MEAN SAMMIES
For the past few months, I’ve daydreamed about the alternate life where I own a small sandwich shop experimenting with different flavors and ingredients. Experimenting with different flavor combinations and layering has always been a fun activity for me. When I play it out just right, I can make a pretty mean sandwich. Mean Sammies is the hypothetical take-out sandwich shop I have in Fort Myers, Florida where I live out this alternative life. As I continue to develop on this concept, I hope to apply some of my graphic design skills to the menu items that I am crafting alongside designing an ordering app for Mean Sammies.
The main products and features that Mean Sammies offers to its customers is customizable sandwiches sensitive to different dietary preferences, restrictions, or allergies. Mean Sammies has multiple options that are gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, and include a variety of customization options. Mean Sammies wants to challenge the conventional sandwich ordering process - to really push the buns. It’s intended to be an easy way to get a fresh, healthy, specialty sandwich your way on the go. Ideally, Mean Sammies would expand to have additional options to allow for easy group order management. This menu ordering processes will also allow for customers to submit their Mean Sammy orders to be featured on the menu. To view my latest Figma Prototype, please click here.
Sandwich Shop App Case Study
Google UX Design Professional Certificate Project
The Google UX Design Professional Certificate is broken up into seven courses. Early on, I choose a project prompt that I've been building my project on independently as I advance through the course. Throughout the course, the assignments are peer reviewed as feedback culture is fundamental to the UX design process. As I progress, I will continue to share updates on the development of this project.
Selected Project Prompt: "Design an ordering app for a sandwich shop"
EMPATHIZE
DEFINE
IDEATE
PROTOTYPE
TEST
EMPATHIZE
As a UX designer, empathizing with users enhances the products you create because you experience the product as your user does. It is the central, driving force of how products are designed. The better you are at anticipating a user’s desires and needs, the more comfortable your user will feel with the product you design. The first focus was defining the scope of my research and understanding potential users of my sandwich app. Based on the concept of my hypothetical sandwich shop, I determined my research goals, defined my target audience, and formulated interview questions that align with my research goals.
My work is compiled in the User Research Report and
Using my findings, I crafted two user personas, Amanda and Jeff, whose goals and characteristics represent the needs of a larger group of my users. More persona details can be found in my Understanding The User Slide Deck. Here are their user stories.
“As a young intern trying to build trust with my team on simple tasks, I want to find a better way to manage customized group orders in advance so that each employee can have a great lunch and learn webinar experience.”
"As an on-the-go calorie-conscious foodie and visual learner, I want to easily customize, save and share specialty low-calorie sandwich options so that my partner and I can eat on the go freely without having to question how healthy our food is.”
Amanda and Jeff's user stories lead to the study of a user journey map for each persona. Due to the early stages of this project, the map tracks the general experience the user currently experiences to try to complete their goal.
Is it getting notifications on food preparation updates? Is it placing the actual order?
Is it gaining membership rewards? Is it how easy the process is to customize your order?
Is it more comfortable to select toppings from a list or table, see them graphically, or to have customizable preset options?
Lack of rewards membership? Customizations difficult for people with allergies or dietary preferences? Shopping cart randomly emptying? Payment issues? Too many steps to reach checkout?
Are users making their order while out on errands to pick up on the way home?
How are users currently creating group orders for friends, family, or coworkers?
Are users making the order while driving? Should there be a speech-entry option if the user’s mobile device is in driving mode? Should we explore a simplified navigation that's for driving mode?
Are there any special or additional features that the user would like to see?
I want to understand what the most satisfying part is of making a mobile food order.
I want to understand what additional level of customization that a user wants for their order.
I want to identify what makes a user feel frustrated when using mobile order devices
I want to understand what are the typical conditions in which they would be ordering from my sandwich shop.
I want to understand what a user needs or desires during the ordering processes.
I want to understand what would make the user feel happier and more comfortable when using the app.
Research Goals
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Users are hungry and wanting a quick sandwich on-the-go with well-thought-out specialty flavor combinations and various customization options
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Users may be younger, trendy college students with specific dietary preferences that creates a need for customizable orders.
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Users can be busy, working parents picking up the children from practice and swinging by to pick up sandwiches on the way home.
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Users are the same working parents picking up lunch during the workday in large group orders.
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Users may be frustrated with finding healthy fast food with their dietary-restrictions and would like a reliable, go-to sandwich shop.
Target Audience
I selected four of the course-provided fictional user bios to “interview” that represented the ideal users of my app. The goal of this empathy exercise was to think through the opinions, experiences, and pain points of each user by really digging deep into how these people would answer my questions. I then organized my data and reflected on how the needs, challenges, and concerns of my users could be resolved. The details of this work can be found in my User Research Report.
After conducting my “interviews” I found the following general findings:
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Users want an easy way to save and order their go-to customized favorites
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Users want affordable customization to menu items
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Users want more graphics of menu items
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Users want more efficient ways to create customized group orders
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Users want other methods of customizing their order other than write-in boxes
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Users want calorie information
Interview Findings
DEFINE
Using the elements I created during my research, I was able to write problem statements, propose value propositions, and define user problems.
Jeff is an busy calorie-conscious foodie who needs easily customizable, healthy sandwiches on-the-go because, due to his dietary preferences and allergies, he has trouble with custom orders.
Amanda is a young, busy intern at a small law firm who needs an app that can plan group orders in advance by collecting and organizing her coworker’s orders, dietary preferences, and allergies because manually entering or calling in a group order with multiple customized orders is time consuming.
IDEATE
Below is a section of my audit findings focused on the competition’s product offerings, mobile interaction, and my competitive audit goal. For the full analysis, please view my Competitive Audit.
To better evaluate ideas based on business needs, I conducted a competitive audit for the Mean Sammies sandwich shop. The audit compares five direct and indirect competitors in my city with the following goal:
Compare ordering customized sandwich orders from each competitor's app with special attention to dietary restrictions or allergies and caloric information.
In summarizing my findings in the Competitive Audit Report, I was able to collect a list of competitor’s weaknesses, gaps in the market, and possible opportunities to develop.
Weaknesses
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Not having enough caloric information
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Not having enough visual imagery of the food or ingredients
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Difficulty to customize food
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Too wordy
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Visual branding consistency across platforms
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Additional features of saving orders require an account
Gaps
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Group orders on mobile
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Method to share an order or customized menu item for a group order
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Customizations that reflect ordering/layering of sandwich toppings
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Specific allergy notifier/check-box
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Consistent view of caloric total
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Viewing menu without setting order options or location
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Submitting customized orders to be featured on the menu
Opportunities
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Adding group order capabilities
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Scheduling orders in advance
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Creating menu filters for different dietary preferences
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Creating a more visual customization experience (less text)
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Allowing users to submit orders to be featured on the menu
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Allow preferences to view/hide caloric information
Competitor | Type | Product Offering | Unique Value Proposition | Website | Features | Accessibility | User Flow | Navigation | Caloric Information, Dietary Restriction, and Allergy Consideration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chic-fil-a | Indirect | Chicken breakfasts, meals, entrees fast food Friendly, easily customizable | Calories are updated as orders are modified | https://order.chick-fil-a.com/menu | OUTSTANDING: Reward program, saving orders, scan in store option | OUTSTANDING: Text-reader friendly (assumption), images for all menu items and ingredients | OUTSTANDING: Easy customizations, check out very efficient | OUTSTANDING: Rewards program easily accessibly and redeemable, shopping cart access and check out process smooth | OUTSTANDING: Live updates to caloric total with customizations, dairy and gluten allergy-friendly |
Jason's Deli | Indirect | Clean, wholesome ingredients in wide menu, catering, vegetarian, and gluten-sensitive menus | Filtered menus for vegetarian and gluten sensitive; location-based nutrition & allergen tool | https://www.jasonsdeli.com/ | OUTSTANDING: Vegetarian and gluten-free menus, easy customizations and write-in options | GOOD: Text-reader friendly (assumption), very wordy | OUTSTANDING: Clear sequence to order and allow for customizations, checkout process/cart access well situated
| OUTSTANDING: Clear way to reach cart at all times, well organized menu groupings | OUTSTANDING: Includes separate menus for gluten-free and vegetarian menus, also has "special requests" in customizations in addition to clear customization options, does not have updated or isolated caloric information |
Jimmy Johns | Direct | Fresh to order sandwiches of different sizes;
17 classics | "Unwhich" (lettuce wrap) option | https://online.jimmyjohns.com/ | OUTSTANDING: Rewards program addable to Apple Wallet, favorites option, no mobile group order | GOOD: Allows for Siri ordering, text-heavy | OUTSTANDING: Separate customizations page, customizations logical (extra, reg, ez, no) | GOOD: Easy basic navigation, clear indication of CTA elements | OKAY: Includes basic calorie range or set value, no filter features or write-in for dietary restrictions or allergies, limited options for varying dietary restrictions and allergies |
Wicked Good Deli | Direct | 23 specialty deli sandwiches, subs, and wraps | BYO option | https://www.wgdeli.com/ | OKAY: schedule order in advance, third party doesn't pertain to restaurant rewards | OKAY: Text reader-friendly (assumption) , no imagery | OUTSTANDING: Clear, straight forward ordering process, required and optional customizations good | GOOD: Clear access to cart and menu, lacks direct bar tab to account access
| NERDS WORK: "Special instructions" allows for allergy/restriction write-ins, no caloric information, limited options for varying dietary restrictions and allergies
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Subway | Direct | Classic subshop and salad bowl franchise menu | Bread varieties | https://order.subway.com/en-US | GOOD: Membership rewards program, guests have no additional features | GOOD: Text-reader friendly (assumption), imagery for customizations/ingredients | OUTSTANDING: Sandwich customizations clear, quantity options pop-up upon selecting an ingredient | OUTSTANDING: Cart accessible on all screens, create combo option after creating sandwich | GOOD: Allows for "real time" caloric updates per customizations, no filter features or write-in for dietary restrictions or allergies |
PROTOTYPE
Goal Statement
The research conducted throughout this project was incredibly helpful to transition into the prototyping phase. I began by focusing on my user persona, Jeff, and responding to his initial problem statement with a goal statement.
Jeff is a busy, calorie-conscious foodie who needs easily customizable, healthy sandwiches on-the-go because, due to his dietary preferences and allergies, he has trouble with custom orders.
Our app’s customizable sandwich feature will let users easily modify their orders which will affect how effectively a user can build their sandwich by allowing them to have more flexibility when easily selecting ingredients per their dietary preferences. We will measure effectiveness by reviewing customer reviews, order histories, and filtering orders by customizations to ideate new menu additions.
Storyboard
The research conducted throughout this project was incredibly helpful to transition into the prototyping phase. I began by focusing on my user persona, Jeff, and responding to his initial problem statement with a goal statement.
Wireframing & Prototyping
My initial wireframes were sketched out by hand. I originally brainstormed on my reMarkable how the customization might appear to get my initial ideas down. Moving on, I focused at first on the home page listing key elements to maintain in each variation: featured menu items, shopping cart access, featured menu items, menu access, caloric information, build your own option, shop information, account access. The homepage wireframes include different lo-fi design ideas to explore alternative designs and layouts. After further developing the home screen, I moved forward to sketch out the next series of screens (tracing my own cell phone for reference) for the sandwich ordering and checkout process.
It was time to start to digitize these wireframes. I uploaded scans to Figma to further develop these ideas. This was my first experience using Figma so learning to use it while creating my first digital prototype was a valuable experience and I am very proud of what I was able to learn and accomplish.
TEST
At this point the majority of this project has been conducted using hypothetical user groups and research subjects as well as online course peer review and forum posts. Now that I had created a tangible working product, I was able to get some feedback from people in my personal life. A significant test subject is a friend of mind who is a back-end developer, explaining to me how I can present my ideas better for effective development across roles. The combined feedback I received is valuable as I continue to build a more detailed lo-fi product.
Feedback and Next Steps
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Design full menu and graphics (design style and branding)
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Check out page should include basics of sandwich order; click to view pie chart/nutritional information and additional edits
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Show all final hidden prices at checkout (tax, gratuity, etc.)
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Tips to have a slider rather than button selections
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Add horizontal scrolling to “featured” menu items
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Allow for horizontal sliding of ingredient categories in customization page
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Allow for reordering of ingredients (drag and drop)
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Make mindful representations of data storage and access (customer information, payment options, nutritional info, etc.)
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Limits on sandwich ingredients
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Allergy notifications on orders
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Allow for reorder from favorites list