SnapMeal
Personalized experience where every meal fits your dietary needs.
Whilst convenience often compromises health and sustainability, SnapMeal bridges the gap between conscious eating and effortless ordering. By connecting users with local chefs for customizable, home-cooked meals, it ensures every dish meets personal tastes and requirements —redefining what it means to eat well while doing good.
Problem
Food delivery apps lack personalization, transparency, and sustainability. Users struggle to find meals that fit their dietary needs, with limited ingredient information and no connection with the chefs. This results in a less engaging and untrustworthy experience.
Outcome
Users can seamlessly find meals that align with their preferences and connect with chefs through live preparation streams.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Team
3 Designers
What We Learned
from Desk Research
Before diving into the design, we conducted extensive desk research to analyse trends in food delivery and dietary customization.
64%
Prefer choosing and adjusting the ingredients at the time of ordering
2,000 adults in the UK
(Deloitte Consumer Review, 2014)
73%
Portuguese consumers order food
5.11 million digital consumers
(Kantar, 2021)
79%
Value sustainable alternatives in food
5,246 interviewed from 4 countries
(Sodexo, 2024)
What’s Missing in
Current Delivery Apps?
We examined major players like Uber Eats, Glovo, and Bolt to understand their strengths and limitations. Key takeaways included.
01.
Lack of dietary tailoring
Few options to filter meals by allergens, dietary preferences, or sustainability practices.
02.
Low transparency
Minimal details on ingredients, sourcing, or chef backgrounds.
03.
Impersonal experience
No real connection between users and chefs.
List of competitors researched
Interviews & Surveys
Listening to Users
🛒 Clients
•
Want healthy meals but have little time to prepare them
•
Desire to find a meal that matches their preferences
•
Wish to personalise their meals
•
Are interested in having nutritional information available
👨🍳 Chefs
•
Have the possibility of owning their business and scaling up
•
Want creative freedom while preparing their own menu
•
Need flexible working hours so they can have more free time
•
See personalising a meal as an essential strategy for attracting customers
Understanding
Our Users
To create a meaningful and effective solution, we needed to deeply understand our two primary user groups: customers looking for custom-fit meals and local chefs eager to share their craft.
Mapping the
Ideal Experience
We visualized Mariana’s end-to-end experience, from discovering the app to enjoying her first SnapMeal order, ensuring a smooth and engaging journey.
Structuring
the Experience
To create an intuitive and efficient platform, we mapped out a clear navigation structure that prioritizes personalized recommendations.
Value propostition
Providing a unique experience by making it easy to choose meals tailored to individual preferences and needs.
From Ideas to Paper
Bringing SnapMeal to Life
We started with rapid sketches to explore potential layouts and features, focusing on a clean, visual meal selection process, interactive chef profiles and intuitive filtering for dietary preferences.
Crafting
the Blueprint
From initial sketches to mid-fidelity screens, we mapped out the key pages for the journey. Structured each screen, defining sections for essential elements before refining the details.
Usability Testing
Refining Based on Feedback
Before
The price button was often mistaken for an info icon, causing confusion.
After
Redesigned for clarity, making it instantly recognizable by the users.
Before
The homepage layout made it hard to distinguish between meal and chef cards.
After
The chef card was updated to a circular photo, making it easier to differentiate.
Before
The filter button was difficult to locate and didn’t follow common UX patterns.
After
The filter was replaced with a text-labeled button and repositioned to align with familiar UX patterns.
Before
Users felt stuck without a skip option during onboarding.
After
A skip option was added, giving users more flexibility.
Building a
Brand Identity
We crafted SnapMeal’s identity to reflect warmth and authenticity. Drawing inspiration from fresh ingredients and local chefs, we designed a brand that balances modern simplicity with a welcoming feeling.
Design System
Consistency & Scalability
From meal customization to chef interactions, every UI element adapts to the user’s needs. By maintaining a structured yet flexible system, we deliver an experience that feels both personal and reliable—just like a home-cooked meal.
Feature #1
Personalized Meal Preferences
Every person has unique dietary needs and food preferences. Whether for health reasons, ethical choices, or simply personal taste, we wanted users to have full control over their meals.
Feature #2
Snapchoice Toggle
Instantly enable or disable filters to match changing preferences or order for someone else.
Feature #3
Meal Customization
Modify meals by removing ingredients or asking the Chef to swap them before placing an order.
Feature #4
Live Chef Streams
Users can watch their order being prepared in real-time, strengthening their connection with local chefs. If an order includes meals from multiple chefs, they can watch multiple streams simultaneously in a split-screen view, ensuring every dish meets their expectations.
Feature #5
Picture-in-Picture Mode
Since multitasking is second nature, users can continue browsing, checking social media, or chatting while keeping an eye on their meal prep.
Reflections
Working on SnapMeal proved the power of user-centered design. Research reshaped our assumptions—users valued dietary needs and personalization as much as convenience. Features like chef profiles and meal customization built trust, showing that great UX fosters connections, not just usability. This case study strengthened my design thinking and ability to turn insights into meaningful experiences.
Customization should feel effortless
Personalization adds value but shouldn’t interfere with the experience
Live interactions build trust
Meal prep livestreams increases confidence in orders
People trust people
Seeing a chef’s face, their story, and their process is assuring
User needs over assumptions
Research revealed that dietary preferences, sustainability, and customization drive decision-making more than expected
Next Steps
for SnapMeal
Meal Piggy Bank
Save small change from orders to use later
Rewards System
Earn points to exchange for meals
Chef’s Recommendation
Special recipes curated by chefs
Premium Customer
Unlimited livestream access, exclusive recipes, free deliveries, and MySnap credits