Delica
Strategy
As always, our discussions started with establishing the core value proposition: Is this a MetaCritic for food? A better Yelp? Something else entirely? In the end, we decided that our goal was to be the default place for real foodies to research their options for good food.
Because Yelp is the status quo, users would expect lots of features, like photo galleries, menus, and reviews. I didn’t see a reason to deviate too far from that paradigm, but I adapted the visuals to appeal to people’s intelligence and good taste.
Product
Doug’s ultimate vision for Delica is an engaged community of tasteful reviewers.
As a basic requirement, the quality of reviews needs to be extremely high. A critical flaw in a community like Yelp is that it weights everyone’s taste equally. Ruth Reichl should be weighted more strongly than the layman.
We had tons of debates about the best way to go about this. Should everyone be allowed to review? Should user reviews be grouped into the aggregate score or separated into a different score?
In the end we decided that the entire body of user reviews should be included as a fixed percentage of the aggregate score, and that a “Foodie Quiz” would be a fun way to control who is allowed to leave and rate reviews. This does two things: (1) it makes contributors feel valued and imporant, and (2) it adds an element of gamification that keeps users coming back.
Brand
The core contradiction of a product can be a good starting point for brand strategy. In this case, Delica has to simultaneously communicate ease and taste. It needs to be classy but not stodgy.
The team first came to me with the name “MealSmith.” To me, this sounded too techy and utilitarian, like a tool. Instead I chose the name Delica, which feels refined, tasteful, and definitive. The word itself is adjacent to delicious, delicacy, etc., and carries a sense of authority and mystery.
(Note: the logo is not my work.)
Copy
Process and Learnings
Delica ended up being one of my most challenging and rewarding projects. We constantly amended key decisions regarding visuals, community management, and gamification; I learned how to be highly organized and keep the design process going amidst many moving parts.
Doug, Brian, and Matt have been some of my favorite people to work with. Thank you for making this possible.
