Greek House Chefs (GHC) came to Shift Interactive and wanted to develop a strategy for their student and chef mobile applications, and corresponding admin web portal. The GHC connects sorority and fraternity house students with their chefs and meal plans and vise versa. The students can define allergies, food preferences, view the meal schedule, and provide feedback to chefs. Chefs are able to create meal plans, receive feedback from students on specific meals, cravings, and preferences, as well be aware of what food allergies students have in the house.
The client rebranded, and needed to update their mobile app. We were given the new style guide for the logo, fonts, colors, and a assets we could utilize. It was also helpful to be able to login to the app which was helpful to understand what the current app provided.
My role was to redesign the student and chef mobile apps, and collaborate with the React Native mobile developer and other team members to make sure we were meeting our objectives, and creating an intuitive user experience for the chefs and students. Both applications were connected to a web cms admin, built in Rudy, which stored all the data from the mobile apps.
To make sure I fully understand all the screens, functionality and objectives of the application, I created a user flow diagrams to make sure I was designing all the screens needed. This would also make for a smooth transition to the mobile app developers. Obviously, I communicated with the app developers on the designs and best practices for iOS and Android apps. I used a Google Material Design component library as the foundation for the app designs.
Based on the branding guide that was provided, I created a style tile to give the client an idea of different components and a general style direction for the app that was based on there brand. I created new icons, some of which I borrowed from the original app.
I used Google Material component library as the foundation for the app navigation and layout elements. Use the component library helps to quickly layout the application design, but more importantly creating an app that has familiar layout and functionality, which helps create a good intuitive user experience. Then really all you need to do is update the components with brand colors, fonts and other graphical elements. I designed the dashboard first, making sure I had all the navigation accounted for, and to establish the apps branding.
After designing the Student facing application, I was able to pick up a lot of the existing components and apply them to the the Chef facing app. To contrast to two apps, I changed the Chef version's primary color from blue to dark gray, and the secondary color from yellow to orange.
The client, chefs and students loved the newly rebranded mobile apps. The standardization of the navigation and layout native iOS and Android components made the app intuitive students and chefs alike. Using React Native to develop both mobile apps, helped us achieved our goal in developing a cost effective application on budget, and on time — before the fall semester began. Making the overall user experience more enjoyable and easy to use helped facilitate better communication between students and sorority and fraternity house chefs.
