Designing for Halal Location

Based in London, England. They work with a range of businesses to streamline operations and improve customer experiences. Our client approached us to develop a trucking and tracking app designed to optimize their logistics and delivery systems. With this app, they are able to provide real-time tracking updates, ensuring more efficient delivery management and faster resolution of customer queries. By integrating AI and advanced tracking technologies, the app helps them keep pace with the demands of the fast moving e-commerce industry.

Overview

Halal Locations is a mobile application designed to be the definitive tool for finding verified Halal food and establishments. The app serves a dual purpose: it helps users easily discover and navigate to Halal restaurants, cafes, and butchers, while also providing a platform for business owners to list their services, manage their presence, and connect directly with their target audience. By creating a trusted, centralized ecosystem, Halal Locations aims to bridge the gap between the demand for Halal options and the businesses that provide them

Platforms:

Mobile App

Deliverables:

UI, UX, Brand & Strategy

Problems

Finding authentic and reliable Halal food can be a significant challenge, especially for those living in or traveling to non-Muslim majority regions. The key problems identified are:

Lack of Trust and Verification: General purpose apps like Google Maps or Yelp often rely on user-submitted tags which can be inaccurate or outdated. There is no guarantee of certification, leading to uncertainty for consumers.
Scattered Information: Users have to consult multiple sources websites, blogs, social media groups, and word of mouth to find a suitable Halal spot, which is time consuming and inefficient.
Difficulty for Businesses: Halal business owners struggle to reach their specific niche audience effectively. They lack a dedicated platform to showcase their Halal certification, menu, and promotions to high intent customers.

Solution

The Halal Locations app is designed to solve these problems by providing a feature rich, user-friendly platform.

Centralized & Verified Directory: The app offers a comprehensive map and list based directory of Halal locations. The "Business Owner" account type suggests a verification process, building trust and reliability for the user.
Rich Location Details: Users can access all necessary information in one place, including ratings, business hours, addresses, and user reviews, empowering them to make informed decisions quickly.
Dedicated Business Platform: The app provides business owners with tools to create and manage their listings. With features like pricing plans ("Silver Plan"), they can add photos, menus, and run promotions, directly increasing their visibility and customer engagement.
Seamless User Experience: From easy onboarding (email & social login) and password recovery to a simple and secure payment system for business promotions, the app is designed to be intuitive for both user types.

Our Goals

General Users

Muslims living in cities with diverse food options who need a reliable way to find Halal food.
Muslim tourists and business travellers who are in unfamiliar locations.
Health conscious individuals who prefer the Halal standard of meat processing.

General Users

Restaurant, cafe, and food cart owners who are Halal certified.
Halal butcher shops and grocery stores.

Our Approach

Our design process was centered around the user, following a human-centered design framework to ensure the final product is both functional and enjoyable. It began with Empathizing to understand user needs and pain points, then Defining clear problem statements. Next, I moved on to Ideation, where I brainstormed potential solutions, followed by Designing the user interface to create intuitive experiences. Finally, I conducted Testing to gather feedback and refine the design, ensuring it met user expectations and improved with each iteration.

Primary Research

The Halal Locations app is designed to solve these problems by providing a feature rich, user-friendly platform.

Centralized & Verified Directory: The app offers a comprehensive map and list based directory of Halal locations. The "Business Owner" account type suggests a verification process, building trust and reliability for the user.
Rich Location Details: Users can access all necessary information in one place, including ratings, business hours, addresses, and user reviews, empowering them to make informed decisions quickly.
Dedicated Business Platform: The app provides business owners with tools to create and manage their listings. With features like pricing plans ("Silver Plan"), they can add photos, menus, and run promotions, directly increasing their visibility and customer engagement.
Seamless User Experience: From easy onboarding (email & social login) and password recovery to a simple and secure payment system for business promotions, the app is designed to be intuitive for both user types.

Secondary Research

The Halal Locations app is designed to solve these problems by providing a feature rich, user-friendly platform.

Centralized & Verified Directory: The app offers a comprehensive map and list based directory of Halal locations. The "Business Owner" account type suggests a verification process, building trust and reliability for the user.
Rich Location Details: Users can access all necessary information in one place, including ratings, business hours, addresses, and user reviews, empowering them to make informed decisions quickly.
Dedicated Business Platform: The app provides business owners with tools to create and manage their listings. With features like pricing plans ("Silver Plan"), they can add photos, menus, and run promotions, directly increasing their visibility and customer engagement.
Seamless User Experience: From easy onboarding (email & social login) and password recovery to a simple and secure payment system for business promotions, the app is designed to be intuitive for both user types.

‍

Design Process

Project Timeline

Define Phase

User Persona

A User Persona is a fictional representation of your target user, based on research and data. It helps guide design decisions by understanding user goals, behaviors, challenges, and motivations.

Omar Khan

Age

Education

Masters in Business

Occupation

Restaurant Owner

Location

Pakistan

Tech literate

High

Bio

Omar has been running his family's Halal restaurant for 10 years. The food is excellent, but he finds it hard to compete with bigger chains. He is not very tech-savvy but understands the need for a digital presence.

Goals

To increase the number of daily customers.
To build a loyal customer base in the local community.
To easily advertise his daily specials and promotions.

Frustrations

High commission fees on major food delivery apps.
Difficulty reaching tourists and new residents looking for Halal food.
Doesn't have the time or skill to manage complex social media marketing campaigns.

Fatima Ahmed

Age

Education

Masters in Business

Occupation

University Student

Location

United State

Tech literate

High

Bio

Fatima is a busy computer science student living away from home. She relies on eating out often but struggles to find quick, affordable, and trustworthy Halal options near her campus. She is tech-savvy and uses apps for everything.

Goals

To quickly find Halal food between classes.
To discover new and interesting Halal cafes to study at.
To trust that the food she is eating is genuinely Halal.

Frustrations

"Halal" tags on Google Maps are often wrong.
Wasting time walking to a place only to find it's not suitable.
Limited variety of Halal food in her immediate area.