Challah Share
Shabbat Hosting App
Project Overview
The Need
Friday night Shabbat dinner is deeply ingrained in Jewish tradition, but what happens when someone does not have a place for Shabbat dinner?
There are organisations that help to match people who need meals, but the experience is similar to a "blind date" for the guests and the hosts, and it can either be a fun evening or...a disaster.
The Solution
Provide a platform where hosts and guests can find each other, directly, review each others profile and see if they have friends in common, to increase the chances of a pleasant evening.
My Role
UX designer
Tools
Axure for wireframing and prototyping
Design Process
The User
Market Research
Designed UI
Measuring Success
Future Features
The Users
Guests
Anyone who wishes to be hosted for a Friday night meal. Their needs are wanting to recreate the family atmosphere, fulfil the commandment of sanctifying the Sabbath and wanting to meet new people.
They are:
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Lone Soldiers
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Olim hadashim (New Immigrants)
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Tourists
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Native Israelis
Hosts
Anyone who wishes to host someone for a Shabbat meal and communal meals organised by synagogues or communities. Their motives are fulfilling the commandment to host guests, returning kindness from when they needed a place for Friday night meal and meeting new people.
They are:
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Families
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Young professionals
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Synagogues
Market Research
Current "solutions" are problematic:
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Booking a Shabbat meal can be expensive
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It is treated as a tourist experience
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Some sites mix hosting with dating
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Guests can not choose a host that would be a good fit
UX Design Process - Wireframes
Onboarding
Registration is only done through Facebook for speed, security as well as for the social aspect of the app. This enables users to see who else will be attending the meals and if they have friends in common.
Registration needs a few more steps to set the profile of the user. This is done by a quick and easy form of buttons with icons.
As soon as the icons are picked then the SUBMIT button is activated and the user can continue.
The user is redirected to a calendar where only Fridays and Saturdays are highlighted, as those are the days that the meals will be available during that month. If there are festive meals during the week, for example Pesach, then those days will be highlighted.
When the user picks a date, the Submit button is activated and he can continue to the next page
This is the last step where after having picked a date, which is also at the top to remind the users which date was picked and not having to go back in case he forgot. At this step the user can either pick the location where they are or type an address. The keyboard is already visible for faster access.
Use of the App
The date and the address are visible at the top so that the user knows at all times the date and place he picked.
If he decides to change them he can press on the relevant button to make amendments
Communal dinners are indicated by a symbol of a synagogue, the rest by the Facebook profile image of the host.
If the user has not given permission for 'Location Access' till now, he will be prompted to do this, at this point, with a notification that uses Yiddish, to make it a bit funny and playful.
The user can see the data by list or on a map. The map gives the opportunity to scan through more data while the map enables the user to see the options closest to him.
Booking a Meal
Sticky RSVP banner
Seeing the other guests attending provides solid social proof of legitimacy.
Reviews help to ensure transparency and build immediate trust.
After clicking on one of the findings, the user sees a page with
all the information relating to the meal. The page is quick to scan
and gives the most important information for the user, so he can make a decision if this could be a good match. The reviews and seeing who else is attending is the biggest value and what makes the app
stand out in the marketplace.
When a guest decides to join a particular meal, he needs to send an RSVP message, and he ticks what he will be contributing to the meal, as good will.
The host has the ability to review an RSVP, and then Approve or Decline the request of a guest if he deems that it will be an unfit match.
Keeping track of Meals
Guest knows who his host is, after he has been approved, and what he offered to bring to the meal
Host Knows at all times who is coming to his meals.
Host has the ability to create meals and receive notifications of people requesting to be hosted
Design Mock Ups
Usability Test
The app passed a usability test before the final presentation, by two users. The users were asked to complete 5 tasks starting from easy and gradually escalating to a more challenging one. The aim was to see if the app design was easy enough for the users to navigate and identify any bottlenecks and then change the design accordingly.
The tasks they had to complete were:
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Complete registration
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Find the results on the map
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Search for Rina Bina's event and press RSVP
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Look for the meals that are coming up and tell me what are you expected to bring
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Create an event yourself
The most challenging task was the last one. It took the users a bit longer to figure it out, but that could be due to lack of familiarity with the app.
Old Design
New Design
Changes made based on Usability Test
One user did not notice the big of "Use Current Location" button during registration, so it was increased in size and placed more in the centre of the screen to stand out more.
The RSVP for approval that the host receives only has the item that the user has committed to bringing, and not the not-selected options, that were initially there. The user who did the usability suggested that this would be more effective and would clean out any unnecessary information. The user does not need to know about the other items that will not be brought.
Measuring Success
The success of the project can be measured by the following parameters
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Meals booked
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Meals created
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Referrals to friends
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Retention
Future Features
The project at its current stage operates as a platform where guests can find hosts. There is potential to add features to this app, such as the following
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Connect with a florist, a wine vendor or a bakery, so that guests can send their hosts 'Thank You' presents before or after a meal, through the app
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Add a feature in the map option, to calculate the distance and directions to a host.