IMPROVING THE DISCOVERABILITY OF DIETARY OPTIONS WITHIN
THE universal MOBILE app DINING EXPERIENCE
PROJECT OVERVIEW
ROLE
TIMELINE
TOOLS
PROJECT TYPE
UX/UI Designer
1 Week
Figma · FigJam
USER RESEARCH USER FLOW INTERACTION
DESIGN ACCESSIBILITY PROTOTYPING
Universal Orlando’s mobile app helps guests navigate the parks, explore attractions, and discover dining options throughout their visit. However, dietary preferences are nested within the broader filtering experience, making them less visible to guests searching for suitable dining options.
This concept explores how the existing dining experience could be simplified by surfacing dietary preferences earlier in the journey, helping guests find relevant options with fewer steps while maintaining the app’s familiar structure.
THE PROBLEM
Guests with dietary needs may rely on Universal Orlando’s mobile app to identify suitable dining options while navigating the parks. Although dietary filters already exist within the app, they are nested within the broader filtering experience, requiring guests to navigate through multiple steps before discovering them.
This creates unnecessary friction during a time-sensitive experience, where guests need to quickly understand which dining options align with their dietary preferences.
DISCOVERABILITY
Dietary options are available, but their placement makes them easy to overlook.
EFFICIENCY
Guests must navigate deeper into the filtering experience before reaching dietary preferences.
CONFIDENCE
Making dietary preferences easier to find can help guests identify relevant dining options more clearly.
KEY TAKEAWAY
The opportunity is not to introduce new functionality, but to make existing dietary options easier to find and use.
RESEARCH APPROACH
To understand how dietary needs are currently supported throughout the dining experience, I reviewed the existing Universal Orlando app, examined available dietary resources, and compared similar theme park dining experiences.
01 DISCOVERY
I evaluated the existing dining flow to understand where dietary filtering appears, how many steps are required to reach it, and how clearly the available options are communicated.
02 SECONDARY RESEARCH
To better understand the broader needs surrounding dietary dining, I reviewed articles and guidance related to food allergies, dietary restrictions, and theme park dining experiences.
Dining with dietary restrictions often requires additional planning and research. Guidance from food-allergy organizations emphasizes researching restaurant options and menus in advance, while reporting on theme-park dining highlights the added uncertainty guests can experience when navigating unfamiliar food environments.
Universal itself emphasizes the importance of accommodating dietary needs, allergies, and preferences across its dining experience, reinforcing that the opportunity isn’t necessarily creating new dietary support, but making existing support easier for guests to discover digitally.
SOURCESFood Allergy Research & Education (FARE): Dining Out
visit florida: How to Visit Florida’s Theme Parks if You Have Food Allergies
03 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
I reviewed comparable theme park dining experiences to understand how dietary needs are communicated and where filtering or dietary information appears within the dining journey.
EXPERIENCE AUDIT
UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT DINING FLOW
I MAPPED UNIVERSAL ORLANDO'S EXISTING DINING EXPERIENCE TO UNDERSTAND WHERE DIETARY FILTERING APPEARS AND HOW GUESTS REACH IT.
CURRENT USER FLOW
PROPOSED USER FLOW
Dietary options are nested within
the general filtering system, requiring
users to navigate through multiple levels
before making a selection.
Dietary needs are surfaced directly within
“Dining”, creating a more direct path to
relevant restaurant results.
AUDIT FINDINGS
01 EXISTING FUNCTIONALITY
Dietary filtering already exists within the app.
02 DISCOVERABILITY
Dietary preferences are nested within the broader filtering experience, making them less visible during dining discovery.
03 ADDITIONAL STEPS
Guests must navigate deeper into the filtering experience before reaching dietary options.
KEY TAKEAWAY
The opportunity is not to introduce new functionality, but to make existing dietary options easier to find.
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
Across the research and experience audit, three themes emerged that informed the redesign
01 EXISTING FUNCTIONALITY
Dietary filtering already exists, providing a foundation for improvement rather than requiring an entirely new feature.
02 DISCOVERABILITY
The primary usability challenge is not functionality, but visibility within the existing dining journey.
03 DESIGN DIRECTION
The redesign should improve visibility while preserving the app’s existing navigation patterns and familiar structure.
DESIGN OPPORTUNITY
Increase discoverability earlier in the dining journey by surfacing existing dietary filters before guests begin navigating deeper into restaurant results.
THE SOLUTION
I redesigned the dining discovery experience to surface dietary preferences earlier in the journey, reducing the steps required to find relevant dining options while maintaining the app's familiar structure.
WIREFRAMES
Early wireframes explored how dietary preferences could be surfaced earlier in the dining journey while maintaining the app’s existing structure. The focus was on reducing navigation depth, clarifying filter interactions, and keeping selected preferences visible throughout the experience.
01 STRUCTURE
PRIORITIZING THE JOURNEY
Low-fidelity wireframes established the core dining flow and explored where dietary preferences could appear earlier in the experience.
02 INTERACTION
REFINING THE EXPERIENCE
Mid-fidelity wireframes introduced clearer selection patterns, filter states, and hierarchy while preserving familiar navigation
03 VISUAL SYSTEM
APPLYING THE INTERFACE
High-fidelity screens translated the refined flow into Universal’s existing visual language while keeping dietary selections prominent and easy to modify.
EXPECTED IMPACT
FASTER DISCOVERY
Less navigation before reaching dietary options.
Greater Clarity
Selected preferences remain visible during restaurant discovery.
more confident decisions
Guest can better understand which filters are influencing results.
business opportunity
Helping guests find suitable dining options sooner could reduce friction between discovery and an in-park dining purchase.
Small shifts in when and where information appears can reduce friction, strengthen discoverability, and create a dining experience that better responds to individual guest needs.