Lead Designer as part of the hedgehog lab team to develop Deliveroo’s food procurement platform, connecting restaurants directly to their suppliers.
Working within the limits of Deliveroo’s brand, I designed the entire platform developing a consistent component system and accompanying logo to sit within the existing Deliveroo family of brands. Available on both iOS and Android, the platform allows restaurants to search for suppliers near them and compile supplier orders in the same intuitive way that diners order meals from their restaurants. An integrated messaging system also allows restaurants to communicate directly with suppliers and track their order status, incorporating the entire order process within the app.
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Problem
One of Deliveroo’s core requirements for the project was to validate the concept of a digital sourcing platform for restaurants vs orders placed via traditional telephone, pen and ink. This concept was explored through first-hand research with real restaurants and suppliers.
Our in-house user research team carried out extensive field research and interviews throughout the project with restaurants and suppliers alike.
Our in-house user research team carried out extensive field research and interviews throughout the project with restaurants and suppliers alike.
Approach
As a team we worked iteratively, testing our assumptions early and often with a number of prototypes. This helped us to understand and address pain points experienced by restaurants and suppliers alike.
Deliveroo came to us with a year’s worth of testing the concept using Whatsapp, setting up communication between suppliers and restaurants using this method. Once they were happy their concept had been validated they approached us to flesh it out. Our approach was a fast-paced, iterative process, quickly validating our ideas as we went.
The project kicked off with Deliveroo’s General Manager of Special Projects integrated into our team. We worked together to flesh out the idea, scamping and identifying the additional problems we’d need to address.
We decided to get in to low fidelity digital wireframing using standard iOS components quite early on, so we could test our assumptions before we moved into final UI design and build.
The project kicked off with Deliveroo’s General Manager of Special Projects integrated into our team. We worked together to flesh out the idea, scamping and identifying the additional problems we’d need to address.
We decided to get in to low fidelity digital wireframing using standard iOS components quite early on, so we could test our assumptions before we moved into final UI design and build.
As part of the deliverables, Sourced required a new identity creating. The logo utilises the existing Deliveroo logotype to keep the brand consistent and familiar with the rest of the Deliveroo family of logos. From the base logo the double ‘O’ are utilised to symbolise the restaurant and supplier to highlight the connection and communication aspect of the product.
Throughout the process we found the need to pivot and react to research findings.
When we launched the first version and the app was in the hands of real users, we learned more about their behaviors and expectations. The main challenges we encountered were as follows:
1. Users mistakenly downloading this app instead of the main Deliveroo app to order a meal.
2. Restaurants adding their own suppliers and items proved tiresome and laborious.
3. Introducing the concept of adding new suppliers for restaurants as they only wanted to deal with existing relationships.
2. Restaurants adding their own suppliers and items proved tiresome and laborious.
3. Introducing the concept of adding new suppliers for restaurants as they only wanted to deal with existing relationships.
To remove that burden we decided a potential solution was to develop a concierge web service (seen below) whereby users could request an account and a member of the deliveroo team would onboard them.
This meant restaurants would have their app tailored to them with their suppliers and products already loaded to their account, whilst weeding out customers looking for a takeaway and point them in the right direction towards the consumer app.
This meant restaurants would have their app tailored to them with their suppliers and products already loaded to their account, whilst weeding out customers looking for a takeaway and point them in the right direction towards the consumer app.
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We iterated and tested a number of onboarding experiences, from left to right: self onboarding, the concierge service and more recently a combination of the two.
We eventually found that a combination of the concierge service and self onboarding covered both bases for users. Those who were happy to register themselves and those who preferred to have their content preloaded for them to use.
Each of these concepts were designed and tested using Marvel before they moved in to the full build cycle.
We eventually found that a combination of the concierge service and self onboarding covered both bases for users. Those who were happy to register themselves and those who preferred to have their content preloaded for them to use.
Each of these concepts were designed and tested using Marvel before they moved in to the full build cycle.
After planning and prototyping I set about constructing the design system to be used throughout the product. The entire app was designed to be consistent, flexible and easy to build upon. It utilised a lot of the UI and patterns and experiences found in the consumer app so it felt like it belonged to the Deliveroo family of products.
To ensure consistency and better handoff to the large development team, tools such as Abstract were used to manage the design files and libraries to guarantee quality and clear communication.
The video I produced for the initial launch of Sourced Deliveroo shown at their annual restaurant awards.
Solution
The final solution is one which fits within the Deliveroo ecosystem in terms of appearance and functionality. We were keen to develop something which felt like it belonged in a suite of offerings rather than an alien, stand alone product. Borrowing from the existing design system and building upon it helped achieve this goal.
What did we achieve?
→ Digitised ordering process so restaurants can easily and collaboratively manage stock.
→ Generated significant savings for restaurants via the Deliveroo platform.
→ Connected restaurants directly to their supplier via instant messaging.
→ Generated significant savings for restaurants via the Deliveroo platform.
→ Connected restaurants directly to their supplier via instant messaging.
