My team and I originally worked on this idea together from start to finish; working equally on formulating the flows and design of each process. Since its original conception I have redesigned the visuals and made changes to most of the flows to simplify the process and make it more understandable. What you see today, are the results of my continued efforts with this project.
My Part
With ClusterTruck, any food truck owner can make their business more efficient and more effective. They can share their schedule to the ClusterTruck map and social media which allows foodies and munchers alike to find the food trucks they love. The scheduling system is easy and offers access to analytics of how profitable the food truck was in a location.
Welcome to ClusterTruck, the app that makes managing a food truck easier.
Research & Exploration
Observations
To complete this project I developed a questionnaire to get a better understanding of people involved in the food truck industry. I spoke with a food truck network manager, a few truck owners, as well as some food truck customers. I wanted to know more about their experiences with the industry, and see if we could find some opportunities for improvement.
Key findings:
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Many food trucks use a paid service to schedule for them.
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Food truck owners do not have as strong of a social media presence as they would like. Most of their business comes from word of mouth and roundup events.
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Some events are not public and not publicized.
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A punch card system would be appreciated by both owners and foodies. But owners can find them difficult to manage.
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The hardest part is choosing worth while areas to park. Each day is important and the owners want a positive outcome.
Defined Needs and Objectives
During the interviews I learned the role of the network manager is to coordinate the time, date, and location of food trucks based on the operators availability; and then to relay the information back to the the food trucks and then their customers. ClusterTruck allows the owners to bypass the network manager and communicate directly with their customers.
Target audiences:
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Food truck owners
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Adults ages 18-40 (we figure this group is the most likely to search for unique meal experiences)
Timeline:
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3 months
Primary focus areas for food truck owner:
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Communicate with customers
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Manage schedule and promotions
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Tracking and recording good locations
Primary focus areas for foodie users:
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Locate food trucks
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Connect with favorite food trucks
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Redeem coupons
Ideation
Initial Flow:
After some white boarding, and brainstorming with post-its,
we came up with a basic flow of the things we felt would be important for the app at this point.
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Circles are main focus areas
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Dotted squares are ideas for feature
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Ovals are possible sources to help achieve goal
Initial sketches:
Following our findings we brainstormed and sketched ideas that we believed at this point would achieve the basic needs of both the owners and the foodies.
Personas:
To try and put myself into the shoes of our users, I created these personas to help think about what their needs and goals would be, how they might use the app, and what experience they hope for.
Age: 34
Title: Food Truck Owner & Cook
Hobbies: Playing guitar, riding motorcycles, spend time with family and friends
Frito
Frito has been operating his business for 8 years, mostly from the parking lot of the local hispanic grocery store. His business is stable, but hasn't shown any growth. He has a facebook page where he keeps followers up to date, but it hasn't generated additional traffic.
Age: 22
Title: Foodie, Blogger, Student
Hobbies: Photography, Volleyball, Social Networking
Rosemary
Rosemary is always looking for the next food adventure. She enjoys sharing her experiences with friends and social media followers. She chooses food trucks for their original menu options, hip vibe, and likes when the menu doesn't empty her wallet.
Goals:
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To someday expand his truck into a restaurant
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Find the right opportunities
Goals:
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Be the first to discover up and coming food trucks
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Make the experience worth her money and gas spent
Wireframes
Owner Wireframes: Edit Schedule Process
User Testing
Journey Map
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Disclaimer
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Password confirmation
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Truckin'
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Facebook check in
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Add social media
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Past location on calendar
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Time set up
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Schedule page
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Current day
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Analytics
This user journey was for three users who were testing the app in Invision. Following the testing we refocused on the areas that were consistently low, or where users experienced mixed feelings.
Key findings:
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Won't read a disclaimer.
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Wants to view app before being obligated to subscribe.
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Prefer not having password confirmation.
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A separate page for social media might be easier.
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Wouldn't use Facebook sign in.
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Calendar should show up first.
Final Designs
Foodie Experience: Visiting Truck Profile Menu
Owner Experience: Edit Schedule
** Not all screens are shown. If you'd like to see more, just ask. **
Branding Guidelines
Overall Look and Feel:
The feeling this app needs to convey is both corporate and fun, because it is directed towards two audiences (truck owners and foodies).
Colors:
The main pallet of blue and orange were chosen because they provide a modern corporate feel while still being able to express the free creativity that food trucks love to show.
The lightest color is the background wall for most of the app. It makes for a clean environment that is easy to read and look at, and it visually offers more to the environment than a white background.
Icons:
The icons are fun, with rounded soft corners, that are easy to translate for their use in the app.
Upcoming plans
One of the goals of this project was to provide a way for food truck owners to connect with their customers faster and more easily; while helping them to maximize their profits in successful locations. The next step is in developing a desktop version, which will make ClusterTruck for truck owners even more accessible.
