Problem
An app designed to help people stay safe while dining out at restaurants during Coviid-19 pandemic.
Covix
RESPONSIBILITIES
Interviews
Journey map/ Persona
Final Design
Pushing through with coffee
TYPE
HCDE 318 project - 5 people
DURATION
11 weeks
Introduction
With the ongoing covid variant outbreaks during the pandemic, restaurant customers deal with the uncertainty of their safety. People are concerned with safety issues throughout the food consumption process. Our team created a comprehensive rating app for restaurants that grades each restaurant based on CDC and King County Covid safety guidelines and crowdsourcing. Our main question is:
Problem
How can we help make customers feel safe dining in restaurants during the pandemic?
Going out to bars/restaurants is suspected to be a primary cause in more than 40% of COVID-19 cases. Coronavirus moves and thrives more quickly indoors with singing cheering and talking. This all helps the virus spread faster and easier among people.
Solution
What Covix does
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Inform restaurant-goers about COVID-19 precautions — users are informed about what precautions are being taken or not
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Allow customers to give direct input — This helps to keep the Covid related information as up-to-date as possible.
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The COVID-19 safety information — can be viewed in a variety of ways that are up to the discretion of the user.
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A consistent and up-to-date rubric is available — CDC guidelines are included as well as local guidelines
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Accessible and open-source data — that anyone can use, including other companies
Design Process
The design process I followed was, loosely gathering information, defining the problem, idea-generating, modeling and testing. All of this was interweaved with feasibility assessments, decision-making, evaluation, and communication. Of course, the design process is not always linear, so the steps were just a general framework through which we conducted our design work.
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Interviews
For the subsequent phase, I conducted interviews with five individuals, specifically selecting those who frequently dine out at restaurants during the pandemic. This allowed us to delve into their restaurant selection process, safety precautions, and more.
My main research goals were to find out more about
User's needs and wants in finding a restaurant
What kinds of restaurants users choose to go during the pandemic
How often do users dine out? how this has been changed since the pandemic?
What information do they gather before going out?
Storyboard
We developed Storyboards to visually depict the entire user journey of dining out during the pandemic. This enabled us to empathize with the user's needs, goals, and emotions, ensuring our products are more relevant and aligned with their expectations
Key Insight
From the interview data, it became evident that over 50% of the users expressed significant concerns about table spacing, reservations, sanitization, and the crowd level at a dining place
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People expressed a desire to share real-time updates about the restaurants they visit during Covid-19, particularly to gauge their spacing and safety precautions
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Over half of the users highlighted their specific concerns about table spacing, reservations, sanitization, and the crowd level at these establishments
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The majority of users preferred restaurants that provided accurate and trustworthy information about their Covid-19 safety guidelines before making their choice.
Competitive Analysis
To gain deeper market insights, we performed a competitive analysis on Yelp and Google, as they are the most commonly used tools among our users. Our findings revealed that both platforms offer inconsistent choices of information regarding Covid safety guidelines, making it challenging to locate these details, often requiring multiple clicks and searches. Additionally, the Covid-19 information provided by both platforms is limited yet comprehensive
Persona
Drawing from the data collected in my research, I synthesized the insights and findings of four participants, shaping them into a persona named Maryam. This persona served as a representation of my target users, keeping their needs and preferences at the forefront of my design process
Maryam, a 22-year-old TA student, plans to celebrate her birthday with friends at a restaurant and is currently searching for the perfect dining venue
Journey Map
The insights gathered from our research were employed to construct an experience map, showcasing the user journey of our primary personas. This map helps designers and stakeholders gain a comprehensive understanding of the user's perspective and identify any pain points they may encounter.
LOW-FI WIREFRAMES
We created interactive black and white wireframes so that we could test them with users and get feedback.
Design & Test
We tested our Low Fidelity prototypes with a few users so we could get feedback and learn from our mistakes and then we iterate.
PROS
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User-friendly and straightforward
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Information is easily accessible
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The rating of a restaurant is easily found and reviewed
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One click is all it takes for users to post reviews
CONS
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It is difficult to navigate between certain pages
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Having trouble realizing some slide-up functions
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There is a problem with the size and shape of the buttons on the homepage
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The grading rubric is inconsistent and unclear
FINAL DESIGN
During the last stage of prototyping, our emphasis lies on the visual elements of the design, considering how these visuals address the challenges faced by our intended audience
FIND A COVID-19 SAFE RESTAURANT
Upon logging in, users can search for a restaurant and view nearby restaurants based on Covid grading, distance, and location. Each restaurant is graded A,B,C,D based on how well it follows Covid safety rules. Additionally, users are notified if they have been exposed to Covid in that location in recent weeks. Additionally, users can view each restaurant's Covid rubric to see which rules and regulations it follows or does not follow.
GIVE FEEDBACK
Users can fill out a rubric in the feedback feature to provide Covid-related feedback on a restaurant. Users can quickly fill out the rubric by selecting multiple choices on Covid precautions that restaurants take without thinking about what a restaurant needs to follow.
In addition, users can upload photos or write notes to provide more feedback. By doing so, others can make an informed choice about which restaurant to dine at.
COVIX COMMUNITY
If users have a specific question, they can create a group chat on Covix community and chat with other users live. This process is faster than reading thousands of reviews, and it fosters a sense of community among users.
COVIX API
APIs for Covix are being shared with the public so that other businesses can integrate Covix into their platforms.
Learning
1. It's all about understanding users
In understanding our users, I learned that as a designer, what makes sense to me may not make sense to my users. I also learned that each user is unique. Some users give more importance to appearance, while others give more importance to functionality. Therefore, understanding the user requirements is essential to maximizing user experience
2. Importance of testing and evaluating prototypes
Because of this project, we realized the importance of prototype testing for exploring new design concepts. It made us test new designs to ensure they were viable solutions before putting in the development effort.
Overall, I felt that my team and I worked well together and delivered a quality app. Even though we were all hybrids, we collaborated effectively via multiple channels (design tools, Zoom, Slack, email, etc.) which helped streamline our processes and get the highest value-added.
3. Learning from collaborating
Previous Work
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