McDonald’s Meal Made Healthy
Conceptional Client: McDonald’s
How simple visual improvements improve healthy food choices.
Project Overview
We were tasked with designing a potential responsive design solution that allows users to quickly access, enter, and save information regarding meal specifications, delivery, or health choices.
Methods
Task Analysis
C & C Analysis
Market Research
User Interviews
Persona Development
Design Studio
Prototyping
Usability Testing
The Problem
Make it a meal, but make it healthy.
In response to changing consumer tastes and a negative backlash because of the unhealthiness of their food, we were tasked with redesigning the current McDonald’s app so users can quickly access, enter, and save information regarding meal specifications, delivery, or health choices.
Heuristic Evaluation
Lets see how we’re doing
First, my team and I completed a full heuristic evaluation on the current McDonald’s app to see how well it was functioning and how it addressed the three main issues of our redesign: healthy choice selection, personalization, and delivery. Here are some of our main takeaways:
I was actually completely shocked that the current app pushed users to a 3rd party app to complete the order. That could mean be valuable information lost, and possible order drop-off if users didn’t Uber Eats to complete the app. We knew designing the delivery screen for users was a critical part of this project. We also found that the search results weren’t comprehensive when users would search for items within the menu (ex: searching “apples” didn’t populate “apple slices” or “apple pie”). While we felt this was more of a programming/developing issue, we felt it was important to gather and pass along to the potential client.
Proposed Solutions
The heuristic evaluation helped us understand where areas of improvement needed to be addressed:
Expedite users’ order process by giving them the power to make informed and conscious decisions based on their cravings with healthier item suggestions.
We also wanted the user to feel comfortable that the new system would recognize dietary restrictions and would alert them if they placed an order that might trigger an allergic reaction.
Lastly, we would also integrate a way for the system to suggest healthy options as McDonald’s integrates healthier options into their menu
Competitive Analysis
The next step in our discovery phase, we conducted Task Analysis on a variety of Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) and Fast Casual restaurant’ apps to see how they support users in customizing their orders.
Subway: Allow users to choose how much ingredients to be added
Burger King: Suggested search with items organized by calories
Wendys: Calories updates when ingredients are updated
Taco Bell: Users are alerted which allergens are presented in each items
Chipotle: Easy filtering preferences for diet and lifestyle considerations.
User Surveys & Interviews
Next, my team surveyed 25 people and conducted 5 user interviews of users who have ordered McDonald’s in the past. This was to collect early attitudinal data to assess the potential direction while validating our assumption for this design. Here are our results:
More than half of the survey participants would consider ordering from McDonald’s more if there were healthier options
Fast food consumers are less likely to believe “Healthy” claims from Fast Food restaurants
More users define fresh ingredients, balanced nutrition, and lower calories as the primary identifiers for “healthier food” in Fast Food restaurants
Users would look to add in healthier items to their existing orders to alleviate the sense of guilt when ordering fast food
People tend to default to McDonalds for a sense of familiarity and consistency of its menu.
Users tend to opt for McDonalds for its speed, and convenience.
While “healthy food” is not on top of mind, users see the importance of being able to locate items that meet their dietary preferences before browsing.
User Profile
Through the research, we were able to develop a profile for a user that would be using the redesigned app
PROFILE
Maya works long days at an assisted living center and often relies on food delivery when she is too tired to prepare a meal. She often craves fast food and quick service options but is also aware of her nutrition and her overall diet.
NEEDS & GOALS
Receive ordering suggestions
Be able to filter through items based on her dietary preferences
Having a more balanced meal when ordering delivery
A quick, convenient process for ordering after a long day at work.
FRUSTRATIONS
Not a ton of options for her dietary needs
Can't always locate healthy alternatives on Apps and gives up
Nutrition info does not always update with her order details
BEHAVIORS
Budgets for a few delivery meals a week
Is prone to order for a late night craving
Looks for healthy choices, but not obsessively
Watches her intake of certain nutrients like sodium, fats, and calories
Design implications:
Enable users to quickly access, enter, and save information by allowing them to:
Browse items through types of cravings
Pair orders with healthier options that are easy to swap
Pre-select dietary preferences in personal settings
Provide alerts for possible allergens during ordering process
Streamline checkout process by providing in-app checkout
Home Page
Classic Module
Menu Item
System prompts user for healthier choices
Cart
Delivery
Dietary Restrictions
Learnings from testing
We were able to conduct 4 rounds of user testing throughout our development stage. This was crucial to understanding how the design decisions impacted our user’s journey and test our design with real-world customers. The takeaways from each round were
Eliminate errors and frustrations by changing the location and scale of buttons for visibility and accessibility
Allow users to view toppings with their allergens earlier in the selection process, rather than later during checkout
Emphasize healthier alternatives and encourage healthier choices by introducing more prominent indicators
Explore and determine different visual and verbal approaches of the home screen through A/B Testing
Hi-Fidelity Walkthrough
Overall, I’m very happy with how the project turned out and how well our team worked together. We were able to address all of the issues we set out to update:
Personalization
Healthy choice recommendations
Improved the home screen to address user motivations while addressing new business needs
Keeping delivery within the app to create a seamless ordering process
Our next steps:
Continue testing our design
Gather KPIs from McDonald’s to see how customers are interacting with the new “cravings” modules
Continue to improve the dietary restrictions features to be more customizable
