My Role
Lead UX Designer
Client
Playma Co., Ltd.
Timeline
( 12 weeks)
Toolbox
Figma
Illustrator
iHungryBear is Taiwan-based restaurant discovery app with over 90,000 users. The primary audience Taiwanese women aged 25-35 are highly active on social media and enjoy sharing food experiences.
Despite its strong user base, iHungryBear suffered from poor UX/UI design that made navigation confusing, reviews difficult to trust, and discovery overwhelming. These challenges led directly to low user engagement and declining retention.
We analyzed both direct (iFoodie, MENU) and indirect (Google Maps, Little Red Book) competitors to uncover usability strengths, feature gaps, and opportunities.
This revealed iHungryBear’s opportunity to differentiate through community-first design and personalized discovery.
Direct Competitor - iFoodie, MENU
Indirect Competitor - Google Maps, Little Red Book
We interviewed 10 participants familiar with restaurant-finding apps, focusing on behavior, feature preferences, and wayfinding challenges.
The synthesis of this data revealed the critical gap between user expectations and the current app experience.
Reliable and up-to-date information
Smooth, intuitive discovery experience
Personalized recommendations
Community and social engagement
Overwhelmed by unorganized choices
Outdated or inaccurate restaurant details
Limited and unhelpful reviews
Complex, unintuitive UI
Joyce
26
Marketing
Taipei, Taiwan
“I want to find hidden gems and share them with people who really get me.”
Goal
Discover new restaurants for social outings
Share food adventures online
Connect with a like-minded community
Frustration
Overwhelmed by too many unorganized options
Reviews feel inconsistent or unhelpful
Current apps lack engaging social features
Miranda
35
Teacher
Taipei, Taiwan
“Eating out should be fun for everyone, not stressful for me as a parent.”
Goal
Quickly find family-friendly restaurants
Balance dining out with busy schedules
Identify kid-friendly features (play areas, menus, high chairs)
Frustration
Filters don’t address family needs
Inconsistent information on facilities
Too many irrelevant results
The journey map highlighted frustrations with outdated reviews, unclear filters, and overwhelming options, reinforcing the need for reliable information and simplified discovery.
Young professionals and families need a reliable, personalized, and engaging social platform to discover and share restaurants. However, iHungryBear’s confusing UI and lack of social features prevented them from finding trustworthy recommendations and building community.
How Might We restructure the iHungryBear's discovery tools and social features to drive user-generated content and foster a loyal community?
01
Honor Badges & Hall of Fame
Encouraged user engagement through gamification
Recognized active contributions
Strengthened community interaction
02
Community Forum
Central hub for user-generated content
Enhanced social engagement beyond reviews
Fostered loyalty through ongoing conversation
03
Life Status Filter
Personalized restaurant suggestions
Reduced choice overload
Matched consistent lifestyle needs
Validation & Impact
Usability Testing
We conducted scenario-based usability testing with 12 target users. Tasks included “Create a post and vote in a poll,” and “Check your honor status.”
Key Learnings:
Most users completed tasks successfully with minimal errors
Some confusion around advanced filters, which we refined further
Overall, users found the experience more intuitive and engaging
+35%
User Satisfaction
Improvements led to a significantly higher overall satisfaction rate, measured using the USE (Usefulness, Satisfaction, Ease of Use) framework.
+27%
SUS Scores
Enhanced usability was validated through System Usability Scale (SUS) testing, indicating a measurable reduction in user frustration.
User
“The new filters finally make the app useful for my life. I feel like the app is designed for people like me now."
Stakeholders
Appreciated the clear value proposition of the community-first approach, and believed redesign brought a fresh look to the app.
Developers
Confirmed improved navigation logic and praised simplified backend for easier implementation.
01
User Research is the Foundation
Grounding design decisions in user insights uncovered critical needs like trust and social interaction.
02
Collaboration Builds Better Products
Coordinating across stakeholders, engineers, and designers in different locations taught me the importance of communication and flexibility.
03
Simplicity Drives Usability
Streamlined UI and filters boosted SUS scores by +27%, directly reducing frustration.