A delivery food app redesign to introduce a sense of human connection, and encourage people to try new things.
Postmates users think the app has a confusing design. It is difficult to use for browsing if people don’t already know what they want, or when they want to try something new.
Creating a friendly food delivery experience that makes the user feel safer when trying new food options through clear, transparent communication and a sense of community.
Postmates is a food delivery app, but they also deliver other goods, such as groceries and pharmaceutical items.
The target audience is people with busy lives, and lower than average income. The main age range is 18 to 29 years old, but a large part of the consumer base is older.
As we looked into the 4 most popular competitor apps, we found that they lack a human feeling and feel oversimplified. In addition, menus tend to be repetitive and very confusing.
Through interviews, we found that users struggled a lot deciding what to order if they weren’t previously familiar with the place or the food itself, and that they often faced communication issues with drivers.
The most populated categories were Convenience, Urban advantages/Rural issues, Variety & Options, Time and Details & Reviews.
We developed some personas representing our target audience, to understand their behaviors, needs and pain points.
In order to get further insights into each persona, we went deeper into their thinking process. We defined things they would say, think, do and feel. These aspects led us to identify problems and goals from their perspective.
We developed a more detailed story for each persona. This included personality, behaviors relating to technology, brands they use or relate to, and goals, needs, and points of frustration in relation to food delivery experiences.
Via journey maps, we analyzed the problems our personas may have in their daily lives regarding Postmates, and finding opportunities to improve their experience.
Eren Burrow is a picky eater, so he needs to be able see personalized options that suit his tastes in a quick and easy way because he wants to try new things.
How might we make exploring unknown dishes and restaurants safer and exciting?
Kyle Garcia is a busy person, so he needs to have food delivered quickly because he has little time to eat in his hectic school schedule, but his campus is large and he wants to avoid the chance of his driver getting lost.
How might we simplify complex destinations?
Elizabeth Lopez is a visual person, so she needs to see detailed descriptions and photos of menu items because she wants to try new things but is intimidated when she doesn't have any clue what she is ordering.
How might we give a clearer idea of what a dish might taste like?
Jasmin Jones is a busy person, so she needs to have food delivered quickly because she has little time to eat in her hectic schedule, but she also wants to communicate her concerns and questions.
How might we make it easier for costumer and driver to communicate?
We defined the 4 main features that transform Postmates into an engaging community, facilitating information & communication between both ends of the delivery process.
We sketched out low-fidelity quick prototypes of our feature proposals.
Using these quick prototypes, we asked potential users to test the features so we could iterate in their design.
Our team designed two main new features to make the Postmates experience feel more connected and human.
A swiping test that determines what flavors and categories the user enjoys most. Based on the results, the app provides dish suggestions that the user hasn’t tried yet, but will likely enjoy when they browse.
User profiles that can befriend each other, and display posts and saved activity. This includes recent orders, personal favorites & reviews done by the profile, so others can read it as recommendations.
We created two secondary new features, addressing the main user needs we found through the empathy interviews when it comes to browsing and ordering. We tailored these features to also contribute to the human touch our redesign brought to the table.
A detail-oriented review system that encourages users to explain their opinions more specifically about different aspects of food items. Additionally, it reinforces the sense of community by enabling users to react to others’ opinions.
A chat feature that allows the user to communicate easily with the restaurant and their driver in real time, as the preparing, picking up & delivery process occurs.
