Tokyo is a very dense city where there are so many restaurants to visit. People live here are constantly craving for new dishes; a legitimate, fresh, and the one that’s worth sharing to social media. This project is inspired by this city and people.
Photo first search
Before this project, we ran some foundational research for the market understanding. There was an interesting search pattern we could notice from 20-30s in the city. That they were using Instagram for a place search. When asked why, they just found it more compelling because they can see large photos right away. Compared to that, Google Search was overwhelming and text heavy to them.
They still used Google search as a tool but it was used only when they had to verify information and take actions. Search results weren’t inspiring enough for them to start journey with. There were simply too much information. So we tried to make it more compelling by making results more lightweight and visual forward.
But not all photos supposed to work. The source was also very important to user. From the research, we could identify that users are carefully investigating whether the photo is an advertisement or not. They wanted to make sure it’s coming from real user.