ME.N.U is the on-the-go wedding catering app designed for busy to-be-weds. Simple and easy to use, they provide full service catering with customizable options, allowing changes up to 5 days prior to the event.
Role: UX Designer (Conception to Design)
Project Duration: April 2022 - September 2022
Project Overview
The problem
Busy to-be-weds feeling overwhelmed planning their catering menu
The goal
Design an app to eliminate the back and forth of communicating with vendors, having the luxury to plan conveniently at their fingertips
Meet the User
Mary-Anne
Age: 33
Education: Masters Degree
Hometown: Bradford, ON
Family: Lives with fiancé
Occupation: Teacher
Hannah
Age: 27
Education: BBA
Hometown: Toronto, ON
Family: Lives with roommates
Occupation: Influencer
Mary-Anne is a teacher who lives in Bradford with her fiancé. She decided on an outdoor wedding venue, perfect for her spring wedding in 2023. Mary-Anne also works part-time teaching English to children abroad via Skype on the weekends. Her schedule is super tight and really needs efficient ways to prepare for her upcoming wedding.
Hannah is a 27 year old lifestyle influencer. She resides in Toronto but is planning her summer wedding in a city an hour away from where she lives. This makes planning more difficult as she can’t easily access the location all the time. Hannah needs an alternate, time-efficient way to coordinate her wedding menu with the venue.
Pain Points
Time
To-be-weds did not have enough time being put into wedding planning due to busy schedules
Accessibility
Communicating with caterers became difficult due to location
Inclusion
Caterers would not provide customizable options for customers that needed to take dietary restrictions into consideration
Competitive Analysis
We took a look at potential competitors in the wedding vendor industry. While none are directly in competition with ME.N.U, we found they offer valuable information in identifying gaps in the competitive audit. The major gaps found among our competitors were:
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Information overload
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Competitors do not offer any accessibility features
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Competitors do not offer menus with filters for dietary restrictions
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Some do not offer engaging desktop formats without having users to click or take extra steps
Preparing the Journey
Our first step was to create a user flow to get a better understanding of how users would navigate the ME.N.U app.
Wireflow
We took a look at potential competitors in the wedding vendor industry. While none are directly in competition with ME.N.U, we found they offer valuable information in identifying gaps in the competitive audit. The major gaps found among our competitors were:
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Iterations
We took a look at potential competitors in the wedding vendor industry. While none are directly in competition with ME.N.U, we found they offer valuable information in identifying gaps in the competitive audit. The major gaps found among our competitors were:
Information Overload
The majority of the users felt that there was an excessive amount of tapping required to complete simple tasks.
Profile Indication
Most users found it difficult to find how to sign up for an account, to get the full experience of the ME.N.U app, this was a crucial concern.
More Options
Users wished to see more options of catering packages. Although this is not a step that could not be implemented in the initial stages of designing, it is an important iteration to consider in the future.
Style Guide
After thorough research, we found that the best colour to represent ME.N.U as a brand would be sage green. Sage green has become increasingly popular as a colour palette for weddings and events, as it can work as a neutral colour but still add some excitement. We decided on sans serif typefaces to complete the clean and simple aesthetic of the brand.
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Takeaways
The main goal in creating the ME.N.U app was to allow users to cut back a significant amount of time from their wedding planning amongst their busy schedules. Designing an app from start to finish has taught me the importance of every step and every detail that needs to be carefully executed. The biggest takeaway from this project was understanding the weight of the users’ experience during the usability studies; I walked away with insights I would never have thought of, which made me appreciate the feedback process of this journey.