Thompson Hospitality: Nutrition Kiosk
Dining hall anxiety is a daily reality for students with dietary restrictions. To foster a more inclusive campus environment, I designed a self-service kiosk that provides instant transparency into daily menus.
Faced with a compressed timeline and limited budget mid-academic year, I focused on high-impact safety features, streamlining the design to ensure no student has to guess what is in their meal.
Project goal:
To foster an inclusive dining environment where “what’s for dinner?" isn't a stressful question. I designed this kiosk to be a reliable advocate for students with allergies, providing the transparency they need to eat with confidence.
Result:
A streamlined digital resource that empowers students to make informed, safe, and confident choices. By prioritizing a clear information hierarchy, I achieved a target Time-on-Task of <20 seconds for students to identify critical allergens or dietary triggers.
Project Type
UX Design Process | UI Design | UX Research | Wireframes | Prototypes | Usability Testing | Branding
Role:
Lead UX Designer
Start Date
05/19/2025
End Date
08/4/2025
Audience:
Students with dietary restrictions.
Tools
Figma, Adobe Creative cloud, and Wix Studio
Platform:
Physical Kiosk Interface
Step 1: Empathize
Start Date
05/19/2025
End Date
05/26/2025
Foundational Research:
To navigate a compressed timeline and a small budget, I utilized Secondary Research to identify established pain points in campus dining and food-safety standards. This allowed me to ground the design in proven user needs without delaying the project's launch.
Here are the methods I used during this phase:
Competitive Audit:
An overview of your competitors strengths and weaknesses. During this audit I made sure to look at our direct competitors and indirect competitors. A competitive audit of grocery kiosks revealed that users identify safety icons 3x faster than text descriptions. I also analyzed direct campus competitors and indirect leaders (like medical and grocery apps) to identify strengths in high-speed data visualization.
Industry Benchmarks:
To ensure the kiosk was both inclusive and reliable, I anchored the interface in ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) guidelines. This involved prioritizing high-contrast visual identifiers for the "Top 9" allergens and ensuring that the most critical safety filters were placed within an accessible physical reach for every student, regardless of height or mobility.
Research Insights:
1. The “Visual Language" Insight
A key takeaway from my audit was the effectiveness of standardized iconography over text. I chose to use universal icons for the ‘Top 9' allergens to facilitate the <20s identification goal.
2. The “Physical Accessibility" Insight
By reviewing ADA standards, I ensured the interface layout kept primary navigation within the ‘accessible reach zone' for students using wheelchairs or mobility aids.
3. The “Trust" Insight
Following FARE guidelines, I prioritized a “Last Updated” timestamp on menus to build trust and transparency regarding cross-contamination risks.
Step 2: Define
Start Date
05/26/2025
End Date
06/02/2025
Identifying the Friction:
Problem Statement:
A problem statement is a clear description of the user’s needs. I want to make sure I have a strong problem statement by making sure it is human-centered, broad enough for creative freedom, but narrow enough to be solved by a practical design solution.
To help me define a clear problem statement I will use the 5 W’s and H.
Who: Students with dietary restrictions.
What: The pain point that I am trying to solve is that the students with dietary restrictions have a hard time finding dishes to eat at our dining hall.
Where: This product will be displayed on a kiosk at the dining hall.
When: This problem occurs to students when they arrive at the dining hall.
Why: This problem is important because dining hall anxiety is a daily reality for students with dietary restrictions.
How: By implementing this kiosk at all our dining halls, students with dietary restrictions will be able to comfortably attend our dining hall without worrying what they will eat.
Zariah is a busy 3rd year student at Norfolk State University who needs to be able to quickly and easily check dining location, hours, and menus on the go because he would rather spend his time studying for his degree.
Hypothesis Statement:
A hypothesis statement is an educated guess about what you think the solution to a design problem might be. I want to make sure my hypothesis statement communicates a practical design solution to the need in the problem statement.
If Zariah can access location hours in a couple of seconds, then he will be able to plan the rest of his day accordingly.
If Kiona can go to the dining hall and not be surprised at what is being served, then she will be a lot happier with her dining experience.
Value Proposition:
A value proposition summarizes why a consumer/user should use a product/service. In this case, why students should be visiting their campus dining website. A value proposition needs to be short, clear and to-the-point.
While developing my value proposition, I kept two key questions in mind: What does my product do, and why should the users care?
Allows students to quickly plan meals. Daily menus, hours, and location all in one place.
Always stay informed. Real time updates of any menu changes, closures or special events.
Convenient dining options for residential and commuting students.
Provide transparent communication and information to students.
Step 3: Ideate
Start Date
06/02/2025
End Date
06/09/2025
Designing for Speed & Safety:
Ideate a broad set of ideas without judging them or evaluating them. No such thing as a bad idea. Create a clear goal statement and conduct a competitive audit.
Notes:
As I am the only UX designer on my team, I was able to gather a diverse group of people with different backgrounds. Our group had two graphic designers, a marketing specialist, and an operational specialist.
Ideally, I would have liked to do this brainstorming session in a creative environment, but because we all work remotely, our best option was to meet on Teams. This allowed us to save time and money.
After 30 minutes of brainstorming out loud here were some of the ideas that we came up with.
Brainstorming:
Pop-up that asks what they’re doing on the website and directs them to the correct page.
Place QR codes around the dining hall that sends users to the website.
Have a contest about finding things within the website to have users get used to it.
Updating our navigation bar/sitemap.
Just have one page with only hours, locations, and menus.
Remove all unnecessary pages or pages that are not as popular.
Buttons on the homepage that leads to the most popular pages on the website.
Redesign the footer to have important links in it.
Create a reward system so every time a user visits the website, they get points to use for coupons for free food.
Have a digital sign that displays the menus at the entrance of the dining hall.
Have three pages: home, locations and menus, and contact us page.
Have our link added to all our social media platforms.
Add a “shortcut” button in the nav that goes to the most popular page.
Post a video on our social media walking through our website.
Create one big website. This website will have a main homepage that will direct users to the correct campus they are looking for. It will contain some kind of search bar or dropdown with all campuses.
Every time a new user visits our site, walk through the website letting them know where everything is located.
Evaluating Ideas:
After brainstorming out loud without judging or evaluating them, our team took a quick break. This break is important so that we are able to reset ourselves and start clean. During the evaluation of these ideas, it is important to keep in mind if the idea is technically possible to build, best at solving the user problem and financially beneficial for us. With this in mind, the ideas that we liked the most are the following:
Updating our navigation bar/sitemap.
Buttons on the homepage that leads to the most popular pages on the website.
Add a “shortcut” button in the nav that goes to the most popular page.
Create one big website. This website will have a main homepage that will direct users to the correct campus they are looking for. It will contain some kind of search bar or dropdown with all campuses.
Goal Statement:
A product goal statement is one to two sentences that describes a product and its benefits to the user. Using the problem statement that I came up with in the previous phase will help me come up with a strong goal statement. A strong goal statement should help me create the ideal solution for my designs.
Our campus dining website will allow users to quickly find daily information like menus, hours, and locations, which will affect NSU students with meal plans by allowing them to plan accordingly with their educational and social plans. We will measure effectiveness by monitoring the bounce rate of the website. We can measure this by using the website analytics feature.
Competitive Audit:
A competitive audit is an overview of our competitors strengths and weaknesses. Audits will allow us to identify our key competitors, review their product and understand how they position themselves in the market.
Please view the link below to take a look at my competitive audit!
Step 4: Prototype
Start Date
06/16/2025
End Date
06/29/2025
The Safety-First Interface:
By keeping the problem statement and goal statement in mind, I will create user flows, wire-frames, low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes.
Notes:
User Flows:
A user flow is the path taken by a typical user on an app or a website, so they can complete a task from start to finish. User flows do not contain full content but instead use shapes to show how a user moves through our website. Below you can see the shapes I used for my user flow.
Next steps: Testing
Validation & Future Roadmap:
Due to project timeline and budget constraints, I was not able to conduct usability testing. However, a future goal is to secure stakeholder approval to conduct user testing and iterate on the design. Below is my proposed UX research plan that I will follow.
Desired Outcome:
During this phase, I would like to identify how users interact with our product. Pinpoint usability issues, validation of design decision, and clear improvement opportunities. Discover where users struggle, get confused or cannot complete important tasks. Due to launch date rapidly approaching, I will revisit this phase during the semester. You can view my research study plan below!
UX Research plan
Project Background:
After designing the final product, the next step is to evaluate how well the experience works for students in real-world scenarios. The website was designed to help students quickly find essential information such as daily menus, dining hall hours, locations, and dietary options.
Because students often check dining information between classes or while on the go, it’s critical that the website allows users to find what they need quickly and intuitively. Usability testing will be conducted to ensure this product supports students’ needs and to identify any remaining usability issues.
Research Goals:
The primary goal of this research is to evaluate the usability of the final product and determine whether students can efficiently complete common tasks on the campus dining website.
Specifically, this research aimed to:
Validate that the website structure and navigation are intuitive
Evaluate how easily users can locate important dining information
Identify any remaining usability issues within the design
Understand how students interact with the interface
Gather feedback that could inform final design improvements
Research Questions:
This study focused on answering the following questions:
How intuitive is the website’s navigation and information structure?
Are users able to complete key tasks quickly and efficiently?
What challenges or frustrations do users experience while using the website.\Does the design support students who are quickly checking information between classes?
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s):
To evaluate the effectiveness of the design, the following metrics were tracked:
Task Success Rate
The percentage of participants who were able to successfully complete assigned tasks.
Time on Task
How long it took participants to find key information.
Navigation Efficiency
The number of clicks or steps required to complete each task.
User Satisfaction
Participant feedback on how easy or difficult the experience felt.
Usability Issues Identified
Recurring pain points or areas of confusion observed during testing..
Methodology:
Moderated Usability Testing
Moderated usability testing sessions were conducted to observe how students interact with the final product. Participants were asked to complete common tasks while sharing their thoughts aloud.
Session Format
Moderated sessions conducted in person
Participants interacted with the final product
Session Length
15–20 minutes per participant
Data Collected
Observations of user behavior
Task completion rates
Time required to complete tasks
Verbal feedback from participants
Notes on usability issues
This approach allowed me to observe how users naturally navigate the interface and identify areas where the design could be improved.
Participants:
Participants were recruited from the website’s target audience: university students who regularly use campus dining services.
Participant Criteria
Currently enrolled university student
Uses campus dining locations
Has experience looking up dining information online
Sample Size
5–8 participants.
Script:
Introduction
“Thank you for participating in this usability study. Today we’ll be looking at your campus dining website.
The goal is to understand how students interact with the website. There are no right or wrong answers—we’re testing the design, not you. As you go through the tasks, please try to think out loud so I can understand your thought process.”
Warm-Up Questions
How often do you eat at campus dining locations?
Have you ever used a campus dining website before?
What information do you usually look for when deciding where to eat on campus?
Usability Test Tasks
Participants were asked to complete realistic tasks that reflect how students typically use a campus dining website.
Task 1
You want to see what’s being served today. Show me how you would find the menu for a dining hall.
Task 2
You’re planning dinner later tonight. Find the hours of operation for a dining location.
Task 3
You have a dietary restriction. Show me how you would locate dietary or allergen information.
Task 4
You heard about a new food location on campus. Show me how you would find where it is located.
Post-Test Questions
What parts of the website felt easy to use?
What parts felt confusing or difficult?
Was there any information you expected to find but couldn’t?
If you could change one thing about this website, what would it be?
Expected Outcomes
The usability testing results will help identify:
Any remaining navigation or usability issues
Opportunities to simplify how students access key information
Improvements that could make the experience faster and more intuitive
Final Thoughts
Last Updated:
10/29/2025
Outcome:
Three months into the semester and four months after launch, I have seen some great results.
For starters the exit rate, how often visitors leave the site after viewing a certain page, of the site has been great. The high priority pages such as the menus, locations, and events page on the website has a exit rate of 92% or above. Suggesting users were successfully completing their primary tasks.
The redesign also lowered the site’s bounce rate from 66% to 58%, indicating stronger engagement and improved navigation throughout the experience.
Takeaways:
Going through this rigorous UX design process alone, I was able to learn a few things. First thing I learned was the importance of doing the research as early as possible in the design process. The research is the backbone and the driving force of your design decisions and to do that is to truly understanding your users and their needs. I also found the importance of making sure to remove any bias during the user interviews. As this was the first time conducting user interviews, this is something I struggled during the first few interviews but after making a few adjustments I believe I was able to conduct unbiased interviews. I was able to do this by choosing my words carefully, avoiding specific language and limiting guidance I gave to the users.
Although the process was challenging and time-intensive, seeing the final experience and measurable outcomes made it incredibly rewarding.
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