Web augmentation for food delivery platforms

Most takeaway delivery platforms are not human-centred: typically providing limited functionality in support of users' values and dietary considerations and focused on the provision of food that is broadly characterised as unhealthy.

Open Lab worked with Purdue University to design a human-centric web augmentation template for the JustEat food delivery platform, an online aggregator for takeaway food. Building on related work on creating a universal health rating for online takeaway fast-food outlets, we conducted workshops in 2018 and 2019 to identify user behaviours and motivations then designed a human-centric web augmentation template that could disrupt platform provider behaviours and increase functionality to support users' desires and well-being.

Through this work, we provide a template for lightweight end-user appropriations of food ordering platforms that would enable researchers to explore how health information features could improve individual health and satisfaction, and design guidance for disruptively augmenting food ordering platforms to enable transparency, personalisation, and self-monitoring with new or existing platforms to empower users and improve their well-being.

The paper 'Appetite for Disruption: Designing Human-Centred Augmentations to an Online Food Ordering Platform' was presented at the British HCI Conference.