SocialGrace app development

 FoodieSocial, an online food-enthusiast social hub, teamed up with UX Company to help develop and test their first application- SocialGrace.  This application needed to make the FoodieSocial world applicable to every day life and encourage connections through the website.  Thus, establishing FoodieSocial at the forefront of review sites and as the newest, most desirable social media application.

 This social hub app features a live map that pinpoints your FoodieFriend’s favourite spots in proximity to your location.  The app also enables FoodieFriends socialisation. Users can designate which ‘friends’ they are happy to chat with, meet-up with or even bump into.  The live map will ping you if one of these special FoodieFriends is in your vicinity; encouraging spur-of-the-moment culinary experiences.  Select ‘meet up’ on the ping and SocialGrace will give delicious & nearby suggestions as to where you and your FoodieFriend should meet. Once a location is selected directions are automatically generated to each FoodieFriend via Google maps.  When two or more FoodieFriends are in close proximity the app will also send prompts for tweets, Instagram, or Facebook posts of the friends enjoying their meal.

 To increase FoodieSocial signups by 16% in the next quarter and have 50% of our FoodieSocial community download the application.  Privacy = Trust  Offer very clear opt-in or out of FoodieFriends meet-ups, bump-ins, and/or chat.  We designed an inlayed stoplight status sidebar. Green means fully available, yellow means I’m busy, red means completely invisible.  Allow a FoodieFriend to designate exactly who they would or would not like able to access their information.  We developed a prompt immediately after friending a fellow Foodie asking what type of relationship they wished to have: online only or online & mobile. Goal Challenges

 Development of application using a Develop-Test-Develop methodology. No more than 2 weeks development without testing.  Continuous one-on-one usability testing on website, mobile, and tablet.  Relevant and readily available participant pool of 300 people.  Gave each participant different tasks.  This included groups of 2-5 testing the ‘meet-up’ function.  1-day of guerrilla usability testing.

After research via rapid random surveying of 70+ participants in 5 key locations we pinpointed the following major target audiences:  Self proclaimed ‘foodies’  Socialites  Young professionals  Travellers

“This is great! I have so many friends working and living in the city, I love the idea of knowing if they’re a step away from me.” “I would love to use this whilst travelling. What a great way to really get to know the culinary hotspots in a new city - even find a local to enjoy them with!” “I’m always reading reviews to determine where to eat next. This makes the process much quicker, instant really! Absolutely invaluable on my mobile! Easy-to-use, informed eating suggestions readily available for spontaneous meet-ups.”

FoodieFriends Availability Restaurant w/ photos & scores Reviews

 Minimal accessibility requirements met  Clear how to action tasks/goals  Consistent IA, visual design and interaction design  Content that is good and appropriate  Works well across platforms  Path for the user start to finish is clearly defined  Functions without bugs and loads at a reasonable speed  Good navigation, clear labelling, well defined iconography etc  Interface does not get in the way of the content  Purpose of app/website/service is clear  Evidence of good research process  Aesthetically pleasing visual design