Just Eat

Research / User Testing / UX / UI Design
The task was to research and identify an existing application (or part of an existing application) that requires an improved user experience. This project was part of a certificate course in User Research + User Experience Design at IADT that I attended (online) in 2021.

As we were in the middle of a global pandemic and food delivery services such as Just Eat, Uber Eats, and Deliveroo had become hugely popular, we were given the Just Eat App as our assignment. As part of a team of three, we all contributed to the following processes;
  1. Empathise
  2. Define
  3. Ideate
  4. Prototype
  5. Testing
  6. Conclusion
CREDITS
Team members: Fiona Dermody, Ella Tyrell, and myself!
Imagery: Just Eat, Unsplash
Image of a male delivery guy for Just Eat. He is on an orange bike and is wearing an orange t-shirt and jeans and white trainers. He has an orange Just Eat bag on his back. There is a heading on the left 'Just Eat Redesign' and there is an image of a phone layered over the delivery guy with a Just Eat logo and login and sign up buttons on it.

Empathise

During the discovery phase, we started off by trying to identify and validate UX problems within the Just Eat app. We carried out a product walkthrough and a nano usability test.

We wrote a discussion guide and conducted five interviews on Microsoft Teams, gaining valuable (qualitative) data, which helped us understand some of the problems that user's faced.

Armed with these results, we created an online questionnaire using Microsoft Forms and obtained further (quantitative) data helping us to better understand the user's perspectives.

In our survey, 69% of respondents reported that they had been ordering food online for over a year, with 59% of respondents reporting that they order food online every week, the most popular days for orders being Friday and Saturday.

The three main reasons reported in our survey were a reward by 82% of respondents, 41% of respondents cited ordering food online was due to convenience, and 18% of respondents reported that they were too busy to prepare food.

Just Eat was reported as the most popular online platform for ordering food by 71% of respondents, followed by Deliveroo (41%) and Tesco Online (35%). While the overall consensus among respondents was that ordering food online is a positive experience, however many areas could be addressed to improve the user experience.
Image of a light grey rectangle with a white border. There is a heading 'Nano Usability Tests' in orange text. And three quotes; 'I like burgers for example, so I don’t know which cuisine a burger would fall under, so I am going to select see all cuisines?' Just Eat 'Very impressed with the estimated arrival time and moving image of the frying pan because I can easily see that the restaurant is working on my order and I know when it will arrive' Competitor 'Love the images of the food as it made it easier to decide what dish to pick' CompetitorImage of an orange rectangle with a white border. The heading 'Interviews' - Key Findings/Five Interviews is in a light orange speech bubble. There various sentences spread throughout like; 'Likes offer', Likes photos of food online', Real-time delivery is cool', etc.Image of a light grey rectangle with a white border. It has a heading 'Online Survey' in orange text. It features survey results from an online food delivery services survey.

Define

Using the research data, we created two role-based perspectives. Our primary persona is Clara, 27, a Marketing Professional and self-confessed foodie who lives in the city with friends. She loves to socialise, enjoys time with her family and likes cooking, eating out and ordering takeaways.
Image of a Persona featuring 'Clara'. It highlights various information about Clara including; Demographic, Attitudes, Frustrations, and Goals. The colours used are a medium and light sandy colour.
Our secondary persona is Nathan, 50, a Public Sector Worker, a home-owner who lives alone in the city. He's very busy with multiple demands on his time. He likes technology and the convenience of online shopping. He enjoys cooking but doesn't always have the time to cook.
Image of a Persona featuring 'Nathan'. It highlights various information about Nathan including; Demographic, Attitudes, Frustrations, and Goals. The colours used are a dark and light blue colour.
We then created Empathy Maps, To-be User Journey and As-is User Journey Maps. Helping us identify our user's actions and behaviours while interacting with the application, allowing us to understand their positive experiences and negative experiences (pain points).
Image of an Empathy Map of Clara on the left and Richard on the right. Each side is split into 4 quadrants with the headings; Says, Thinks, Feels, Does
To be map featuring Clara. It's split into four rows with the headings; Steps, Doing, Thinking and Feeling. Coloured grey, lime green, light purple, and light blue respectively.
To be map featuring Nathan. It's split into four rows with the headings; Steps, Doing, Thinking and Feeling. Coloured grey, lime green, light purple, and light blue respectively.
Image of an Affinity Map featuring information under heading like; Real-time delivery, Time-saving features in app, Features - customisation, Features - visualisation, Lifestyle & food preferences, Deals / offers / loyalty in the colours; blue, green, orange, red, yellow and purple respectively.
From our research, including both insights from qualitative interviews and results from the quantitative survey on users, we found that there were a number of issues while using the app, as well as general trends on online food delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The key problems identified from these research findings are as follows;
Image of a light grey rectangle with a white border and the heading 'Problem Statement' in an orange colour. Below this is the text 'As a young working professional trying to eat healthily, I like to discover new food and different cuisines, but I find it difficult to easily find a good deal/special offer from local restaurants or browse best sellers' Clara and to the right of this the text 'I’m struggling because I work long hours and don’t always have time to prepare my meals. I often order takeaway to save me time but feel frustrated when I don’t know how long a delivery will take' Nathan

Ideate

We introduced several new features to our Just Eat redesign, as per the feedback from our research.

The first of our new features is a large, ‘search by dish’ search bar. Making it easy for user's to type in a dish rather than a restaurant or a cuisine type. As we are working from home more during (and after) the pandemic people are ordering food at different times throughout the day as opposed to the traditional weekend takeaway treats.

The new trends see breakfast, brunch and lunch becoming more popular and specific dishes as people want to eat healthier and try new dishes/cuisines.

Next, we added a carousel of ‘Special Offers,’ followed by a carousel of ‘Trending Dishes.’ Both carousels have large images of the dish and a detailed description of the dish and its ingredients - something the users asked for in our research - almost like a restaurant menu!

A visible estimated delivery time is displayed on each dish/restaurant, along with delivery cost and distance.
Image of a wireframe sketch of five iPhone designs for the Just Eat app.
Image of a light grey rectangle with a white border and the heading 'New Features'. Below this is the text number 1 to 5; 1 Search by dish 2 Special Offers 3 Trending Dishes 4 Delivery time displayed 5 Real-time Delivery To the right of the text are three iPhones with images of the Just Eat app. The first is of Restaurants, second Special Offers, and the third Delivery Status. There are the numbers 1 to 5 in a magenta circle dotted across the phones. 1,2 and 3 on the first phone, 4 on the second phone and 5 on the third phone.

Prototype

We used standard elements across the app that users are already familiar with. The colour, language, menus, and buttons are consistent throughout the app. There is nothing that will throw or confuse a regular user of the app.

Much of the feedback from users was on the lack of or how poor the images of food across the app were. As we know, we eat with our eyes first. We wanted to introduce delicious-looking imagery, to tempt and entice the user.
An image of a burger in a brioche bun with bacon, lettuce, fried onion and avocado. Image of a pizza in an open box.The pizza is pepperoni with red and yellow pepper and cheese. Image of a bento box containing various sushi rolls.Image of fish and chips. Two pieces of fish with a wedge of lemon on one of them and chips with a ramekin of tartare sauce and ketchup.Image of a bowl of rich looking seafood broth with various seafood and shellfish. Image of a plastic takeaway bowl with a portion of humus in the centre with falafels surrounding it. There is a mixture of salads (carrot, pasta and lettuce). There is a piece of wholemeal flatbread to the side.Image of a Thai curry in a dark clay bowl with meat and green vegetables with sliced red peppers. Close up image of a chicken burger with a jam relish and cucumber with a white sauce in a bun. The burger is in a cardboard container.Close up of a dish in a blue shallow bowl. The contents of the bowl is various roasted vegetables with grilled cheese on top.
Image of a Figma design of the Just Eat app. It features 14 screens on a grey background. There are light blue arrowed lines connecting the screens to each other.
We also redesigned parts of the UI without interfering or losing the overall look and feel of the Just Eat brand.

We rearranged the filter and search icon to the right and changed the colour.

Replaced the images on the 'cuisine type' carousel to outline icons.

And also changed the menu items on the footer slightly and made them a fill colour instead of an outline.
CURRENT
NEW
Image of an iPhone featuring the current Just Eat app.Image of an iPhone featuring the New Just Eat app design.
Close up image of one of the screens from the FIgma designed Just Eat app. It features the Restaurants page and has a cuisine carousel, search by dish search bar, a 'special offers' section featuring three images headings, descriptions, prices, and delivery distance and time, The three dishes are Kuma Burger, Traditional Bento Box and Two 12" Divine Pizzas. Below this is a 'Trending Dishes' section featuring Thai Shellfish Pot, Fresh Cod & Chips and Falafel Salad. There are two restaurants advertised below this; Senbazuru Izakaya and La Trattoria.
Close up image of the new Just Eat App design for a college assignment.
Image of an iPhone on a black background. The phone contains a design of the Just Eat app. It's on the 'Payment' page, with payment method and card details. Below this is a large orange button with the text 'Confirm Payment'.Image of an iPhone containing a design of the Just Eat app. It's on the 'Special Offers' page, with an image of a burger and a bento box below this. There is a large orange button below the burger content with the text 'Order Now'.Image of an iPhone containing a design of the Just Eat app. It's on the 'Cart' page, with an image of a bento box and the order details below with a large orange button on the bottom with the text 'Proceed to Payment'.Image of an iPhone containing a design of the Just Eat app. It's on the 'Checkout' page, with address details and delivery method and delivery price and total. Below this is a large orange button with the text 'Make a Payment'.Image of an iPhone containing a design of the Just Eat app. It's on the 'Order Dispatched' page, with expected arrival time and delivery persons name and order details. Below this is a large orange button with the text 'Delivery Status'.Image of an iPhone containing a design of the Just Eat app. It's on the 'Delivery Status' page, with a map of Dublin in the background and an expected delivery time of 21:46. There is an orange circle with an icon of a cyclist indicating their location. There is a green icon of a house, indicating the destination.

Testing

For our usability testing, we used three participants, giving them two tasks to complete. All three tests were carried out online.

Task 1
You have an appointment in 50 minutes but want to grab a quick bite to eat beforehand. You have heard that the ‘trending dishes’ on Just Eat are really good and you’ve been meaning to try one. Can you find the trending dish with the fastest delivery time?

Task 2
A friend has told you that there is a ‘special offer’ on Japanese food on the Just Eat app. You are excited to try it as you haven’t had Japanese food in ages. Can you order a dish, then add a miso soup to the order? After that, can you check the delivery status of the order?

Test Outcomes

Participant 1
In an earlier iteration, we had an arrow beside the 'Special Offers' and 'Trending Dishes' carousels. The arrow was there to prompt the user to scroll right to see more. We felt that the design didn't need the arrow as almost half the image and text of the next item was 'off the screen' and this should be enough of a prompt.

The decision to remove the arrow was justified when it was noticed that participant 1 tried to click the arrow on a couple of occasions - mistaking it for a link. This may have been down to the participant testing the app on a laptop and using a mouse.

They may have acted differently on a phone or tablet. Nevertheless, following a team meeting, it was decided to remove the arrows as we felt they were unnecessary.
An image of part of the Just Eat App Redesign. Showing a heading 'Special Offers' and an orange arrow pointing right with a magenta outline circle around it. There is an image of a burger below this with the text 'Delivered in 25-35 mins' and the text 'Try the Best!' on the image in a gold circle. There is an image to the right of this of a bento box and the text 'Delivered in 20-30 mins'.
Participant 2
Participant 2 suggested we include a tally of the amount spent per month. A great suggestion but for the purposes of this project, we decided it was not necessary.

Participant 3
Participant 3 found no issues in completing the tasks.
View Figma Prototype

Conclusion

Image of an orange rectangular shape with a white border with the text inside the rectangle of 'Conclusion' in white text. A line of grey text below this 'The areas that our research proved needed attention were:' and in five circles below this is 'Special Offers', 'Stronger Photography', 'Variety/Trending Dishes', 'Visible Delivery Times', 'Real-time Delivery'. Below this is the text 'We feel that although we only redesigned a small portion of the app, that we satisfied the needs of the user and improved their user experience.'

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