Purpose:
Middle Eastern cuisine is a melting pot of spices, meats, grains, traditions and a multitude of cultures in just one bite. As I was trying to vocalize to my American friends the multidimensional decadent meals that I reminisce about when I am craving home cooking, I had to constantly google search images and ingredients. It was in that moment that I realized I needed to create a Guidebook to Middle Eastern cuisines that I could sort and filter through my beloved meals with ease.
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Feedback:
As I was brainstorming ideas on how to craft such a handy website, I went to question my non Middle Eastern friends about their needs. The feedback I got was:​
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should filter meat types because of dietary restrictions
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should filter out specific grains for gluten free folks
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should have big visuals of the meals, as we eat with our eyes first
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should have a sorting option by their popularity
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add a user guide to the site
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Design and Justifications:
DESIGN JUSTIFICATIONS:​
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I made the buttons a different color to their background to invoke that they are action buttons.
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I used white space to offer a clean and easy to follow design.
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I also made my filter and sort buttons change their status when the user selects an option to give the user instant feedback that the button worked and for the user to have ease identifying what they are sorting and filtering.
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I set all the filter and sort buttons default option to all to allow the user to see all the options.
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I also chose to have my images line up in two columns to allow the user to view the details of the food, since we eat with our eyes I thought the image size should be relatively large but not too large that the user cannot tell that there are more than one row of images as an affordance to scroll.
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I added tags with each meal so that the user could know what the meal contains and its popularity rating.
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Takeaways:
This site was made as an informational page on the different cuisines in the MiddleEast. Its goal is to help the user identify which meal would best suit their dietary preferences. This site would be very beneficial to foreigners who wish to study abroad or vacation/visit a country in the Middle East and would like more information on the cuisines they will encounter on their trip. I also learned that when it comes to food, users want to feel like they customize their options based on their personal preferences and dietary needs.