Startup Work Mobile • Profile Redesign Product Design Strategy

Eat Together.

I improved the profile experience so students can personalize faster, find connection sooner, and understand what to do next at a glance. I partnered with design and engineering to ship updates that strengthened clarity, consistency, and engagement for 600 plus users.

Jump to Solution Read Research What I Learned

Project Brief

During a 20 week cohort at Eat Together, I led execution for a profile redesign focused on three outcomes: stronger visual hierarchy, clearer navigation, and more meaningful personalization so students can build trust and connect through food more easily.

The Team

4 UX Designers
4 Developers
2 Project Managers
1 Director

What I did

I aligned design and engineering on scope, sequence, and release readiness in Jira, then translated research insights into wireframes and prototypes in Figma. I focused on decisions that reduce cognitive load, clarify next steps, and make the profile feel worth filling out.

Background

Eat Together helps students turn meals into social experiences. The profile is the foundation for matching and trust, but the existing layout buried key information and made personalization feel optional rather than motivating.

With over 600 students on board, small improvements to clarity and empty states can meaningfully change how often students complete profiles and start conversations.

Eat Together app context showing campus dining — UW students using Eat Together to organize a picnic in the Quad on the UW Seattle campus.

Eat Together onboarding meeting.

Research Conclusion: Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis showed that strong profile experiences reduce ambiguity and guide users toward a clear next step. Products that make progress visible and personalization lightweight see higher completion and engagement.

Key takeaway: Profiles should balance structure and expression. Clear hierarchy, supportive empty states, and explicit prompts help users feel confident completing their profile and engaging with others.

Social Foodie Explorer Primary Persona

Meet Kavya Singh

An undergrad who wants to try new places and show personality through their profile.

I enjoy trying new food with friends.

I want my bio and tags to feel like me.

I want choices that are optional, not forced.

I want recommendations that match my tastes.

I want to customize without getting lost.

I want a clear view of my connections.

Empty states should still feel hopeful.

I prefer simple controls for editing.

Quick Meal Planner Secondary Persona

Meet Stella Rey

A grad student who values speed and clarity over customization.

I want straightforward navigation.

I want tags to be organized and visible.

Too many options overwhelms me.

I want fast access to settings.

I want to manage preferences quickly.

I want to view my past meetups.

I want the page to feel clean.

I like seeing suggested connections.

Value Proposition

What is our product, who is it for, and how does it drive user value?

Value

Eat Together helps college students build real connections through shared meals by making it easy to set up a profile, express preferences, and discover people who feel like a good match.

Design Guide

I designed within an existing system to keep the app familiar while improving clarity. I treated the design guide as a constraint that speeds up decisions, so updates feel native and consistent across the product.

The Solution

I redesigned the profile to make the next step obvious and make personalization feel rewarding. The changes focus on clean hierarchy, clearer grouping, and helpful empty states so students stay motivated instead of bouncing.
While these are only my designs, my team delivered 9 total screens into production.

Key features shipped

Improved settings organization
Connections section with a supportive empty state
Customizable tags that are easy to scan
Restaurant saver to capture favorites

Why these choices

Hierarchy: users can scan identity, preferences, and actions fast.
Empty states: reduce discouragement and invite a next action.
Personalization: tags and saves create conversation starters.
Consistency: changes match existing components and patterns.

Redesigned profile page with clearer hierarchy and personalization.

Eat Together settings page redesign — Updated settings layout optimized for faster scanning.

Tags and restaurant saver feature — Tags and saved restaurants designed as conversation starters.

Reflecting on Change

The updated profile is better because it makes progress visible and keeps users oriented. Instead of presenting a long list of options, the page communicates what matters most first, then offers customization in a structured way.

Most importantly, the design supports both persona types. Kavya can express personality through tags and favorites, and Stella can find settings and history quickly without getting pulled into extra steps.

What I Learned

This project strengthened how I collaborate across design and engineering. I learned to frame design decisions as tradeoffs, communicate scope clearly, and prioritize the few changes that create the biggest clarity gains for users.

What Could Be Better

Earlier usability testing would have helped validate naming, order of sections, and the empty state messaging sooner. Next time I would test low fidelity flows earlier to reduce iteration time later.

Future Work Coming Soon

Right now I am working on dark mode for the app. Future work is coming soon, including refinements to contrast, component states, and accessibility so the profile experience feels just as clear in low light settings.