Munchies is a food delivery app I designed for my final project in a Visual Elements of User Interface Design course offered by the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), which I took between February 2021 and March 2021 on Coursera.
Ashesi students have to fill online forms to place orders with third parties when buying food from Accra while in school. This process is daunting and it also leaves the students without control of their orders. Ashesi University students need a convenient way of ordering food online.
The main objective of this project was to provide users with a convenient way for them to order food from restaurants that deliver within their area. I also sought to make the process seamless by providing users with relevant information needed to make an order.
A mobile app that displays various restaurants where users can buy food within their area. Each restaurant on the app has a menu and other useful information to help users when making orders.
I started by conducting background research and identifying design patterns from similar apps. Then I created a mood board, which had the imagery, the typeface, and potential colour palettes I wanted to use for the project. I finally designed wireframes and tested the designs with users.
Despite having experienced the problem personally, I still conducted background research to complement my initial understanding of the problem while empathising with other students. Users were mainly frustrated by the lack of control over their own orders because third parties are involved. The research also revealed that students are presented with limited options to choose from on the online forms that are shared for placing orders.
I came up with a concept for a mobile app called Munchies. Munchies enables busy college students to conveniently order food and drinks from nearby restaurants and shops. The app uses the location of the device to find restaurants where users can order food. Within the app, users can explore menus at different restaurants or even search for items that are on the menu. The app also provides useful information, which users can find helpful when placing an order. I also created a mood board that significantly helped me organize design inspiration on this project.
I sketched paper wireframes to generate and refine ideas. Below are the sketches for the first and second iterations.
Using iterated versions of the paper wireframes that I sketched, I designed a more advanced version of the app in Figma.
I enjoyed working on the Munchies project. The most important takeaway I got from this project is that I do not always have to reinvent the wheel because there are already well-established patterns in similar food delivery apps. I also learned that I always have to justify my design decisions during the entire process. I am also proud that this project helped me hone my visual and interaction design skills while enabling me to appreciate how colour, typography, iconography, and imagery complement each other to make an user interface. Upon completion of the Visual Elements of User Interface Design course, I earned certification from CalArts, which remains one of my most proud achievements as a designer coming from a non-traditional background.
