Noa Ben Nun | Design Research
Mana Mana
Translating traditional food to local ingredients
Project Summary
Project Type
Independent project
Individual work
Skills & Tools
Literature review, in-depth interviews, social media research, competitor analysis, solution ideation, wireframe design, prototyping, usability testing, growth opportunity identification.
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Software: Miro, Figma
The Challenge
How might expats find and access the food products they love from their home country while living in a new country?
Process and Outcome
Mana Mana is a project that began from a personal need: an expat's challenge in finding ethnic foods in foreign countries. The project started with understanding this problem better by gathering insights from social media, conducting interviews, and engaging in conversations with other expats. These efforts revealed that expats often seek and share information about ethnic food products online, and there's a strong emotional connection to finding and preparing traditional dishes when in a foreign country. The main motivations for finding ethnic food products are nostalgia and the desire to share their culture with future generations. However, the ability to do it is hindered by the high prices of imported products and the lack of familiarity with the abundant local alternatives.
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The next step was designing a mobile application to address these needs. The app's key features include a search tool to find local substitutes for favorite ethnic products, a feature to support a community-driven database for sharing information on food items, and a recipe translation feature to adapt traditional dishes with locally available ingredients.
The prototype of the app was tested with users to refine its usability, focusing on how easily and effectively they could navigate and complete tasks. Going forward, the aim is to expand the app's reach, potentially incorporating business users, and to create a larger platform for expats passionate about maintaining their culinary heritage in new environments.
Lo-Fi prototype walk through
The project is a blend of a deeper understanding of the expat experience and practical solutions, aiming to make settling into a new country a bit easier when it comes to enjoying familiar tastes from home.
Mana Mana: In Detail
Mana Mana is a project that started because of a problem I faced as an expat living in two foreign countries. It continued as I realized that this problem is common among many who left their home country due to different circumstances.
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The project's main activities are visualized using the Double Diamond design process for easy scannability. More details on each phase follow.
Inspiration video
The process
1. Discover: Better Understanding of the Preliminary Problem
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Collection of information via social media, literature and casual conversations.
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Identification of a target group.
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Outreach to potential interviewees.
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Conduct of in-depth interviews.
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Competitor analysis
2. Define: Data Analysis & New Problem Definition
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Organization of data.
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Leverage of an Empathy Map for better understanding of the target group’s emotions, attitudes and behaviors.
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Identification of pain points and desires.
3. Develop: Ideation & Wireframing
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Translation of insights into product features.
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Ideation of wireframes using Miro.
4. Deliver: Prototyping & Testing
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Preparation of interactive Lo-Fi prototype using Figma.
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Decision on test goals and test plan.
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Definition of metrics to measure.
5. Grow: Scalability & Growth
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Identification of Scalability and growth opportunities.
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Development of product roadmap.
1. Discover: Better Understanding the Preliminary Problem
The problem that incentivized me to start the project was "How can I find the food products I like from home in the new country I live in?"
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Two trends that reinforce this problem are:
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The price of importation: Imported goods are easy to find but are expensive at times.
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The price of abundance: There are many local options to choose from, how can we find the one that matches best to the one we like at home without breaking our wallet?
Importation and abundance of goods (Image by Freepik)
As a UX researcher, I know better than to design a solution based solely on my own experience. Hence, I opt to investigate other people’s points of view by:
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Gathering social media posts written by the relevant target group
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Conducting a literature review
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Conducting in-depth interviews
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Having occasional conversations with other expats
2. Define: Data Analysis & New Problem Definition
The analysis of social media posts allowed me to identify expats' current behaviors including the way they solve their pain points today. The main insights from the analysis are:
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Looking for and sharing products/produce on group communication channels: Expats leverage Facebook and WhatsApp groups to ask other expats about local substitutes for ethnic products. Every post gets dozens of comments with product suggestions and where to find them.
- Produce: Expats tend to look for processed food but also for certain types of produce like vegetables, fruits, and fish. This is a result of geographical location, climate, and cultural differences that influence produce availability in certain areas.
Categorization of social media posts
The analysis of in-depth interviews allowed me to better understand the experience and emotions involved in the search for familiar ethnic food for expats. The main insights from the analysis are:
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Nostalgia and future generations: expats look for the things they are familiar and grew up with to have a short moment of nostalgia and share it with their children.
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Preparing a dish: the need is often more than just finding a product or produce, it is about being able to prepare a traditional dish at home. However, dishes taste different when prepared with local products.
Nostalgia and future generations
The flashback scene (Ratatouille, 2007)
Empathy map based on interviews and conversations
3. Develop: Ideation & Wireframing
Prior to sketching wireframes, I made sure to translate the main insights and needs identified in earlier phases into three main features that would be available in the first version of the app. The features are:
Find
The feature would enable users to search for an original product and get results for local substitutes.
Build a database
The feature would enable users to share relevant products and produce and build a database that everyone could enjoy.
Translate
The feature would translate recipes by "translating" products, produce, and measurement units from the origin country to the ones available at the users' current location.
Everyone around me advises to start sketching wireframes on paper, but I found that using the very user-friendly wireframe feature on Miro was the best option for me. I wireframed different screen layouts for the three main features with a "quantity over quality" mindset.
Wireframing using Miro
4. Deliver (well, almost): Prototyping & Testing
To be able to test the wireframes, I transferred a few of them to Figma and prepared a low-fidelity prototype. The ability to add interactions on Figma allowed me to better identify where and how to make sure that focal usability heuristics are implemented, e.g.: visibility of system status (update confirmation), consistency (layout and symbols), user control and freedom, error prevention and recovery (ability to navigate back and edit).
Lo-Fi prototype walk through
Testing of the prototype is conducted in multiple rounds, each with five participants, and is divided into three parts including:
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Independent navigation in the app followed by a conversation.
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Performing two tasks while sharing thoughts out loud.
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Final conversation to get feedback from the participant.
The metrics measured are:
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Task success rate
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Time on task
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User error rate
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Iterations on the prototype according to test results and feedback are still in the making and will be updated soon.
5. Grow: Scalability & Growth
As a UX researcher, I make a lot of effort to stay focused on the research scope and at the same time be excited about new ideas and exploration paths that could be leveraged as growth opportunities in the future.
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In future phases of the research and product roadmap, I envision the inclusion of:
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Expats from additional countries and cultures.
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Expats who reside in new countries due to different circumstances and have different needs and resources.
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Users from the business sector.
Roadmap illustration
I am excited by the potential of the platform evolving into an ecosystem for individuals and businesses passionate about traditional and ethnic cuisine. This vision fuels my motivation to become a better UX researcher and my drive to lead continuous research and iterative design processes for solutions that make our days better, one small step at a time.
Credits
“Folder podcast” icon used on the home page is by Adriansyah from Noun Project.
“Challenge” icon used on the home page is by iconixar from Noun Project.
“Project” icon used on the home page is by Adriansyah from Noun Project.