The Problem

Lunch Money Buddy was developed to help streamline the lunch-buying process and ensure users of all technological comfort levels can provide a healthy lunch to children in their care. The following goals were established:

Piggy bank icon

Funding

Add funds to the account via multiple payment options & setup automatic payment methods

Dollar sign icon

Subsidy Info

Quickly view subsidy information for the current year and access previous information

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Multiple Menus

Access menus for indvidual for multiple schools & children. Denote a child's favorite meals

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Mobile Access

Provide critical information quickly for parents on-the-go with hectic, busy lifestyles

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Ease of Use

Simple, straightfoward interface for every user's technological comfort level

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Low Balance Alerts

Warn users of a low balance so children do not miss a lunch while at school

Actions

The following steps were taken during the development of the Lunch Money Buddy mobile application. Feedback was given at each step, causing multiple iteration and ideation sessions.

Research

During the research phase, personas were reviewed and essential goals were established based on behavior, lifestyle, and technological comfort level.
Mobile application research was completed using successful app such as Facebook and Huntington Bank. 81% of mobile application users have Facebook, so the interface is familiar to a wide audience. The primary users of Lunch Money Budy are parents and guardians of school-aged children. In the United States, 64% of Facebook users are over age 25, adding further support to utilizing a similar layout and features.

Sketches & Site Map

Muliple sketching sessions created the Lunch Money Buddy's early interface. During these sessions, feedback was given on the flow of information, the clarity of the interaction, and the solutions presented. Intial, rough sketches led into refined sketches utilizing a mobile phone template. For this project, the iPhone 6, 8 Plus, and X were used interchangably to explore solutions across the iOS platform. The site map guided guided the creation of screens and their connectivity.

Protoype

Once all the feedback was considered and applied to the wireframes, the final solution was created from the wireframes. Fonts were considered, color schemes were decided upon, and graphics were created for the final prototype. During this phase, it was important to keep the underlying wireframe's functionality clear as it was the foundation to be built upon. The design of the protoype could not compromise the interactions previously created.

Actions Images

Results

The final prototype is can be viewed via Proto.io
Below you will also find a promotion video and select screenshots.

Lunch Money Buddy
Promotional Video

Lunch Money Buddy Screenshots

Added Child Confirm
Today's Meal
Brenden's Menu
Brenden's Like Confirm
Alert Confirmation
Alerts
Quick View
Tomorrow's Menu
AutoPay
Hailee's Dislikes
Subsidy
Payment Methods
Close Account

85

Screens

122

Screens including Interactions

394

Assets Generated

4

Deliverables

Lessons

This project was very challenging for me in the following ways:

Losing sight

I started to think too big. I had to go back to the beginning and remind myself of the original purpose of the app. I revisited the goals and was sure to address each problem.

Reduce!

Similar to losing sight, I need to remember to reduce. Several areas were information heavy and by thinking about the user's needs I was able to combine information and reduce the user's cognitive load.

Details!

While I wanted to include biometric options for iPhone, for the first half of the wireframes I was adding a TouchID to an iPhone X which uses Face ID. Thankfully my group's feedback caught the error. Such a detail could derail a projet when it comes to building the app.

Proto

Learning Proto was definitely a challenge. However, it is a very helpful tool to wireframe and create functioning prototypes. I have already begun looking into pricing for use in my classroom in Spring 2019.

Deliverables

Proto Demo

Proto Demo

hosted privately
Process Report

Process Report

hosted by Issuu
Promo Video

Promo Video

hosted by YouTube