Project: Piquant

Role: UX/UI Designer

Tools: Adobe XD

Overview: In July 2019, I had the opportunity to participate in Adobe's very own UX design competition, the Creative Jam. At this event, two-person teams were given three hours to design a prototype based on the theme, "A Little Bit Spicy."

Time Blocking

To ensure we completed our prototype within the allotted three hours, the first thing my teammate and I did was block out a rough schedule:

• 30 minutes - Brainstorm

• 30 minutes - Sketch

• 90 minutes - Prototype

• 30 minutes - Prepare deliverables and presentation pitch

Brainstorming

Faced with a very open-ended theme, we made a list of everything we could think of that related to the word "spicy," in an effort to zero in on a subject for our prototype:

Since the majority of our ideas revolved around spicy flavors, we settled on designing a food-related app. Inspired by our mutual love of Meetup, we decided our app would allow food lovers to organize gatherings at local restaurants, where they could connect with others over their shared love of food and community.

Defining the User and the Problem (and, then, Redefining)

Based on the results of our brainstorming, we determined that our app's primary users would be social food lovers who enjoy exploring their local communities. Since the Creative Jam's three-hour time limit prevented us from researching the issues affecting this group, my teammate and I listed the problems we had previously encountered when going to restaurants with large groups. We concluded that the most problematic part of this experience was trying to split the bill amongst many other people.

To solve this problem, we decided to abandon our original Meetup inspiration in favor of a Groupon-style model. Under this framework, restaurants would host exclusive, prix fixe food events. App members would pay a flat fee, covering the entire cost of their meal, in advance of attending these events. We liked this solution because it removed bill splitting from the equation.

After settling on this direction, we updated our definition of the app's primary users to include a second group, local restaurant owners who want to attract new business.

PROBLEMS

• Social food lovers want to avoid the stress of splitting restaurant bills with large groups

• Local restaurant owners need ways to generate new business

GOALS

• Give food lovers access to prix fixe events, where they pay for their meals in advance

• Enable restaurant owners to host exclusive events for social food lovers

Sketching

Next, we created pen-and-paper sketches of our app's main screens to help us quickly determine their basic structure. Due to time constraints, we limited ourselves to screens directly related to our project goals. We sketched the screens food lovers would use to access prix fixe events and the screen restaurant owners would use to create events. Since we were going to present our prototype to a panel of judges at the end of the competition, we also decided to include a few onboarding screens that would serve as a visual reminder of our app's unique value.

Prototyping

Finally, we translated our sketches into an interactive prototype to present before the judges and audience. As a final nod to the theme of the night, we named our app Piquant, a synonym for spicy.

Overall, I think our prototype lived up to our original project goals. The food lover flow gives customers a clear path to attend prix fixe events, and the restaurant owner flow, though limited, provides entrepreneurs with the initial tools needed to register food events.

CHECK OUT THE PIQUANT PROTOTYPE

(You will need the Adobe XD app to view the prototype on mobile and tablet devices)

Competition Results and Feedback

Once the three-hour time limit was up, a panel of judges, which included designers from Google, Microsoft, and Tesla, reviewed the submissions. In a thrilling turn of events, my teammate and I were awarded the 2nd place trophy! The judges felt our prototype excelled because it:

• Offered a potential solution to a real user problem

• Showcased a product with clear business applications

• Documented a complete user flow

• Considered the experiences of two different types of users

Things I'll Do Differently Next Time

• Set a timer to make sure I stick to my time blocking

• Spend less time worrying about visual details (I would have been able to design more of the restaurant owner flow if I had not concentrated so much on aesthetics)

Learnings

• If you stick to your UX process, you can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time

• As a new designer, it's incredibly important to show up and put yourself out there. You never know what might happen...

ADDITIONAL CASE STUDIES