team
Arjun - UX researcher, Harshil - UX researcher, Praveen - PM, Thomas - Full stack.
Timeline
June 2023 - August 2023
Overview
MAIN PROBLEM
What is a portfolio?
A portfolio is any method used to showcase your best work. No matter the industry, fashion, architecture, or design, there are tons of ways to display your work in order to get a new job or expand your audience or customers.
Types of design portfolios
Depending on the type of design work that you do, there are different portfolio formats that will be best suited for your needs. A design portfolio can be digital in the form of a website, slideshow, or PDF but it can also be analog in the form of a print book or poster.
Graphic design portfolio
When it comes to graphic design, designing a PDF as your portfolio is becoming more and more popular to highlight your work and PDF design skills. Using tools like InDesign and Photoshop you can create multi-page PDFs that can be fine-tuned and formatted any way you like. With new software, like Framer, it's becoming even easier to create a PDF online and share it in no time. The result of your PDF portfolio will be a brochure or one-pager piece that shows off examples of your best work along with the descriptions of each project and more related information.
UX design portfolio
For UX designers, online portfolios are probably the most popular type today. This can be in the form of a simple one-page website with your contact information or a more thorough online gallery site. If your main discipline is web design, a portfolio website is the choice for you. It serves as an example itself of your web design skills, as well as highlighting your best work where it’s meant to be seen.Portfolio websites come with many benefits, especially as most of our work is done online. First, they can show off design properties like animation and interactivity.
As an important part of UX design, it’s important to show these aspects so viewers get the full experience of your designs. Next, website portfolios are super easy to share. You can include the link in your social media bios as well as send the link to anyone at any time. Your work will become more readily available this way. Finally, online portfolios are a great way to show off your personality. As the more new-age mention of displaying your work, you are less constrained by the rules of the classic print portfolio.
When going the online portfolio route there are some drawbacks. First, website portfolios often require knowledge of code to create. This can be a blocker for many UX designers. However, there are increasingly more tools like Framer that allow you to create a design portfolio without code. Next, you have to keep in mind the constraints of the web. Things like breakpoints, different browsers, and rendering issues that you wouldn’t have to think about in print portfolios. Finally, website portfolios can be more time-consuming to create depending on how many site pages you need.
what they faced
To gain deeper insights, I thoroughly analyzed the data provided by the UX researchers and product managers. This revealed key pain points in the user experience:
Dish Selection :
Users often felt overwhelmed when trying to explore and decide what to eat, leading to confusion during the selection process.
Preparing the Tray :
Many struggled with placing the correct ingredients in the right portions, making this step unnecessarily complex.
Challenging UI :
The interface elements were too small and unclear, causing users difficulty in understanding and making decisions as they progressed.
Pain Points
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How user were affected
When we set out to design this AI-powered cooking robot, the goal was to simplify meal preparation for users. However, as we observed real interactions, it became clear that certain usability challenges were making the experience more confusing than convenient. To create a truly seamless journey, we needed to address these key gaps:
Lack of Guidance & Preview (Jakob’s Law & Mental Models)
Imagine using a completely new device without any instructions—frustrating, right? Many users found it difficult to understand how the cooking robot worked because there was no clear preview or onboarding process. Without proper guidance, they struggled to trust the system and complete their tasks with confidence.
Cognitive Load Due to Missing Visual Cues (Gestalt Principles & Fitts' Law)
Users expect intuitive visual elements like icons and images to guide their actions. However, the lack of these cues forced them to rely on trial and error, increasing mental effort and slowing down decision-making. This unnecessary cognitive load made the cooking process feel more complicated than it needed to be.
Ineffective Focus & Hidden Elements (Hick’s Law & Visibility Principle)
Preparing the cooking tray should be a straightforward step, but hidden components and inconsistent UI patterns made it unnecessarily difficult. Users found themselves second-guessing placements, disrupting their flow and making meal preparation more time-consuming.
Aligning with the expectations
After gathering key pain points from users, I sat down with the founder to understand their expectations for both the product and the redesign process. Through multiple discussions and deep dives into Nosh’s step-by-step cooking journey, I outlined the following key objectives to enhance the overall experience:
Frictionless Meal Discovery
The process of selecting a dish should be effortless, with AI-driven suggestions tailored to user preferences, dietary needs, and past choices, making decision-making quick and intuitive.
Guided Cooking Experience
Users should feel confident throughout the cooking process with clear, step-by-step instructions, visual cues, and automated assistance that simplify complex tasks.
Real-Time Control & Flexibility
Cooking should be adaptive, allowing users to track progress, pause, adjust cooking settings, and ensure the meal stays warm until consumption.
Personalized Customization
Every user has unique taste preferences. The system should offer granular control over spice levels, consistency, and doneness, ensuring every dish meets individual expectations.
Ideations and add-on features
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Flow for better flow
I took the time to thoroughly analyze the pain points, requirements, and desired features. By combining these insights, I identified key opportunities to enhance the user experience. To address these, I started mapping out how the user journey should flow. After multiple reconsideration meetings and iterations, I created a comprehensive user flow—from the very first interaction to the final step.
User Flow
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Wireframes
With the user flow finalized, I shifted my focus to the design phase, diving into UI exploration. While creating wireframes and gathering user feedback, I discovered another challenge—the screen’s size and its placement on the device. Positioned at the top right, it made typing and interaction difficult, adding to the usability concerns.
I shared this concern with my team, and the industrial design head explained that they had already considered this challenge while designing the future version of the device. Their updated design aimed to address these usability issues, ensuring a more seamless interaction for users.
Screen of Nosh
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Wireframes
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Evaluating functionality
To ensure the redesigned experience was intuitive and seamless, I conducted iterative user testing through wireframes and prototypes. Early usability tests helped identify friction points, while high-fidelity prototype feedback loops refined key interactions, ensuring smooth navigation across the cooking journey. By measuring task efficiency and error rates, I optimized flows to reduce complexity and enhance user confidence.
Prototype testing
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Redesigning the screens
After gathering sufficient insights, I began the redesign process, starting with the first frame using the "F" layout approach.
Home screen
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Discovery screen
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New screens
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Impact
The revamped design significantly improved user experience by enhancing clarity, efficiency, and usability. Key improvements include:
• 20% increase in user satisfaction with a more visually appealing and intuitive interface.
• 15% improvement in usability and overall effectiveness.
• 25% reduction in errors, leading to a smoother experience.
• 30% boost in task efficiency, making interactions quicker and more seamless.
Learning
Working at Nosh Robotics was a game-changer in how I approach design. Under the guidance of a senior product designer, I learned to think more critically and structure my problem-solving process. Collaborating with UX researchers was not just insightful but also fun—I got to see real user struggles and find ways to fix them.
Diving deep into the product, I faced real-time challenges that pushed me to iterate, adapt, and refine my solutions. Taking feedback, not just on my designs but on myself, helped me grow faster. This experience didn’t just make me a better designer; it shaped how I think about user experiences in a more practical and impactful way.
Me (Right most) with UX Researchers
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