose from
Indecisive personality
Inability to compromise
Dietary restrictions

Why is it Difficult to Make a Decision?

"I get bored with food I eat frequently and want to try new things but don't always know how to find something new."

"Too many good options. I'm indecisive."

"We like a lot of different cuisine and have a few favourite restaurants, so it’s hard to decide between them!"

What Would Improve Your Experience?

"An app that more easily lets you see menu items from each restaurant so you don't have to hunt it down from their website. Standardized way of marking if they offer food for certain dietary restrictions (ex: GF, allergies, vegetarian, vegan), maybe this could be a symbol by the restaurant name."

"Icons indicating dietary restriction options."

"If the menu was more easily accessible."

How Do You Currently Solve this Dilemma?

"We have a method! We narrow it down to several choices and then each one of us takes turns vetoing one place off of the list. The remainder is where we go. It's not hard, but it is somewhat of a process."

"One person usually says "oh this place is good" and we go there. Sometimes it's hard to make sure that the place we choose has options as sometimes friends can have some pretty strict dietary requirements (ex. being vegan)."

What is PIKI?

PIKI is meant to be fast and convenient for people who want sustenance right away. The app works based on your location and sorts out restaurants with higher ratings so you don’t have to spend time reading reviews before deciding. There are filters you can set for dietary restrictions or proximity, but my goal was to shorten the user journey as much as possible to cater to people who are constantly on the go or trying to beat the diminishing fuse of a hangry partner.

I'm very indecisive, and since I like almost all food it’s usually hard to decide on what I want the most. That’s why I let others decide.

— quote from interview

How common is this dilemma?

To determine how common this problem was, I conducted interviews and scoured through online forums and discussion boards and determined that this was recurring issue for many people. I heard many stories and various reasons from people, especially couples, on why choosing where to eat is such a chore.

I especially resonated with a couple’s anecdote about their travels in Taiwan. Even as avid foodies, they easily found themselves overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the night market and the last thing they wanted to do was bury their heads into their phones to research where to go. In moments like this, an instant reccomendation would be ideal.

The Journey to Dinner

I began by laying out an ideal user flow and experience map of a couple’s first time using PIKI to coordinate users emotions with touch points in their journey. The map helped me hone in on where the pain points were and where there were opportunities to enhance the overall experience.

What are the Priorities?

The goal is to cut down the time from the initial asking of “What do you want to eat?” to the moment of the first bite of food.

Efficiency

Users should be able to get a restaurant recommendation in just 1-click.

Proximity

Keeping restaurants within a convenient vicinity ensures faster customer satisfaction.

Quality

Including only highly-rated restaurants in the selection pool reduces need for extensive research.

Finding the Right Mood

With a solid idea of user needs established, I was ready to move onto some visual aspects. I curated a mood board inspired by the liveliness I’ve experienced in street food markets around Asia. The concept of a randomized restaurant selector app is quite exciting and fun, and I wanted to carry this energy throughout the design. From this collection of images, I was able to produce a color scheme that I thought would be visually pleasing to foodies of any generation.

Time to Put it All Together

With feedback from the initial designs and with the input from surveys in mind, I was able to begin construction on a hi-fidelity prototype. I found the fun concept of a restaurant spinner to be less apparent in the first mockup, so I was intentional in making sure the final designs more confidently showcased this idea because it’s what distinguishes PIKI from other restaurant apps in the first place.

There were many revisions of the prototype, from switching to a darker interface for more comfortable readability to additions of restaurant menus. I took into consideration what users didn’t find in other apps.

Always Looking to Improve

After a couple rounds of user testing, I had a better grasp on where users might be met with confusion and how to alleviate it. I added some onboarding frames to familiarize users with the main features of PIKI. I wanted it to be clear that there were options for someone who needed a no-fuss recommendation immediately and also options for people with more particular needs.

Always Looking to Improve

Where PIKI is Headed

I can excitedly see PIKI continuing to grow in many ways. There are other possible questions and ideas to address, such as a feature to make it easy for multiple people to create a spinner of recommendations and have a space for collaboration. Moving forward, I would like to venture more into making PIKI a tool for compromise and communication between users.

Getting the Ideas Down

On the drawing board, I configured several layouts and designs to determine the most convenient interface. As mentioned earlier, I wanted to minimize the time spent having to research restaurants and provide a quick 1-click solution. In addition, I wanted to add the option for others to take the time to customize their preferences if they so wished.

It was important to make the app approachable and intuitive for first time users. Also, users are most likely to be out and about in busy environments or maybe in a stressed emotional state having to deal with the conflict of figuring out a place with limited time, so I thought it would be helpful to keep features on the home screen as minimal as possible.