RITEats
A platform to place orders and deliver food on campus.
A mobile application integrated with the current RIT Dining system for food delivery service across campus and dorms.
Role
UI/UX Designer
Researcher
Project Duration
13 weeks
Team
5 UI/UX Designer
and Researcher
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) serves a diverse community of over 20,500 students and 4,000 faculty and staff, offering extensive amenities including varied dining options. However, Rochester’s severe winters, with heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures, make accessing on-campus dining difficult, as the current RIT Dining app only supports in-person pickup. With 7,500 people living on or near campus, the absence of a convenient delivery service creates frustration and limits the accessibility of RIT’s dining experience during harsh weather conditions.
User Findings and Research
we conducted interviews, performed contextual inquiry, distributed surveys around the campus and observed the on demand servers.
68.8%
of the participants were aged 23-30, with 28.6% in the 18-22 range and only 2.6% over 30 making our design decisions focusing on the preferences of young adults.
90.9%
of participants were graduate students, followed by a smaller number of undergraduates (5.19%) and PhD candidates (3.91%).
51.9%
of the participants resided near the campus (dorms, Apex, Province, or Park Point).
69%
of respondents indicated that they order food once a week from RIT Dining website/app for pickup.
38.8%
of the participants expressed that they were somewhat likely to use the RIT Dining web/mobile platform to order food
67.1%
of respondents expressed that a a potential food delivery service through RIT Dining would be very convenient for them.
50-80
orders were observed being picked up from Commons, one of the RIT Dining facility.
A recurring theme in the interviews was participants' frustration with having to walk to a dining facility during busy days or while dealing with health issues.
Data Modeling
With the collected data, we identified key themes, coded them and created clusters. From the clusters, we found patterns such as frequent pain points or must-have features and made a affinity diagram to organize these data in a manner that makes identification of patterns quite understandable.
Based on insights from affinity mapping, we created 4 personas that represented different types of users.
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Residence: Province, on-campus
Major: Communication
Year: Junior Year (Undergrad)
Michael Jones
“I need to see order details including the location where I need to deliver, customer’s name, and contact information.”
Goals:
To deliver food to customers in a timely and efficient manner.
To be able to contact customers if there’s any confusion regarding the order or its drop-off location.
Be able to navigate to the drop-off location of the order.
Frustrations:
No feature yet on the RIT Mobile App
Needs and Expectations:
An integrated map for checking his order.
Real time messaging feature
Order details for verifying at the time of pickup from the restaurant.
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Residence: Margaret Langston Halls, RIT Campus.
Major: Global Business Management
Year: Freshman (Undergrad)
Sarah Smith
“I want an on-campus delivery service so that I don’t rely on my roommates to get me food when I’m busy or sick.”
Goals:
Easily manage food ordering on campus to accommodate a hectic schedule and academic workload.
Opt for food delivery when she is sick or unable to get food for herself in-person.
Manage payment options for her meals using Dining Dollars.
Frustrations:
She can’t cook because she doesn’t have a kitchen and thereby has to order food online.
Going to the restaurant for picking up the order when busy with hectic schedule.
Needs and Expectations:
Desires a campus-wide meal delivery service to make it simple to manage eating during breaks in between classes or when studying away from the dining restaurants.
Wants to order food and pay for it through Tiger bucks with a minimal delivery fees.
Wants an option in the website where she can schedule an order according to her availability.
Age: 28
Gender: Feale
Residence: Clayton Arms
Major: Physics
Year: PhD
Jane Doe
“I want to pay for my meals on RIT Mobile App using Tiger Bucks/Dining Dollars.”
Goals:
Able to manage her working hours with the delivery and pick-up options available on campus for dining.
Have a convenient and smooth ordering experience.
Frustrations:
There is not a clear cut mention of the delivery/pick-up timings on the website.
No updating in availability of food options as they might be out of stock and she might not know it until she goes to restaurant.
Lack of live map tracking and location to navigate to restaurant or track their order.
Needs and Expectations:
Food delivery to her building or area of campus to make it easy and convenient for her to get her food during long working hours as a research student.
Integrate payment method online using dining dollars instead of swiping card on campus during pick-up as it saves tax
She wants an app which is easy to use and has an user-friendly interface.
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Residence: Apex, on-campus
Major: Computer Science
Year: Graduate
Sartaj Singh
“I want a real time tracker for my orders on RIT Mobile App”
Goals:
Needs his food delivered on-campus with minimal delivery fee.
Can contact the delivery personnel through text and messaging regarding his delivery.
Frustrations:
Has to adjust his schedule for picking up or placing an order in person.
It was confusing to find the RIT-dining website in the first place.
Needs and Expectations:
Should allow to choose specific time slots and discounts for group orders.
Wants estimated delivery time and real time tracking of the order.
Next, we brainstormed the journey map on actual user data from interviews to reflect real user behaviors and touchpoints.
User Centered Requirements
Data Insights
User Centered Requirements
Need for delivery on campus and near campus residences like Apex, Park Point, Province.
Introduce a delivery option to residences and areas or buildings on campus.
Provide live map tracking.
Allow the ability to contact the delivery person/customer via text.
Customize food orders is easy but could be better and allow an option to mention/describe allergies.
Make it easier and more seamless to customize food orders.
A text box or section is needed to inform the restaurant about the allergies.
Getting cold food as student picked up food after few hours of ordering.
Option to pre-order food for a designated time slot.
Allow user to pick time for delivery/pick-up.
App glitches and problems in getting updated information.
Allow users to get in touch with IT support to resolve technical glitches that occur.
Get real-time updates about operating hours, food items available in stock, etc.
Received wrong/incomplete food orders.
Allow user to send in a complaint/feedback about their wrong order.
Make the app/website user-friendly and easy to navigate.
Improve the layout and navigation of the website/app.
Display options available in an easy-to-understand, graphical manner.
Provide information about the food item along with ingredients (mentioning if they contain any allergens).
Low Fidelity Prototype
Next, with the user-centered requirements established, we started laying out the initial information architecture and created low-fidelity screens to explore key flows and interactions.
Information Architecture
After sketching on the possible features of our application, we created two information architectures; one for users and another for delivery personnel (student workers); to visualize the app’s content structure and ensuring the design is simple and intuitive to navigate.
Because delivery personnel need to view the user's delivery address and order, we designed the following information architecture.
Our Solution
RITEats is built for RIT students and staff, integrating directly into the existing RIT mobile app to provide a seamless food ordering experience. Users can order for pickup or delivery from campus locations, track orders in real time, and pay with Tiger Bucks, Dining Dollars, or credit/debit cards—all within a familiar interface that requires minimal learning.
The platform emphasizes accessibility, supporting screen readers, text-to-speech, speech recognition, haptic feedback, high-contrast colors, and large-text options. By addressing challenges such as harsh winters, health issues, and demanding academic schedules, RITEats delivers a convenient, inclusive, and reliable food solution that enhances life on campus.
Delivery Personnel Account - Assigned Orders, Order History, Order Details
The Home page gives the delivery personnel the full picture of the orders they are assigned.
A live map showing the delivery location can be accessed by selecting any assigned orders.
Past Orders tab keeps a ledger of what all orders they have completed.
User Home – Restaurants, Favorites, Cafés, and Beverages
The Home page allows users to quickly browse available restaurants and discover dishes tailored to their preferences.
Favorite dishes are displayed prominently for quick reordering, ensuring convenience and personalization.
Cafés and beverage options are organized in a dedicated section, making it simple to explore and order.
A search bar and dietary filters (Veg, Non-Veg, Vegan) enhance the browsing experience, allowing users to refine results effortlessly.
User Account – Wallet, Payment Methods, Transactions
The Wallet section gives users a clear overview of their posted and pending balances.
Payment methods are securely stored and easily accessible, allowing users to add or manage their cards.
The Transactions area provides a breakdown of pending and posted orders, helping users keep track of their spending history.
View Prototype