Zomato’s UI Redesign Sparks Debate – UX Lessons for Designers

Zomato recently underwent a User Interface redesign, especially for its mobile application program. This UI redesign is meant to simplify the food ordering experience for its customers. Zomato has roughly 100 million users monthly, and catering to its massive customer base, easing their daily usage, and enhancing their lives is something a food delivery company like Zomato takes very seriously.

The main intent behind this UI redesign was to cut the visual clutter. It was an overwhelming smorgasbord of food items scattered all across the app screen. The visual de-clutter enhances user navigation and reorganizes content hierarchy, and they do that based on actual user behavior and psychological triggers.

A psychological trigger can be anything from ‘Not finding one’s favorite dish or restaurant at the touch of a finger’ to ‘Scrolling endlessly through a restaurant’s menu, only to be disappointed to not find the dish in the end.’ It could be multiple other factors, such as ‘Jarring Images,’ ‘Verbose Writing,’ ‘Too many options and too little space,’ etc. A UI redesign was very much the need of the hour.

The redesign, however, does not do away with the familiar touchpoints of the Zomato app that made the brand what it is in the first place. It is very crucial to remember to retain some of the important features, i.e., its USP, in order to keep the customer base.

In an attempt to find a newer, larger customer base, one cannot and should not forget about the existing and regular ones. This is what builds loyalty and brand value.

But the new features obtained are thoughtful ones that boost usability, reduce cognitive load, and most importantly, elevate the food discover experience.

Finding the Problem Statement

The problem statement of Zomato’s erstwhile home screen and restaurant interfaces was that it was rich in information. While being rich in information can be a good thing, it also means it was very cluttered and jarring.

While beautifying an online interface and the aesthetic value of any website or app is quite essential to edge out competition, it needs to remember its primary objectives in the first place – User Satisfaction. User satisfaction comes not from over-the-top beauty of an app, but in discovering food easily for a food app.

Zomato is also renowned for constantly throwing offers on different dishes, different restaurants, on celebratory occasions, and other instances as well. To find those offers easily will be less frustrating for a customer. Sometimes companies, not necessarily Zomato, designs its interface in a way that it’s difficult to find an offer but easy to order an expensive meal.

This may be financially smart, but it may not help the brand image in the long term. User satisfaction is vital to a company’s long-term health. Hence, Zomato’s redesign made it easier to find offers.

Another factor was that reordering comfort meals was a hassle for customers beforehand. They were often buried underneath unnecessary visual noise. Users who are hungry and want quick, affordable, and accessible food options that are also appealing are often buried under unnecessary items and require a lot of searching. Hungry people will lose that patience very soon.

Additionally, the restaurant page layout lacks a consistent visual hierarchy and feels unintuitive. Users hungry or in a rush demand flow, but instead, are used to getting friction.

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Top 6 Goals Zomato Aimed to Achieve by UI Redesign Attempt

1. Reduce Cognitive Overload by decluttering UI elements.
2. Create a strong visual hierarchy based on real user intent.
3. Improve the customization and restaurant page layout for enhanced usability.
4. Maintain Zomato’s core functionality while offering a more modern, lightweight feel.
5. Making the interface spaced out and minimal makes it less obtrusive to the eyes.
6. Ensuring less friction and a smoother flow on the website and the app.

Redesign Summary

Here’s what the redesign summary looks like:

1. Visual Hierarchy

• Limited Time Offers
• “What’s On Your Mind” Carousel
• Explore Section
• Recommended
• Restaurant Cards

It works since this outlook removes all previous clutter, such as ‘Cuisine Tags,’ ‘Banners,’ ‘Repetitive Filters,’ etc. It also refocuses attention on food and delivery, as well as improves information prioritization using spacing and image-led hierarchy.

2. Restaurant Page

• Top Section – Restaurant Name, Large Food Image, Timing, Tags, and Distance.
• Middle Section – Delivery Time, Ratings, Offers, and Veg or Non-Veg Filters.
• Menu Section – Image on left, Information on right.

It works since the visual scan becomes easier from left to right, boosts usability, keeps image and action together, and reduces text load.

3. Checkout and Order Tracking

• Checkout and order tracking were never really the problem in the old Zomato UI interface. Only minor aesthetic tweaks were made for visual consistency.

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