Bitez
Brief
Over the course of 4 months my team was focused on finding a way for people to eat more healthy at home. Our solution is a mobile app that allows people take control of their diet by suggesting catered recipes, planning meals and managing food expenditures.
View the Process Deck here
ROle
Team lead, Research, Prototyping, Visual Design & UX, Video Production
Team
Nicole Lozano, Genesis Bautista, Wishah Qaisar, Brandon De Oliviera
TOOLS
Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects
TIMELINE
Sept - Dec 2020 (4 months)
Kickoff
Cooking at home and maintaining a healthy diet is becoming increasingly difficult for hard working students and adults.
THE PRoblem
A 2017 USA study revealed that Millennials cooked 30% less than any other age group and 44.9% of adults aged 20–39 were found to eat out at least 3 times a week!

It was no question to why this age group cooked the least, burnout, is at an all time high and Millennials are the busiest generation resulting in them choosing convenience over adequate nutrition whenever possible. This issue though not only affects Millennials, as fast food ordering is at an all time high across all age groups.

HOW We appraoched it
Through analyzing the secondary research, there were four main themes to why busy adults did not cook. They were:

1. Time Constraints
2. Budget Constraints
3. Food Accessibility
4. Cooking Ability


CHALLENGE
How might we make it easier for busy adults at any cooking level to cook more and eat healthier at home, while saving time and not breaking the bank?
The Solution
THE PRODUCT
Bitez is an easy to use mobile application that enables the individual to take control of their diet by cooking healthy meals at home – without sacrificing their precious time and money.

USer Goals
1
Cook custom recipes based on budget, time and nutritional preference.
2
Schedule meals in advance.
3
Create a budget goal and keep track of grocery bills.
4
Find recipes based on ingredients you already have.
5
Add meal ingredients to your grocery list.
Initial Research
We first evaluated the current market of similar niched applications using the Benchmark Analysis allowed us to evaluate their novelty and pitfalls.

We realized no app in the food / grocery / recipe app market had a system to track and one's grocery budget, or combine the ability to find recipes based on how much an individual is willing to spend on groceries.

The PACT Analysis helped us understand the various contexts of the problem. For example, what types of technologies or information would our app need for it to work properly for the user? What type of people can use this product on their mobile device? Would it need AI integration, use a server database, or require private information?
Understanding the Target Audience
We prepared a User Interview Plan to conduct conversational interviews that was later synthesized to create our user personas. See the Interview Plan and Results


User Interviews
We used our insights from the interviews to develop The MoSCoW Analysis System Requirements Chart to prioritize the features that would be most helpful to our target audience.
Ideation
Our users are busy and always on the go therefore making the app efficient and easy to navigate was at the forefront of our decision making process. We made sure the most important features were shown on the navigation bar.
This app is a tool after all, it shouldn't make life more difficult but rather make it easier, so we made sure to map every interaction out with the user context scenarios.
Low-fidelity Wireframes
The most challenging aspect of this stage was not so much about what to include on each screen but what to not include, it was easy to have too much information on the screen that could complicate and take away from the core user goals. We then moved to visual research creating moodboards before user testing.
The Style Guide
Eating healthy should feel exciting, not boring.
We were focused on bringing a refreshing, vibrant and welcoming feeling to Bitez. Using a vibrant colour scheme, simple iconography, vivid food photography and a modern typeface would allow the individual to get excited about nutritious food, and make communication quick and concise.

User Testing Changes
Given the current world circumstances, we conducted our user testing remotely using Zoom and we were still able to gain a tromendous amount of feedback from our user testing participants. The users were successful at competing most tasks but the app lacked in some navigational and visual communication aspects. We then came up with proposed changes.
Areas of Improvement
Hierarchy
Adjusted information to make important signifiers be more visible and accessible.
Consistency
Adjusted UI and interactive elements to be more cohesive throughout the interface.
Functionality
Added extra functionality to some of the main features to make navigation more natural.
The Final Solution
Bitez – combining the ability to find and cook recipes customized to your cooking level and needs while you plan out your meals in advance. Instantly know what you need from the grocery store and save money by tracking your grocery expenses.
View the Prototype
Onboarding
Customizing the experience to your needs.
Bitez will find you the recipes perfect for you based on your cooking goals, food preferences and allergies, cooking level and how much money you have to spend.
Grocery Budgeting
Save money, and manage your budget.
Create a budget goal to monitor your purchases at the grocery store and keep all of your grocery bills in one place.
Meal Planning
Schedule meals in advance.
Be consistent.
Plan your favourite meals in advance and see how long it will take to prepare. You'll always be on track.
GROCERY LISTS
Goodbye notepads, hello automatic grocery lists.
Bitez will automatically generate a list of the ingredients you need from your favourite recipe and provide an estimated total based on grocery stores in your location.
Pantry
Keep track of ingredients & save on food.
Keep track and add food you have at home with Pantry. Bitez will then find you recipes based in the ingredients you have so nothing goes to waste.
REFLECTION
Communication is Key
Given the current world circumstance, we had no choice but to adapt to the new ways of collaboration and make this project remotely.

Establishing good communication is not only essential when sharing ideas, but it is also essential in establishing a positive group dynamic. This project has really shown me that a team's ability to communicate effectively has a direct influence on their success.
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