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Foodie Pal Case Study
Turning Friction Into Flow
Project Overview
My Role
UX UI Designer
Client
iTech Smart
Year
2024
Domain
e-Commerce
Duration
7 months
Tools
Figma, illustrator, Maze
The Moment That Sparked the Project
It started with a simple contradiction:
Users were opening the app. They were browsing restaurants.They were exploring menus. But many of them weren’t completing their orders.
At first glance, the product looked perfectly functional. Restaurants were listed. Menus were available. The checkout worked.
Yet something felt off.
The problem wasn’t that users couldn’t order food. The problem was that ordering food required too much effort. Small moments of friction appeared throughout the experience: A restaurant list that felt overwhelming. Menus that were difficult to scan quickly. A checkout flow that interrupted the momentum of ordering.
Individually, these issues seemed minor. But together, they slowed down what should be one of the simplest digital experiences: Ordering food when you’re hungry.
This project became about answering a fundamental question:
How can we make ordering food feel as effortless as deciding what to eat?
Understanding The Real Problem
Food delivery is different from traditional e-commerce. Users are not browsing casually. Most users open a food delivery app with one clear motivation: they are hungry and want food quickly.
This creates a very different design requirement. The experience must support fast decisions, not exploration. However, the existing experience forced users to spend time on tasks that should feel instant:
- Scrolling through too many restaurants
- Opening multiple menus to compare options
- Navigating a checkout flow that slowed down the process
Every additional step increased friction during the moment users wanted speed the most. And when ordering food feels slow, users simply leave the app.
Research & Discovery
Before redesigning the experience, the first step was understanding how users actually order food online.
The research phase included:
- 12 user interviews
- Usability testing with 8 participants
- Behavioral observation of common ordering patterns
User Interview
The interviews focused on understanding how users decide what to order and what frustrates them in food delivery apps.
Several clear patterns emerged.
Most users already have a rough idea of what they want before opening the app.
They are typically trying to answer three quick questions:
- What restaurants are available nearby?
- Which one has the food I want?
- How fast can it arrive?
However, many users reported friction while trying to answer these questions.
Key insights from interviews:
- 75% of users said they feel overwhelmed when too many restaurant options appear at once.
- 66% of users said menus are often difficult to scan quickly.
- 58% of users reported abandoning an order when the process takes longer than expected.
These insights highlighted an important behavioral reality:
When users are hungry, patience decreases dramatically.
Usability Testing
To observe real behavior, usability testing was conducted with 8 participants. Participants were asked to complete a simple task:
Find a restaurant and place a food order.
The results revealed multiple friction points across the experience.
Key findings:
- 5 out of 8 users (62%) spent too much time choosing a restaurant due to lack of clear filtering.
- 6 out of 8 users (75%) struggled to quickly scan menu items and compare options.
- 4 out of 8 users (50%) hesitated during checkout due to unclear delivery information.
These delays slowed down the entire ordering process.
The Core UX Insight
After analyzing research findings, one insight became clear:
Food delivery users are not exploring — they are solving hunger.
This means the experience must prioritize speed, clarity, and confidence.
The design challenge therefore became:
Reduce the time between opening the app and placing an order.
Reimagining the Ordering Journey
Instead of redesigning isolated screens, the focus shifted to the entire ordering flow. The redesigned journey focused on four critical stages:
- Discovering nearby restaurants
- Scanning menus quickly
- Building the order
- Completing checkout
Each stage was optimized to remove unnecessary friction and speed up decision-making.
Designing for Decision Confidence
Three strategic principles guided the redesign.
1. Faster Restaurant Discovery
Users should quickly see restaurants that match what they want. The restaurant listing experience was redesigned to improve clarity and filtering.
Key improvements included:
- Clear cuisine filters
- Delivery time visibility
- Highlighted popular restaurants
This allowed users to choose a restaurant faster without excessive scrolling.
2. Menus Designed for Fast Scanning
Menus are where users spend the most time. The redesign focused on making menu browsing faster and easier.
Key improvements included:
- Stronger visual hierarchy
- Clear food categories
- Larger food imagery
- Simplified item descriptions
Users could now quickly scan options and decide what to order without feeling overwhelmed.
3. A Checkout That Maintains Momentum
Checkout should never interrupt the ordering flow. The checkout experience was simplified to reduce friction.
Key improvements included:
- Fewer steps in the checkout flow
- Clear delivery information
- Simplified address and payment fields
- Transparent order summary
The goal was to maintain the user’s momentum until the order was confirmed.
The Result
The redesigned experience transformed the app from a browsing-heavy interface into a fast and intuitive food ordering journey.
Users could now:
- Find restaurants faster
- Browse menus more easily
- Build orders with less effort
- Complete checkout smoothly
The experience became aligned with the real user need:
Ordering food quickly when hunger strikes.
Key Takeaways
This project reinforced several important UX principles.
Food delivery experiences are not about exploration.
They are about speed and decision confidence.
When the interface supports quick choices and removes friction, the entire experience feels effortless.
And when ordering food becomes effortless, users return again and again.
Feel free to reach out and let’s create something great together.