MiNu

MiNu - Effortless Dining, Smarter Choices – a revolutionary approach to simplifying the food ordering experience through AI.

Brief

People often experience decision paralysis thanks to a range of choices of restaurants, dish types and customization options.

Imagine you are out with a group of friends at a restaurant & there is always one person in a group who takes a lot of time make up their mind.

Timeline

3 weeks
College + The Futur Creative Jam competition hosted by Adobe

My Role

Interaction design, UX strategy,
Product design, Business pitch

Team

Vignesh Sanathkumar, Akshat Prasad, Snehal Ladke

Context

College + The Futur Creative Jam is an annual competition that tasks participants to create a product pitch that has a clear goal, value proposition & to envision the impact of the concept.

About MiNu

MiNu aims to revolutionize the food ordering experience by leveraging AI to streamline decision-making, providing users with concise options, and introducing a fun onboarding process.

Why?

‍Ordering food at a restaurant or at home through apps has become more than the convenience-filled experience it’s supposed to be.

Decision paralysis not only affects individuals' overall dining experience but also poses a challenge for restaurant businesses in optimizing workflow efficiency.

Overwhelming decisions

A large menu with too many options can be overwhelming, and people may find it difficult to make a decision when they feel like they need to evaluate and compare numerous options.

Value for money

Some people have a tendency towards perfectionism, and may feel like they need to make the "perfect" choice when ordering food. This can lead to indecision and decision paralysis.

Decision fatugue

People have limited cognitive resources, and making decisions can be mentally taxing. When people are presented with a long list of options, they may become mentally fatigued, making it difficult for them to make a decision.

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

When people are presented with a long list of options, they may worry that they are missing out on something better or more appealing. This can make them hesitant to commit to a particular dish, leading to decision paralysis.

Opportunity area

How might we reduce the cognitive load of options and empower people to make quicker decisions while ordering food?

Jump to solution

Research

Our objective was to understand the factors that led people to make decisions when they order online or visit restaurants. Based on that, we started mapping out some generic flow on each insight we got from our research phase.the existing product.

Interviews

After conducting primary and secondary research, we found many people shared the sentiment of confusion and unease while ordering food at restaurants or on online apps due to the presence of “too many options”.

We listed 3 main assumptions that had to be validated during our research:

Decision paralysis stems from the fear of making a wrong decision.
The more options people have, the more prominent the feeling of making the wrong decision. In the end, they’re likely to choose something that they trust and is a safe choice.
Customers taking unreasonably long to order in restaurants can hamper the business during rush hour or happy hours.

User Scenarios

Based on a market analysis and user research, we wanted to consider the scenarios that will make this experience more personalized to each individual. Here are the user scenarios we considered:

How does the current market look like?

In today's market, while convenient delivery is abundant, the sheer number of choices often leads to extended decision-making times, and in-restaurant menus tend to be quite similar.

Where does MiNu Fit?

Minu, streamlines the decision process, ensuring you spend less time choosing & more time enjoying your meal.

Key Insights

Balance

For people to have control over their choices and still receive assistance- Flexibility and balance is key.

Value for money

When individuals experience dissatisfaction with their order, their initial concern is often around the notion of a poor investment.

Lack of Familiarity

If people are not familiar with the cuisine or ingredients on a menu, they may feel uncertain about what to order which can pose a challenge in making a decision, resulting in decision paralysis.

Time pressure

If people feel rushed or pressured to make a decision quickly, they may become stressed and anxious, the task of choosing a dish a challenging endeavor.

Version 1

Wireframes

After considering multiple scenarios, we landed on our 1st version of how we envisioned MiNu.

High fidelity + flow (version 1)

The Downside

After some guerilla user testing, we found our solutions had MANY FLAWS! While there were many improvements to fix, we had to prioritize in the timeline we were bound withHere are some key issues we definitely wanted to fix:

Navigation too confusing!!🥴
No way to go back to scan another QR code 😒
Doesn't really work as Homepage, as we initially assumed 😭
No hierarchy in icons, cards or buttons 😫

What happens when the QR code doesn't work?🥴
Not Accessibility compliant 😒
What happens if the user exits the app?😭

How's it different from "suggestions"?🤨
How does the AI learn about food choices?😶
What's the next step to personalization?🧐

With all this info, we finally came up with a solution that foodies would love and rely on.

Introducing MiNu - your culinary companion, brings you a world of smarter choices, personalized recommendations, and effortless ordering"

Information Architecture

Based on the problems we saw in our final designswe wanted take a step back to improve the IA/ID flow.

Some key questions we asked and wanted to answer through wireframes:

- How does a person go back to scan another restaurants QR code?
- What happens if the person exits the app midway?
- How to keep consistent navigation throughout the experience?
- How does the AI learn more about the person's choices?
- How to keep the menu simple, yet personalize it to each person?
- What's the starting point of our solution, iOS or Android?

Version 1

Version 2

Brand & Style guide

We aspired to infuse our brand with authenticity, fostering a deep sense of trustworthiness among our customers.

Additionally, we placed a strong emphasis on ensuring that our brand experience is effortlessly user-friendly, prioritizing simplicity and ease of use as fundamental pillars of our brand's character.

Key Screens

Gamified & Fun Onboarding Process

Kickstart your journey with Minu with a quick and fun quiz that helps train the AI and also self-reflect on your food preferences.The app continues to learn the more you use it, and every recommendation improves with usage.

Concise options generated by AI

The app’s AI algorithm recommends 3 options on the homepage based on learned behavior and previous choices. With time, the AI will learn your food choices based on mood, time of the day and suggest your choice of comfort food.

Autochoose

If you’re not in the mood to choose an entire meal for yourself, then Minu can curate a food-list for you (much like a Spotify playlist), based on the app’s understanding of your behavior and moods.

Outcome

2nd Place Winners of the Adobe Creative Jam competition which witnessed the participation of 76 teams worldwide. The panel of judges included Chris Do, Ben Burns, and Danielle Marimoto.

What Next?

Online delivery

Enhancing our reach through partnerships with online delivery platforms for orders.

Spotify for food

Generate food lists, share  with your friends, and assist them in making quicker decisions.

Group orders

Elaborate on the concept of how this product would function when handling group orders.

Trust

Establishing trust with restaurants to cultivate higher customer return rates , increased value and reliability.

Workflow efficiency

Delve into the concept of how this app transforms and optimizes workflow efficiency in restaurant orders.

Clayfin (coming soon)