Tala's Portfolio

Case Study

Reimagined a concept kitchen platform with the aim to improve accessibility to home cooked healthy eating through delivery.

Duration

Jun 2024 - Aug 2024

Main Task

Identifying a product strategy to penetrate the competitive food market.

Hats Worn

Branding

UX/UI Designer

UX Research

Graphic Design

Product Strategy

Tools

Figma

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

About

Novus is a decentralized food marketplace that bridges the gap between time-constrained individuals seeking authentic, home-cooked ethnic meals and small businesses or home cooks looking to monetize their culinary skills. The platform reimagines how busy professionals and families access quality, culturally diverse food by tapping into an underutilized network of talented home cooks within their communities.

The Brief

Create a trusted, accessible platform that connects local home cooks with consumers in their community while preserving and celebrating culinary diversity by enabling home cooks to share authentic ethnic dishes. as a two sided marketplace, lower barriers to entry for food entrepreneurs while ensuring food safety and quality standards.

“In 2023, spending at food-away-from-home establishments accounted for 58.5% of total food spending—the highest share since the data series began in the 1930s.”

— USDA Economic Research Service, Food Expenditure Series (2024)

“In 2023, spending at food-away-from-home establishments accounted for 58.5% of total food spending—the highest share since the data series began in the 1930s.”

— USDA Economic Research Service, Food Expenditure Series (2024)

The Design Process

The Roadmap at a Glance

Usability Testing and Iterations

Final Prototype

Research Takeaways

Painpoints Identified

Limited nutritional information

on pdf menus and 3rd party ordering sites, preventing informed decision making

Limited nutritional information

on pdf menus and 3rd party ordering sites, preventing informed decision making

Limited nutritional information

on pdf menus and 3rd party ordering sites, preventing informed decision making

lack of access to ethnically diverse meal choices.

meal options available are usually generic well-known ethnic options.

lack of access to ethnically diverse meal choices.

meal options available are usually generic well-known ethnic options.

lack of access to ethnically diverse meal choices.

meal options available are usually generic well-known ethnic options.

lack of accessibility

Options such as text to speech for those with disabilities, causing some to refrain from ordering at all

lack of accessibility

Options such as text to speech for those with disabilities, causing some to refrain from ordering at all

lack of accessibility

Options such as text to speech for those with disabilities, causing some to refrain from ordering at all

Lack of option to order home-cooked meals in advance

unless it’s a frozen food company and weekly delivery

Lack of option to order home-cooked meals in advance

unless it’s a frozen food company and weekly delivery

Lack of option to order home-cooked meals in advance

unless it’s a frozen food company and weekly delivery

Humanizing Research Findings

User Persona

Ilya Khan

Age: 28

Education: Mechanical Engineering ddddddiiidi Graduate

Hometown: Dallas, Texas

Family: Unmarried, 1 Cat

Occupation: Automation Engineer at oooooooooo Large Corporation

“My priorities are my career goals right now, my personal lifestyle comes second, as long as I can eat healthy without stressing about it, I'm not worried about it.”

Bio

Iliya Khan is a busy automation engineer with dyslexia and dietary restrictions who is trying to efficiently eat healthier at work to lose weight so he can be a better employee while maintaining his health to get back into the dating scene.

Goals

Be efficient in daily work and decide what to eat quickly and eat well during lunch break

Eat healthier to meet fitness goals, to get back in the dating scene

be mindful of his dietary restrictions by avoiding mistakes during ordering due to dyslexia

Be efficient in daily work and decide what to eat quickly and eat well during lunch break

Eat healthier to meet fitness goals, to get back in the dating scene

be mindful of his dietary restrictions by avoiding mistakes during ordering due to dyslexia

Frustrations

Having to read through complicated lunch menus and not being able to find a good option quickly.

“I could save time if the website would just show and save my dietary preferences for future orders.”

“dietary restrictions greatly affect my health; I avoid ordering online when menus aren’t legible as I could be compromising my health

Having to read through complicated lunch menus and not being able to find a good option quickly.

“I could save time if the website would just show and save my dietary preferences for future orders.”

“dietary restrictions greatly affect my health; I avoid ordering online when menus aren’t legible as I could be compromising my health

Summary

Iliya is extremely busy with work these days but is trying to build a healthier lifestyle as much as his career permits as he is on the lookout to start dating again. His work is extremely demanding so it has been increasingly difficult for him to meal-prep for work, and as a solo immigrant, he also feels extremely homesick, missing his moms cooking, but he is also weary of ordering out because his dyslexia makes it difficult to navigate orders. His strict dietary restrictions make the possible ordering of the wrong food due to his dyslexia life-threatening.

Hypothesis Statement

We believe that providing Iliya with an accessible ordering experience—including screen reader support, visual food imagery, and transparent nutritional information, will enable him to efficiently select meals that support his health and fitness goals. We will know this is true when Iliya completes orders faster, reports higher confidence in his food choices, and expresses a sense of community connection through supporting local home cooks.

Ideation Overview

we crafted a how might we statement to identify how to narrow down the most effective solution for Iliya.

"How might we make authentic, home-cooked meals as accessible and efficient to order as fast food, without compromising health, transparency, or community connection?

Our How Might We Statement guides us from divergence to direction; using 2 rounds of timed brainstorming to crazy 8s, generating a wide range of concepts, practicing critical thinking pushed through rapid ideation.

User Journey Map

User Flow

The user journey map was continued to inform decision making for the user flow diagram.

Typography

In this design, emphasis is given to visible accessibility for all, keeping simple, clean typography throughout the app.

Colors

#FF9900

#FFEDD9

#FF8A00

#2B2B2B

#82832C

Logo Design

Manrope

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

123456789

Manrope

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

123456789

Manrope

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

123456789

Heading 1

Heading 2

Sub-Heading

Sub-Heading 2

Paragraph

Bold

Medium

Extra Bold

Medium

32 px

16 px

14 px

12 px

The Wireframes

The first draft prototyped for usability testing

Low Fidelity Wireframes

High-Fidelity Wireframes

Go To Prototype

Pages Designed

Usability Tests Conducted

Iterations Made

Go To Prototype

Final Design Breakdown

Digital Mockup

Onboarding

Final Design Breakdown

first intro to application with options to move forward based on option of categories or build your own Customized meal. this menu can be optimized for users who choose to create an account to track previous orders and get access to scheduling and meal suggestions based on preferences

Home Screen

Customize Order Screen

Onboarding screens point to app’s main feature: cultural menu, freedom of ingredient choice or the option for meals from scratch and the option to schedule meals ahead, addressing the main 3 user pain points identified during the research phase of the project, with an option to skip these screens and get straight to the menus.

feature ability to customize entire meal manually or through a recipe upload and other instructions, allowing users access to a virtual kitchen to cook any meals based on needs, wants, and preferences

Manual recipe entry from recipe sites to have backend feature parsing webpage with an option to confirm with user and send recipe to kitchen in a standardized format for preparation.

Meal customization includes all options from the basic breakdown of base carbs and protein to the spice and herbs that go into making the dish so the user has the freedom to design the meal as they would at home.

Fixed footer keeps user informed about what stage in the customization process they are in.

When scheduling meals, users are told upfront, the amount of meals available, their plan details, and an updatable status box that lets them know the status of their scheduling.

Schedule Meals Screen

users can schedule meals for delivery in advance each week by specifying time of delivery for each day, meals are delivered fresh and on time every day of the week based on their preference.

when a meal is chosen for a specific course, it is listed in that weeks schedule, with immediate editing options available for time and meal choice

unchosen meals remain blank until tapped on and updated

Manual recipe entry from recipe sites to have backend feature parsing webpage with an option to confirm with user and send recipe to kitchen in a standardized format for preparation.

Usability Testing Results

(Explained through Iterations)

"did the Item add to cart?"

Previously

Users were all confused about confirmation of items added to cart, check out confirmation due to lack of notification/ visibility of system status, doubting whether the action they had taken was registered in system

Solution

Overlay confirming action taken to ensure clarification of choices made by user in real time

Go To Prototype

Key Impacts

Easy support to small businesses

providing small business owners and home cooks with the opportunity to gain exposure in the market, while providing home cooked meals to an increasing globalized community of immigrants in the west.

Awareness on nutritional value

fresh meals are produced with complete transparency of calories and nutritional breakdown to spread awareness about healthy eating

virtual cooking involvement

by being able to customize all aspects of meals,, users can participate in higher involvement if they choose of their meals, creating just the taste and nutritional value they desire.

Personal Takeaways

Making Consistent design choices for intuitive flow

When users like Iliya are navigating under time pressure, every inconsistency creates friction. I learned that repeating visual patterns, predictable interactions, and uniform hierarchy allows users to focus on their goal—not on figuring out the interface.

Transparancy and simplicity build trust

For users making health-conscious decisions, hidden information feels like a barrier. By surfacing nutritional details upfront and keeping the interface uncluttered, I learned that clarity becomes a form of care—it tells users we respect their needs and have nothing to hide.