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UX case study

Hungry: Discovering Trusted Local Food Experience

Capstone Project for Google UX Certification

Project Duration

4 Months

Project Duration

4 Months

Project Duration

4 Months

Role

Research • UX • UI • Prototyping • Testing

Role

Research • UX • UI • Prototyping • Testing

Role

Research • UX • UI • Prototyping • Testing

Coursera

Google UX

Coursera

Google UX

Coursera

Google UX

Target Audience

E-commerce Platform Users

Target Audience

E-commerce Platform Users

Target Audience

E-commerce Platform Users

Travelers today rely on platforms like Google Maps or Zomato to discover food.
However, these platforms are optimized for ratings and scale, not authenticity.

This creates a gap:

Local, culturally rich food experiences remain hidden, unstructured, and often mistrusted.

This creates a gap:

Local, culturally rich food experiences remain hidden, unstructured, and often mistrusted.

The 'Challenge'

Travelers struggle to discover authentic, Safe and trustworthy local food vendors, especially street food, due to lack of structured information, hygiene concerns, and over-reliance on generic rating systems.

Project 'Brief'

Design a mobile-first experience that empowers users to discover authentic local food, assess trust and hygiene standards, navigate seamlessly in unfamiliar environments, and make quick, confident dining decisions.

Design 'Process'

The project followed a user-centered, iterative process:

The 'Research'

Research-Backed Recommendations

Set research objectives to explore how users discover local food in new cities and identify gaps in existing apps limiting local vendor visibility.

Foundational

Set research objectives to explore how users discover local food in new cities and identify gaps in existing apps limiting local vendor visibility.

Foundational

Reviewed top food apps to spot design and usability gaps; analysed user feedback from app stores and forums to uncover pain points and feature needs.

Secondary

Reviewed top food apps to spot design and usability gaps; analysed user feedback from app stores and forums to uncover pain points and feature needs.

Secondary

Conducted 5 user interviews (India, remote) Studied behavior across Zomato, Swiggy, Google Maps Observed how users choose food in real-world scenarios

Primary

Conducted 5 user interviews (India, remote) Studied behavior across Zomato, Swiggy, Google Maps Observed how users choose food in real-world scenarios

Primary

Users rely more on visual cues than ratings Hygiene uncertainty creates hesitation Too many options = decision fatigue

Key Observations

Users rely more on visual cues than ratings Hygiene uncertainty creates hesitation Too many options = decision fatigue

Key Observations

Personas

Research 'Insights'

Users need a way to confidently discover authentic local food without relying solely on ratings or overwhelming choices.

Discovery

“Discovery is not the problem — trust is.”

Discovery

“Discovery is not the problem — trust is.”

Support

People are willing to support local vendors through a trusted digital platform.

Support

People are willing to support local vendors through a trusted digital platform.

Simplicity

Users strongly prefer clean, intuitive interfaces with minimal steps.

Simplicity

Users strongly prefer clean, intuitive interfaces with minimal steps.

Culture

Current apps fail to represent or promote regional food culture.

Culture

Current apps fail to represent or promote regional food culture.

Flow

Seamless and fast ordering experience is a core user expectation.

Flow

Seamless and fast ordering experience is a core user expectation.

Research 'Recommendations'

Research-Backed Recommendations

Build trust layer

Reduce decision complexity

Enable visual exploration

Support cultural discovery

Concept Directions Explored

Visual-first browsing

Vendor transparency

Simplified navigation

Contextual decision support

Key Product Decisions

Image-First UI

Users trust visuals over text

Image-First UI

Users trust visuals over text

Reduced Complexity

Removed unnecessary filters

Reduced Complexity

Removed unnecessary filters

Structured Vendor Info

Builds trust beyond ratings

Structured Vendor Info

Builds trust beyond ratings

Simplified Navigation

Trade-off: less depth, more clarity

Simplified Navigation

Trade-off: less depth, more clarity

Design 'Wireframs'

Wireframes → Low-Fidelity

High-Fidelity 'Wireframs'

Usability 'Study'

The app design received positive feedback for making it easy to find and order local food. Usability studies led to key refinements, such as:

User journeys were simplified based on feedback for smoother experience.

App integrated vendor ratings and stories after user suggestion.

Storytelling about regional food added emotional depth to the product.

Better colour contrast and readable design enhanced usability for all.

Mockup improvements led to higher satisfaction in usability testing.

Key Findings

Visual hierarchy needed improvement

Color contrast affected readability

Structured layouts improved usability

Iteration

Before: sharp rectangle images
After: Rectangular cards

✔ Result:
Better scanning + faster decision-making

Imprved Design 'Deliverables'

Application screens developed.

Core Features

Image-first browsing

Vendor details with trust cues

Reviews & quick actions

Smooth checkout flow

Accessibility

Improved contrast ratios

Clear typography

Touch-friendly interactions

Simplified navigation

System 'Thinking'

Information Architecture

Glam'Shots'

Research 'Impact'

Faster food discovery

Increased decision confidence

Improved usability perception

“The Hungry app makes discovering cultural food easy and engaging.”

Key 'Learnings'

Trust is more critical than features

Visual design drives decision-making

Simplicity improves adoption

Next 'Steps'

The final research deliverables included comprehensive documentation of findings, recommendations, and implementation guidelines:

Hygiene score system

Live crowd indicators

Vendor storytelling

Offline mode for travelers

"

Designing Hungry shifted my perspective from building features to designing trust-driven experiences.

Hungry: Discovering Trusted Local Food Experience

Project Duration

4 Months

Project Duration

4 Months

Project Duration

4 Months

Role

Research • UX • UI • Prototyping • Testing

Role

Research • UX • UI • Prototyping • Testing

Role

Research • UX • UI • Prototyping • Testing

Coursera

Google UX

Coursera

Google UX

Coursera

Google UX

Target Audience

E-commerce Platform Users

Target Audience

E-commerce Platform Users

Target Audience

E-commerce Platform Users

Travelers today rely on platforms like Google Maps or Zomato to discover food.However, these platforms are optimized for ratings and scale, not authenticity.

Travelers today rely on platforms like Google Maps or Zomato to discover food.However, these platforms are optimized for ratings and scale, not authenticity.

This creates a gap:

Local, culturally rich food experiences remain hidden, unstructured, and often mistrusted.

This creates a gap:

Local, culturally rich food experiences remain hidden, unstructured, and often mistrusted.

The 'Challenge'

Travelers struggle to discover authentic, Safe and trustworthy local food vendors, especially street food, due to lack of structured information, hygiene concerns, and over-reliance on generic rating systems.

Project 'Brief'

Design a mobile-first experience that empowers users to discover authentic local food, assess trust and hygiene standards, navigate seamlessly in unfamiliar environments, and make quick, confident dining decisions.

Design 'Process'

The project followed a user-centered, iterative process:

The 'Research'

Research-Backed Recommendations

Set research objectives to explore how users discover local food in new cities and identify gaps in existing apps limiting local vendor visibility.

Foundational

Set research objectives to explore how users discover local food in new cities and identify gaps in existing apps limiting local vendor visibility.

Foundational

Reviewed top food apps to spot design and usability gaps; analysed user feedback from app stores and forums to uncover pain points and feature needs.

Secondary

Reviewed top food apps to spot design and usability gaps; analysed user feedback from app stores and forums to uncover pain points and feature needs.

Secondary

Conducted 5 user interviews (India, remote) Studied behavior across Zomato, Swiggy, Google Maps Observed how users choose food in real-world scenarios

Primary

Conducted 5 user interviews (India, remote) Studied behavior across Zomato, Swiggy, Google Maps Observed how users choose food in real-world scenarios

Primary

Users rely more on visual cues than ratings Hygiene uncertainty creates hesitation Too many options = decision fatigue

Key Observations

Users rely more on visual cues than ratings Hygiene uncertainty creates hesitation Too many options = decision fatigue

Key Observations

Personas

Research 'Insights'

Users need a way to confidently discover authentic local food without relying solely on ratings or overwhelming choices.

Discovery

“Discovery is not the problem — trust is.”

Discovery

“Discovery is not the problem — trust is.”

Support

People are willing to support local vendors through a trusted digital platform.

Support

People are willing to support local vendors through a trusted digital platform.

Simplicity

Users strongly prefer clean, intuitive interfaces with minimal steps.

Simplicity

Users strongly prefer clean, intuitive interfaces with minimal steps.

Culture

Current apps fail to represent or promote regional food culture.

Culture

Current apps fail to represent or promote regional food culture.

Flow

Seamless and fast ordering experience is a core user expectation.

Flow

Seamless and fast ordering experience is a core user expectation.

Research 'Recommendations'

Research-Backed Recommendations

Travelers today rely on platforms like Google Maps or Zomato to discover food.
However, these platforms are optimized for ratings and scale, not authenticity.

Travelers today rely on platforms like Google Maps or Zomato to discover food.
However, these platforms are optimized for ratings and scale, not authenticity.