A food review blog for curious New Yorkers (college students or not), looking for affordable foods, snacks, or drinks.
Inspired by TikTok, I reviewed fifteen food places over one month. I film short-form video reviews, all coming together to create one cohesive website. These places have to be within the budget of $20 and located in Manhattan.
Understanding The Problem.
There is nothing that brings people together more than food. Food sparks memories, smiles, tears, and even relationships. Therefore, one would assume that college students living in New York City have the world’s best foods right at their fingertips.
Well, this is not entirely the case.
According to a study by Melanie Hanson, the average amount of money college students spend on food (restaurants and groceries) is $547. Additionally, it is estimated that U.S. college students spend nearly 40 billion dollars on food annually (Hanson, "Average Cost of Food per Month for a College Student”). Food seems to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, expense that college students face daily. With New York City being one of the most popular cities in the world, the cost of food is far from cheap.
This project seeks to research and experience new foods, drinks, and snacks, from the perspective of a New York City college student living on a budget. This is done through creating an online food review website for people to use. The purpose of Let's Talk Food is to be a helpful resource for curious New Yorkers to easily navigate cheap eats in one of the most amazing (yet expensive) cities in America.
Sources
Hanson, Melanie. “Average Cost of Food per Month for a College Student” EducationData.org,
August 20, 2023, https://educationdata.org/average-monthly-food-spend-college-student
Empathy mapping.
At the beginning of my design thinking process, I wanted to understand my product's potential users to the best of my ability. I did this by creating an empathy map for a fellow college student named Samantha, a junior at Fordham University.
Samantha would assume the role of a potential user of Let's Talk Food.
DEFINING USER PERSONAS.
The main type of users that Let's Talk Food will solve problems for are those looking for affordable/budget-friendly food places to try in Manhattan.
This project focuses on two personas named Samantha and Louis, each representing two different types of people who could use Let's Talk Food.
Problem Statements.
After creating my user personas, I worked on defining a clear problem and hypothesis statement for each. Doing this would promote a sharper definition of my product's users and their needs.
Naomi
Problem Statement: Naomi is a busy college student who needs an effective way to discover more affordable foods in New York City because she wants to start eating healthier and is tired of eating redundant dining hall food.
Hypothesis Statement: If Naomi uses Let's Talk Food as an online resource, then she will be able to save time finding exciting yet filling foods around the city that cater to her budget.
Louis
Problem Statement: Louis is a soon-to-be dad who needs to make smarter decisions while grocery shopping because he wants to save money for his growing family.
Hypothesis Statement: If Louis uses Let's Talk Food, then he will be able to gain ideas of new foods to buy when grocery shopping which will save him money in the long run.
User Journey Map.
Building off of my user personas, I created a journey map and a user flow for the Naomi persona.
As shown below, I document the entire series of interactions and events that Naomi would experience while trying to find an affordable spot to get bubble tea.
DESIGNING KEY FEATURES.
Short-form video reviews
By including videos of each food/drink/snack that I review, it would be easy for users to gain information quickly. I also included a written description of each review to target users who rather read to gain information, rather than watch a video.
Food Map
A visual representation of the locations of all the meals/beverages/snacks that I review. Users can see where they are located in Manhattan and access addresses with ease.
Intuitive Navigation | Distinctions
Divide the videos into distinct categories. Separate categories promote intuitive navigation throughout the site.
Illustrations | GIFs | Images | Vibrant Colors
Serves as a way to keep users engaged and actively interested while on the site. Not only will they be absorbing information from videos/images, but lots of fun art will be sprinkled throughout the site to catch their attention! This keeps the website, light, fun, and energized.
FOOD RESEARCH.
A combination of internet research (Google Maps, google, yelp, etc.) and in-person searching was used to find each food place. When I would go to the locations, I would pick an item off the menu and film a short 1-2 minute review. This item ranged from entire meals to beverages and/or snacks.
In each video, the name of the food (or beverage/dessert) would be mentioned, as well as the location, its price, a personal reaction, and an overall rating. The criteria for my rating were based on the affordability of the item, its portion size, the taste, and its uniqueness.
I wanted to find affordable foods that make you feel warm, foods that remind you of home, foods that you crave in the middle of the night.
DIGITAL PROTOTYPE.
The main reason why I decided to make Let's Talk Food into a website, instead of an app/solely post my videos on TikTok, is because of its underlying goal. The goal of this project is to create a helpful tool that other people can use. Therefore, even though TikTok is a way to gain information, it is also viewed as a form of entertainment - one that relies on viewer interaction, influenced by algorithms.
By creating a separate website, a specified resource can be made. In addition, through the site, I can showcase an array of my videos, photos, animations, and illustrations in a more cohesive and organized way. In other words, my entire process of this project (both the informational/ research process and the creative one) can be on display for people to use and enjoy.
Home Page - This page includes information about who I am, what Let's Talk Food is about, and why it matters. I wanted to include this in the blog to show users the purpose behind this project and the inspiration I had for making it. It allows users to relate and develop a deeper understanding of the product.
Food Review Page - The navigation bar is separated into four sections (All, Meals, Beverages, Snacks & Desserts) for users to easily access specific videos.
Food review - Each review video is located at the top of the page while the descriptions are located towards the bottom of the page.
Food review (cont.) - The food review includes images and/or illustrations and a summary of what is said in the video. The written summary helps target users who rather read information, instead of watch a video to gain information. Users have to option to watch the video or read the summary -- either way, the same information will be absorbed.
Share feature - Users can actively engage with each review by sharing it, commenting on it, or printing it out! These actions help spread the word about the food blog, thereby allowing more people to use it and gain new information from it.
Food Map - A linked map where users can find all of the locations of the food reviews. This map not only helps people visualize the location of each place but also provides quick access to their addresses for better direction/navigation.
Landing Page - Displays a collage of all of the illustrations I created throughout the course of the project. Each illustration is based on what I eat at each food place. Users enter the food review blog once they click on the "enter" button on the lower left corner.
IMPROVEMENTS.
Overall, much hard work and love went into making Let's Talk Food come to life. This project taught me so much about myself and allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. I learned to be okay with filming in public and finally embraced my inner foodie.
Here are some improvements and takeaways that I gathered after the website was published.
This allows my design to target more users and be more accessible, especially to those users who can't hear and depend on closed captions to learn and absorb information.
Extend the food search to all five NYC boroughs: Due to personal time constraints, it was most convenient for me to keep my food search limited to Manhattan only. However, after making such a decision, I immediately put a limit on the amount of users that could potentially use my product. Not all New Yorkers live/go out in Manhattan. Moving forward, this is something I would change in my design. I want to make the most out of the product and target as many users as possible.
Add more grocery store food options: Only a handful of my food reviews cover food that could be found at the grocery store. To cater more to users like Louis (one of my user personas), I would add more reviews about items users can buy at the market. In doing so, I would broaden the types of users that Let's Talk Food focuses on.
*Instead of targeting very specific New Yorkers, I will focus more on New Yorkers who are looking for affordable foods on the streets of the city, and those looking for affordable foods at the grocery store.*
