Food Corner Restaurant App UI Design Project: ITC504

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This project assesses a restaurant app's user interface.

ITC504 INTERFACE USABILITY
ASSESSMENT-5
Reflection on Food Corner
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Abstract
The aim of this project is to create a design for the required restaurant application from which
a user can order his food by entering his table number and name, with some basic operations
common in such applications such as login, registration, order status, & of course the food
menu. The steps followed in the designing were outlined over heuristic’s principles meeting
the required necessities for the app. The interface has been created in a very attractive and
understandable technique which a user will likely find easy to handle and use. The step by
step approach covering all minor details has made it possible to reach a final stage where the
app design is finally ready to be used. Not just the heuristic’s principles but information from
other sources has also been taken as a reference to provide the best output possible.
Introduction
This project targets designing a user interface for a restaurant in which a customer can just
enter a few details and proceed to order his desired food item. This is done by following the
requirements mentioned and also the heuristic’s principles. The principles played an
important part in designing the interface as they are quite legitimate and standardized for
designers to work on their work i.e., the set of instructions mentioned in it are well complete
and accurate. The similar projects which are taken as a source of help and partly impacted the
designing of this project. The first research paper referred to involves a Food Order
Application for Android, from there the features such as order status, user profile, and Menu
designing ideas were taken. The paper includes many other aspects for such applications and
only a few of them have been utilized here (Ricky, 2014). Another research paper based on
an online food order system in a university was considered to get more ideas about designing
in order to get the best possible outcome of the designing work. From this paper, more
methodical ways were considered, such as reducing error-prone options for users, and the
comparisons made between different food apps in the paper also provided insight to where
the designing is to be directed. (Kedah, et. al., 2018)
Interface design reflection
a. Designing the User Interface:
The designing of the required interface is well suited to the requirements given as there are all
of the aspects covered in it with a design which soothes the eyes, and other than that they are
based on heuristic’s principles, so everything put in the interface design is accurate and
usable, proving the relevancy of the design created.
The usability principles followed with their use in the application are up to the mark and
exact. The “Visibility of System” status can be seen in the Order Status screen where the
user can view whether the food is getting prepared or not. The “matching between a system
and real world” can be seen in the usage of words in the interface, and the images of the
food item shown in the menu are exactly how the food actually looks like. The “User
Control and Freedom” principle is followed by putting a sign out button for emergencies
and a go back button if a user accidentally proceeds to a step, he/she didn’t intend to (Figure:
1). The “Consistency and Standards” too are accurately followed by putting the
standardized icons, be it a phone icon to contact the service desk or a basket item which
direct to the food one adds in the cart. There are occurrences where the user is displayed a

pop-up message seeking confirmation for example, in payment screen the user is asked if
he/she is sure to continue the payment which implements the “Error prevention” principle.
The implementation of “Recognition rather than Recall” means the system recognizes the
user commands as when a user wants to search for something by only putting a chunk of it,
for example, typing chicken would show all the items having chicken in them. checked out
before, been put as suggestions in the search list. The “Flexibility and Efficiency of Use”
can be seen in the suggestions provided in the search box, which display the trending items
(Figure: 2). The principle “Aesthetic and Minimalist Design” is also kept in mind by not
putting useless comments or icons or information. The next principle implemented “Helping
user Recognise, Diagnose, & Recover from error” can be seen in the language the pop-up
messages are displayed in with not even a single code or complex term. At last the “Help &
Documentation” principle is applied, there is a contact button for users needing some
guidance and a help button which provides a solution to the general queries a user might have
(Figure: 3)(10 Heuristics for User Interface Design, 2009).
b. Meeting the user requirements
 The ordering is started by putting user’s name the table number he/she’s at.
 The see the menu one only needs to fill the first screen details i.e., his/her name and
the table number.
 Users can easily select the food items from the food menu with just one click.
 Individually, separate food items too can be seen if a user wishes to display its price
and other details, by clicking on it.
 There is a direct button provided by which users can directly add any food item in the
food cart.
 Further modification options are also provided in the cart to decrease or increase the
quantity of an item.
 Payment method has been provided with two options: credit card and debit card
payment.
 A screen which displays the food status if it is being prepared or not is also provided.
 There is an option provided “create new account” for new users to register.
 Special offers and discounts on the food items can be seen in the payment page.
c. The points which influenced the design
The factors which influenced the design of the interface range from covering all the
requirements to the principles and rules followed. Information from various sources is also
taken into consideration for getting the best outcome possible for the interface. The principles
as mentioned earlier have provided a guideline to the ease of use, and the functionality to be
provided in the design as can be seen in the visibility of food order status, the standards for
icons, language use, recovery from errors, providing bread crumbs, adding a help page for
users etc. The requirements were also an important part of the designing as in providing a
login page, registration page, a page for modifying food items in the cart, a well-structured
payment method, the various offers and discounts on the food etc. these attributes were all
based on the functionality of the interface and not much on the designing and look and feel of
the interface which was further added or say assisted by using information from other sources
as reference. The other references have helped to create a design which focuses on how the
interface should look like and the orientation of the interface’s objects such as buttons, text
areas, labels etc. The text sizes are kept large enough for a user to easily read, the color and
the contrast combination too are in a way that users can differentiate between elements easily,

for example, a pale colored text has been put in a dark background etc. (Tips for Inclusive
and Accessible User Interface Design, 2000).
d. Discussing similar interfaces
Looking over applications or websites similar to Food Corner design was an important aspect
to compare and test out the interface. The site used for that is “easy food” and the restaurant
page that has been referred to is “My Pizza”. Following are the point to point factors been
summarised:
 My Pizza has a list of all the food items as in Food Corner application with their prices
mentioned in front which is different from ours as to see the price user has to select that
food item. (Figure: 4)
 My Pizza has a very vibrant color combination which hurts the eye if it is looked at for
more than a few minutes, Food Corner interface has a mild yet attractive color
combination.
 My Pizza has filled the home page with unnecessary details by repeating the already put
information, again and again, Food Corner interface is based on minimalist design.
 There are way too many options in each food item in My Pizza, for example, if a user
wants a pizza he’d have to select the bread type, the toppings, the size of the pizza, any
allergic condition, which is good if the user’s not in a hurry but Food Corner application
is based on directly ordering what the user wants without any sort of time taking details.
(Figure: 5)
 The My Pizza site is a single page website and is not much flexible for mobiles or tabs.
 My Pizza has a subscription service too which is better than Food Corner interface design
as it is better for a user to get notifications of the restaurant’s new schemes (My Pizza,
2018).
Conclusion
At the end of it all, the required interface is finally made ready. There were a lot of factors
and challenges to be met, the basics of designing were needed to be kept in thought such as
those defining the look n feel of the interface and also other effects such as the ones keeping
the comfort of the users in mind. The requirements were a general skeleton in which the
heuristic’s principles and were to be planted as rules muscles and tissues, in which further
addition of veins and arteries were needed which was covered up by the information on
designing basics from outside resources. That’s how the complete structure of the interface
got all ready to be applied further into use. This interface design is therefore complete and
contained with a design which is attractive and is very user handy.

Images
Figure 1: The sign out button
Figure 2: Trending Food Suggestions

Figure 3: Help Button and Page
Figure 4: Similar in pricing

Figure 5: Too many options for a single food item

References
10 Heuristics for User Interface Design: Article by Jakob Nielsen. (2009, January 1).
Retrieved from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
40 Tips For Inclusive And Accessible User Interface Design | Designlab blog. (2000, January
1). Retrieved from https://trydesignlab.com/blog/40-tips-inclusion-accessibility-user-
interface-design/
Kedah, Zulkarnain, Ismail, Yusof, Ahasanul, A.K.M & Ahmed, Selim. (2015). Key Success
Factors of Online Food Ordering Services: An Empirical Study. Malaysian Management
Review.50. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291074636_Key_Success_Factors_of_Online_Food
_Ordering_Services_An_Empirical_Study
My Pizza. (2018, January 1). Retrieved from
https://www.easyfood.co.uk/takeaways/menu/my-pizza
Ricky, Michael. (2014). Mobile Food Ordering Application using Android OS Platform. EPJ
Web of Conferences. 68. 10.1051/epjconf/20146800041.