We first wanted to understand who our users were and see in what ways we could help them more easily discover new food trucks. A series of interviews and surveys did this.
Data is always the driving factor in making decisions within the design process. And since so many people visit food trucks, we needed to find a wide range of individuals to speak with.
Interviews Conducted: 5
Survey Responses: 30
Survey age range: 17-56
1. 6 out of 10 people discover new food trucks through word of mouth and from their piers.
2. 90% of people would rather sit down at a restaurant and eat.
3. Only 1 out of 4 people preferred to eat alone.
4. Preferring to eat out to preparing a meal at home was split 50/50.
We decided to go to where the action was and visit a local food truck park called Picnic. This is where we could capture current feedback and people's wants and needs so we know what sort of features would be necessary.
We met a family of four willing to give us their input on our app idea. They were out paddle-boarding, and everyone was getting hungry. The mother said she needed to make dinner for her family but did not want to cook after a short day. So they drove past the food trucks, so that’s how they found the place. When asked what she thought about an app that would help her locate food trucks, her reply was:
- Pictures are important! Seeing the food beforehand was deciding if someone would try something new.
- People also found the reviews to be a deal breaker. They wanted to make sure other people appreciated the food first.
- Location, location, location! People needed to know where they were going and how far the truck was.
- The whole experience of going to a food truck lot and what that looked like. Is parking readily available? Will there be seating? If I need to get cash, is there an ATM nearby? They wanted to know they could rely on things that helped make a unique dining experience comfortable.
By showcasing local food trucks in an easily downloadable application, Truck Stop streamlines how Austinites experience personal and unique meals in a world where great food trucks can be hard to find.
Christopher is a self-proclaimed foodie and thinks of himself as a restaurant connoisseur. However, Chris relies on less conventional resources to receive chef-prepared meals due to his salary limitations.
Some of his expectations are:
- Wants authentic and tasteful cuisine
- Needs a tool that provides affordable recommendations
- Needs places that are easily accessible and affordable
Once we all came to a conclusion on the design, I mocked up the wire frames.
I did some final testing to see what people would think and to get honest feedback. Finally, I got the feedback after letting them play with it in the InVision prototyping tool and asking some questions.
- “It’s an app that lets me know what food trucks are in my area and what they are serving. I would use it.”
- “It looks neat and clean.”
- “Easy to understand and navigate.”
- “I think foodies would like this.”
- “My friends and many of my work colleagues would like this. People that like to try new flavors and prefer high-quality food.”
- “People who like trying new foods. People with good taste buds.”
- “Many of my friends would like it.”
We conducted a UserTesting task, asking people how they would find Thai Food within the app. 100% of participants completed all steps in an average of 21 seconds.
- Participants were also asked if they would change anything about the home screen. All participants responded that they would not.
"I wouldn't change anything - looks nice as it is."
"This design looks good. It's easy to find the links."
If given more time, we would specify if a business is part of a food truck park and all the details about that park. This would include parking, seating, shade, ATMs, pets, and more. We would also incorporate icons for these features onto the map so that when viewing the map, they can easily see where a food truck/food truck park is in conjunction with where they are when using the app. We also realized that this app would benefit not just Austin but any city with food trucks. Therefore, getting user feedback from other cities would be a top priority so we could analyze the differences between different cities and their users' perspectives.