Voodies

Pioneering a new age of food discovery

Product Designer

April - July 2025

1 Design Lead, 2 Designers, 5 Engineers

Figma, Adobe Illustrator

• Product + Company Values

Don't know where to eat? Meet Voodies!

Voodies is your one-stop shop for food content, reviews, and influencer insights. Think DoorDash + TikTok + Yelp all on one platform. What sets Voodies apart is that it serves both users and restaurants. Restaurants are able to platform themselves and establish their unique brand to connect with users. Let's remove all the additional noise from conventional social media apps & make finding food as easy as possible.

• My Role

Leading the redesign of the Home + Discover Page

When I joined this startup, I was given the opportunity to choose which features to lead. The app had just launched and I had a 3 month timeline to flesh out my features for V2! For me, the Home and Discover pages were the most critical parts of the product, and as a user myself, I knew the priority needed to begin there.

• The Current Impact

800+
downloads in the first month

•

670+ onboarded restaurants

•

624+

active users & increasing

My Task ☺︎

How might I redesign these core features to enhance food discovery and elevate the overall user experience?

• Solution

Revamping the way people find food, with one video at a time.

Adapting current food & content creation platforms to Voodies' unique brand.

• The Process

Location-based algorithm, visual branding, & hierarchy

Decision fatigue when it comes to finding the perfect place to eat is common. In Voodies’ current design, there’s no clear prioritization or hierarchy of sub-features across the pages, making navigation and decision-making more challenging for users. Here's the plan:

• Initial Designs + Iterations

Adding features to the Home Page

How do I hook a user within the first 3 seconds? I drew inspiration from TikTok, Instagram Reels, and other video-first platforms, adapting their proven, engaging design patterns to fit Voodies’ unique brand and goals.

Refining the visual interface of the Discover Page

I focused on enhancing the visual interface, refining the hierarchy, and adding new features to create a more cohesive and polished experience aligned with the design system and consistent spacing.

• 1st Challenge

Currently, the map feature guides users to new restaurants and their business profiles. How can we integrate user-created videos into this discovery process?

• Challenge In Action

Too much friction

Currently, finding user videos while on the Discover Page takes multiple steps. This causes friction between the user and the intended action behind discover. The goal is to make videos more apparent as users don't want to read about food, they want to see it.

• 1st Challenge [Solution]

Presenting videos to users first!

Here, users are presented with a sneak peek of videos first. They are able to swipe through or click on the featured video to decide if they want to continue exploring the restaurant.

• 2nd Challenge

Is the touch swipe intuitive and accessible for users?

• 2nd Challenge [Solution]

Designing an intuitive swiping mechanism & indicator

I handed off my iterations to a UX Researcher to conduct A/B testing. With 25+ participant results, I was able to verify that Version B was the preferred option. With this updated design, users can quickly explore food through visual content instead of text-heavy information. My goal was to minimize steps, reduce information overload, and lower cognitive load right from the start.

• Wrap-Up

Takeaways

Voodies was my first ever startup experience! It was amazing to be surrounded by passionate, hard-working students and recent graduates who all want to change the food scene. Although my time here at Voodies has come to an end, I can proudly say that I contributed to building a product that brings people together through food, grew both my design and collaboration skills, and gained invaluable insight into the fast-paced world of startups.