alfred — ai powered luxury dining experience
project
personal project
tags
product design
research
timeline
'21 (revamped in '23)
readme.txt
I began this project at the very beginning of my transition from a graphic designer to a UX/UI designer, back in 2021. After finishing it, I knew that making this case study wouldn’t do the project any justice as my UI skills were very poor at that time, so I decided to leave it be for a while. As product design is all about iteration, I revisited it when I felt I had the necessary experience to create what I had originally imagined. To me this is a special project because, in a way, it reflects my evolution as a designer.
problem
2020. The world has suffered a global pandemic. It’s been a hard year for restaurants, most of them having to close because of the sanitary situation. People aren’t exactly eager to go out dining again like they used to, which creates an opportunity for the delivery service.
solution
Enter... Alfred, the AI-powered virtual waiter that learns user preferences through interaction, and then makes increasingly accurate suggestions.
The process of ordering food from home is impersonal, there’s practically no exchange between customer and vendor. That’s where Alfred comes in, emulating the figure of the waiter, something that until now had been absent in the process of food delivery.
uniqueness
No two are alike: each user has its own distinct characteristics and preferences. Alfred brings exclusivity through the personalization of each users’ experience. As the user continues to order, this virtual waiter continues to learn, increasing his ability to tailor unique meal recommendations.
simplicity
Nowadays, ordering food apps have so many elements and sections that it’s like browsing movies on Netflix for 20 minutes, only to end up watching nothing because, how could you decide between so many options?
Alfred’s interface is stripped down to the bone, allowing restaurants and dishes to step into the spotlight, emulating the hierarchy food has in high-end gastronomic experiences. The virtual waiter’s guidance drastically reduces the time it takes to make a decision while ordering food.
research
goals
1
Understand the users’ needs and preferences when it comes to ordering gourmet food through an app.
2
Comprehend how to translate the experience of going to a luxurious restaurant into a food delivery app.
interviews
We decided to go with interviews as our main investigation method because they would provide us with deep understanding of users’ thoughts, motivations, emotions and pain points, allowing us to capitalize on that valuable information.
the sample
discoveries
We interviewed 6 people that matched the sample we defined. All of them had been several times to Michelin star restaurants and frequently ordered food from home. In summary, this is what we found:
opportunities
This is how the findings were translated into actions:
visual
ui
While wireframing, I’d sketched different versions of Alfred and couldn’t wait to bring him to life. As the task involved luxury and sophistication, I went for a thin line style, not only for the illustrations and icons but for typography too. I used very big images and cards but balanced them with these subtle line details, so it wouldn’t become too brutalist. I chose typefaces that express elegance, yet are still modern and, of course, very legible. As always, I avoided ornamentation in the components and kept it simple, so the food could do all the shining.
alfred
Meet Alfred, the AI-powered foodie extraordinaire, always ready to recommend you the perfect dish based on your mood and taste. He keeps track of all past orders and preferences, so he knows just what you like.
Even though the timeline of this project was very short, I thought it would be a nice addition to add some gamification. In his tab, users can see the overview of Alfred’s level, calibrate his AI, claim level-up rewards and even let him take control and order food by himself. Don’t worry, his orders can still be customized during the checkout.
The challenge was to give Alfred presence throughout the app while still making sure he wasn’t invasive, as most chatbots are.
custom iconography
Although most icons are from existing libraries, I designed some custom ones to give the app it’s own personality.
product strategy
product strategy
Strategy wasn’t part of the brief so it wasn’t included in the original version of the project, but I thought it would be a nice addition to the revamp so the app could be monetized and actually be viable, in case it ever got developed (it can’t hurt to wish).
monetization strategy
One potential strategy could involve partnering with high-end restaurants and featuring their signature dishes within the app, only as long as these sponsored elements are integrated without interfering with Alfred’s food recommendations.
To ensure that the sponsored content doesn’t compromise the AI recommendations, the sponsored restaurants and dishes could be clearly labeled as such, and have less hierarchy. This way, users can make informed decisions about whether to explore sponsored content or stick with the AI recommendations. Alfred could also be designed to prioritize recommendations based on user preferences, even if they don’t come from sponsored restaurants.
Recommended
4.5
Sponsored
2.094
engagement strategy
To keep users coming back to the app, this strategy revolved around sending push notifications about new restaurants and dishes Alfred thinks the user might enjoy, making users feel that the app truly understands and learns from their tastes.
These notifications would be sent at appropriate times, such as when the user is likely to be thinking about food, but without exceeding frequency so as not to disturb.
To incentivize them to open the app and place an order, these notifications would also include discounts or special offers.
project evolution
before & after
As I mentioned before, this project was revisited 2 years after its initial design. Comparing both designs was the perfect excuse to identify areas where the first design was lacking and also see how these shortcomings were addressed in the revamped version. A lot of things were improved, but I’ve only highlighted those that are more relevant.
conclusions & learnings
As this app was not developed and tested, its hard for me to really evaluate the success of the project. It would have been great to see users interacting with Alfred to see if his recommendations helped in any way. Although this started as a fictional project, it would be nice to actually create an MVP to see if the idea really took off.
What I can say is that I learned how to approach a whole UX/UI project from zero, in almost all its stages, from initial research to design and prototypes. Until this project, I had never done research that would later translate into design, and to me it was fascinating.
As I mentioned before, I had the chance to revisit the initial designs and improve them greatly, applying what I had learned these years. Seeing the growth between the projects is seeing my evolution as a designer, and that is why Alfred is such an important project to me.
thank you!
In these short attention span times we're living in, I highly doubt any human has made it this far. If you did (you deserve a medal), I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did making it.