COURSE PROJECT · FALL 2023
Fooderly
Designing independent, accessible food ordering for seniors.
ux / ui design
user research
mobile-first
value-sensitive design
Role
Lead product designer
Team
4-person team → solo redesign
Timeline
3-month core cycle + 2-month revision
Scope
Figma · Illustrator · Miro
01 / OVERVIEW
Food delivery, designed around real independence.
Fooderly is a food delivery app for elderly users, particularly those in rural areas underserved by mainstream services.
The work spans a team research phase and an independent, value-sensitive redesign.
4 rounds
of user testing sessions
<8 min
task completion time among elderly participants
~8.5/10
overall usability rating
02 / THE CHALLENGE
Mainstream delivery apps leave seniors behind.
Food delivery apps are typically optimized for younger, tech-fluent users. For elderly people, this creates compounding barriers:
interfaces overloaded with features
small text and low contrast
unfamiliar navigation patterns
stacked delivery & service fees
03 / RESEARCH
Many voices revealed common patterns.
We conducted semi-structured interviews across four different life situations: a retiree with a spouse who cooks, a working professional caring for a newborn grandchild, a woman in a multigenerational household, and a business owner navigating dietary restrictions.
We then built personas and concrete task scenarios to ground the design in real triggers for app use, not assumed ones.
→ ex. a grandmother realizing she forgot to pack her granddaughter’s lunch and turning to delivery as a time-pressured fallback.
04 / ITERATION
“Simple” does not translate to usable.
Crazy 8s and storyboarding produced three prototype directions. The more important learning came when heuristic evaluation and cognitive walkthroughs exposed where our chosen design broke.
Failure 1: The "Help Me Choose" quiz was designed to alleviate decision fatigue, but heavily restricted users through generic questions and single-select answers
→ "Craving something sweet, savoury or hearty?"
Failure 2: A cognitive walkthrough centered on fine motor control found that the "more options" button on the dietary restrictions screen was too small to reliably tap.
In response to to these findings, we:
turned “Help Me Choose” questions into multi-select rather than single option choices and varied the type of questions asked
re-adjusted button padding, layout, and text sizes for better readability and larger touch areas
05 / SOLO REDESIGN
Revisiting the product through value-sensitive design
health + well-being
autonomy
benevolence
creativity
achievement
performance
Everything in this phase was independently researched, designed, and written by me. Using the Portrait Values Questionnaire, I identified a set of values tied to the stakeholders (ie. users, restaurants, caregivers) which I addressed through new mechanisms.
A clearer experience begins at the first glance.
The redesigned home and menu focus on reducing decision fatigue while making key information easier to scan.
Smoother icons, larger type, stronger visual hierarchy, ratings, favourites, and improved search help users find familiar meals faster.
Dietary filters and more visual menu content also make it easier to compare options with confidence.
It continues by reducing friction through checkout and delivery.
The cart and order flow were redesigned to provide more guidance at key moments.
Meal suggestions, reminders, clearer review steps, and immediate feedback help users understand what is happening before they place an order.
After delivery, users can also leave a quick thank-you note or tip, adding a more personal touch to the experience.
And it grows through personalization and community.
The profile and community features expand Fooderly beyond ordering alone.
Users can save dietary preferences, adjust accessibility and interface settings, review restaurants, join interest-based groups, and see simple activity summaries.
These additions give users more control over the app while creating opportunities for connection and discovery.
06 / USER VALIDATION
Usable, with room to become more inclusive.
Participant
Time
Comfort
Ease
Usability
P1 · caretaker
4:03
8/10
8/10
8.5/10
P2 · caretaker
4:33
9/10
8/10
8/10
P3 · elderly user
7:14
8/10
8/10
8/10
Three participants tested four core tasks: placing an order, getting a recommendation, setting up a profile, and joining a community group. The elderly participant specifically valued the large buttons and readable type, and social-minded approach.
07 / LOOKING BACK
The clearest lesson: fewer choices do not automatically create better usability.
WHAT WORKED
Grounding requirements in interview data surfaced the fee-anxiety problem, which turned out to matter more to users than interface complexity — something we wouldn't have prioritized correctly otherwise.
WHAT DIDN’T
Our first "simple" design mistook fewer choices for better usability. In reality, the interface became cluttered and messy, which simply relocated the pain point instead of solving it.
NEXT STEPS
Screen-reader alternative text and flexible caregiver supervision remain important next steps.
Food delivery with
dignity at the table.