Jeffrey Oh

Penn State Eats

A web and mobile app that lets students order food ahead and pick it up at their dining commons.

Product
Mobile food ordering
Role
Research and design
Team
20+ members
Penn State Eats landing page: Select Your Experience, with cards for University Park dining locations such as South Food District, Starbucks, Sbarro and Jamba, each with opening hours and an Order button.

At a glance

Problem
As Penn State’s student population grew, dining lines grew too, slowing foot traffic and creating long waits.
Approach
A week of field research (surveys, questionnaires and observation) with a team of 20+, then about 3 weeks of iteration with the university sponsor.
Outcome
Two solutions: refined kiosk screens and mobile ordering ahead for pickup. The design was handed off to university engineers to build.

Penn State University asked our design team to solve a business problem. As the student population grew, so did the food lines. Wait times got too long and foot traffic slowed to a crawl, creating a poor experience for everyone.

We ran field research over 1 week: surveys, short questionnaires and fly-on-the-wall observation. After synthesizing the data and identifying pain points, we began creating solutions.

Our team created two solutions. First, optimize the current experience and refine the UI on the food kiosks. Second, create a mobile ordering experience to eliminate the lines altogether. With 20+ members, we split into research and design teams, with several people in both.

After about 3 weeks of iterations and discussions with our sponsor, we arrived at a design we were satisfied with and handed it off to the university engineers to build. Visit the live Penn State Eats site.

Ordering page for a Starbucks location with category tabs and a grid of iced drinks, each with a price and an Add button.
Review take-out order page with the order summary, pickup date and time, and Cancel and Place Order buttons.