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YeksGreen Project

YeksGreen is a digital product (responsive website and dedicated Mobile App) that helps young Nigerian adults learn how to cook healthier meals. The goal of YeksGreen is to help increase awareness of the benefits of eating healthy by educating young adults on how to cook healthier meals for themselves.

This is a personal project based on designing the User Experience for social good. I believe that UX designers can do social good as a direct or indirect part of user experience design by embarking on a personal project or joining one with a social organization.

Client

YeksGreen

Type

Product Design

Year

2022

Process

I designed the User Experience for this product in 5 core stages; EMPATHIZE, IDEATE, DESIGN, PROTOTYPE AND TEST.

The problem

These days young Nigerian adults depend so much on junk and processed foods which are not entirely healthy, while life expectancy keeps decreasing.

The goal

Design a responsive website and mobile app for social good helping and encouraging enthusiasts to learn how to cook healthier Nigerian recipes.

My role

Brand Design, UX Design, UX Research, UI Design - from concept to delivery.

User Research goals for YeksGreen Project:

  1. Understand the processes and emotions that potential audience experience around the problem YeksGreen is trying to solve
  2. Understand user needs and frustrations as they relate to cooking healthier meals
  3. Identify and understand scenarios that make users want to use YeksGreen
  4. Understand what culminates in a happy user for YeksGreen
How could the needs, challenges, or concerns of users be resolved?

I assumed that the users I just “interviewed” represent a large segment of the audience for the project. I had to figure out; What concerns or problems seem most important to users? What kinds of features might I add into the product to address these concerns? Be as specific or general as I need to be.

Ingredients
  • Availability: Common natural ingredients are available in most localities and do not require much hassle to source.
  • Substitutes: Alternatives to certain ingredients should be provided in the case where the stipulated ones are not readily available. Links to vendors can be provided.
Clear comprehensive visuals
  • When visuals are comprehensive and clear enough, it is easy to follow and practice.
User Groups

In the interviews with people who said they were very likely to use a product like YeksGreen, we were able to identify the following user groups:

Group 1: Working young adults willing to eat and stay healthy. These users:

  • Vary in age, occupation, and number of family members in their home.
  • Would use a product to help with recipes.

Group 2: Students who are young adults enthusiastic about healthy living. These users:

  • Vary in age and discipline.
  • Would use a product to help with recipes.
Photo credit - Unsplash

User Research Summary

I conducted interviews to understand the users I’m designing for their needs. The primary user groups identified through conceptualization and research are young Nigerian adults. This user group confirmed initial assumptions about YeksGreen users, but research also revealed that common natural ingredients are available in most localities and do not require much hassle to source. 
Other user problems included a good number of online tutorials that are not concise and detailed enough to help make delicacies easily. 

Link to the full User Research

Competitive Audit

I carefully chose 4 competitors to analyse, which are Simply Recipes, a website that offers recipes and cooking advice for home cooks, Serious eats, a website that offers rigorously tested recipes, and science-driven cooking techniques, All Nigerian Recipes, a Nigeria-based website that offers Nigerian food recipes, and 9jafoodie, a Nigeria-based website that also offers Nigerian food recipes. 

Simple Recipes and Serious Eats are direct competitors to YeksGreen, while All Nigeria Recipes and 9jafoodie are indirect competitors to YeksGreen.

Link to the full Competitive Analysis
Link to the full Competitive Audit Report

User Personas

These are representations of the user group.

User Persona 1
User Persona 2

Crazy 8s

I used the crazy 8s method to generate possible screen ideas for the App.

YeksGreen App crazy 8 screens

Sitemap

This holds information about the pages, and other files on the website, and the relationships between them.

YeksGreen website structure

Mobile App User Flow

YeksGreen app user flow diagram

Paper sketches

Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points. For the home screen, I prioritized a quick and easy way to narrow down the search to help users save time. 

YeksGreen App paper wireframes

Digital wireframes

As the initial design phase continued, I used the graceful degradation approach, making sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the user research.

Mobile app wireframes
Desktop website wireframes

Usability Study

I conducted one round of usability studies involving 5 participants whom I chose via a survey.

Study Goal

Determine if users can complete core tasks within the prototype of YeksGreen App. Determine if YeksGreen App is difficult to use.

Study Questions
  • How long does it take a user to find instructions for their preferred recipe?
  • What can we learn from the user flow, or the steps that users take, to make a choice of recipe?
  • Are there parts of the user flow where users get stuck?
  • Are there more features that users would like to see included in the website?
  • Do users think the website is easy or difficult to navigate?

Findings from the first study were arguably positive, hence a second study wasn’t carried out since time was limited too. 

Round 1 findings:

  1. The authentication process is easy to follow
  2. The recipe suggestions are satisfactory to users
  3. The product promotes social good; users found the app helpful for society

Hi-Fi Mockups

Having no negative feedback from the usability study, I went on to add life to the Lo-Fi wireframes to birth the Hi-Fi mockups

High Fidelity Prototype

YeksGreen App Hi-Fi prototype

Prototype Validation

Even though the initial low fidelity study indicated that users had no issues using the Mobile App and website, I went on to send the high fidelity prototype out to 3 users for feedback - all were positive.

Accountability Considerations

  1. Designs were made with WebAIM. WCAG standards were strictly adhered to for colour contrast. 
  2. Provided access to users who are visually impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.
  3. Alternative options were provided for gestures, like; clicking outside and overlay to close it. Used icons to help make navigation easier.
  4. W3C recommendation for duration (150ms - 500ms) of motion was strictly adhered to.
Link to the Project Presentation Slides

Outcome

Based on user feedback from the 2nd usability study, YeksGreen mobile and website is intuitive, easy to use, and helps accomplish the goals of the end user.

Prototype 1: Mobile 📱 App Prototype link

Prototype 2: Mobile 📱 website Prototype link

Prototype 3: PC 💻 Prototype link

or simply interact with the Hi-Fi mobile app prototype below 👇

Takeaways

Impact:

Participants who used the YeksGreen products first-hand attested to the fact that it solved a major problem for them and the society at large.

One quote from peer feedback
"...Well, I think overall it’s a very good product considering what it is trying to achieve... a shift from the junk culture."
What I learned:

Designing user experience for social good requires a degree of empathy with users and understanding exactly how you can solve their problems. Research is of utmost importance to ascertain where you can make a significant impact through your design.

Next Steps

  1. Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
  2. Conduct more user research to determine new areas of need.
  3. Add more features and flexibility backed by research.

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