How I designed an app that reached 100K+ downloads with a 4.9 star rating
- Product
- Hangry App
- Team
- 1 designer (me), 2 engineers
- Role
- Research, user interviews, product thinking, UX writing, UI/UX design
- Outcome
- Successfully reached 100K+ downloads with a 4.9 star rating
How I Found the Real Problem
When I joined in 2019, Hangry had only 3 outlets and 3 brands, all in Jakarta. I was the only full-time designer. An existing design for Hangry App was already in place from a part-time designer.
So, instead of jumping straight into the existing design, I talked to people first. Stakeholders, C-level, anyone who could tell me what Hangry was actually supposed to be and where it was going.
That’s when the picture shifted. Those 3 brands weren’t in 3 separate locations. They were all in the same kitchen, the same outlet. One physical space running multiple distinct brands simultaneously.
WHAT I ASSUMED
- 3 brands, 3 separate locations. Each brand has its own outlet
- One type of menu per brand like any standard F&B
- Standard food delivery app. Familiar pattern — GrabFood, GoFood
WHAT IT ACTUALLY WAS
- 3 brands, 1 shared location/kitchen. One physical outlet, multiple brands
- All brand menus in one place. Order from multiple brands in one cart
- Non identical in the industry (cloud kitchen)
Now I know what Hangry actually was, the existing design for Hangry App didn’t reflect that at all.
The first problem was identity. The existing design presented Hangry like one restaurant with a wide menu. Scroll through, pick something, then order. That mental model made sense for most food apps. It made no sense for Hangry, where every brand was distinct, had its own name and own personality. Collapsing them into one undifferentiated list meant users would never understand what they were actually using, or why they should care.
The second problem was access. The existing design used a location-first pattern, so if you were too far from an outlet, you couldn’t enter the app at all. For a product trying to build brand awareness in a city where it had only 3 outlets, that meant most of Jakarta hit a wall even before they ever saw a single brand.
PROBLEM 1
Identity
The existing design collapsed all brands into one undifferentiated list, like one restaurant with a wide menu
User would never understood what Hangry actually was.
PROBLEM 2
Access
Location block cut users off before they could see a single brand. If too far, the app showed nothing.
Most of Jakarta hit a wall even before ever seeing what Hangry offered.
How I Solved It
Problem 1: Identity
The existing design collapsed all brands into one undifferentiatied list, like one restaurant with a wide menu.
At the time, Hangry was in the phase of building brand awareness. Each brand had its own name and personality. So, the way we presented the menus should have put more emphasis on and highlighted the individual brands under Hangry. This approach was more effective in representing Hangry as a multi-brand company.
Problem 2: Access
The existing design blocked users based on distance. If no outlet was within range, users couldn’t enter the app at all.
Dead end — no brand exposure
For GoFood or GrabFood with their amount of outlets, that makes sense, if nothing can deliver to you there’s nothing to show. But Hangry wasn’t that. Hangry was a brand story that hadn’t been told yet.
My background is in copywriting. So, I know that conversion doesn’t start at the moment of purchase. It starts the moment someone becomes aware a brand exist. The sequence is always the same, you can’t buy something you’ve never heard of.
Blocking users who couldn’t order didn’t just lose a sale. It made sure those users would never have a reason to come back.
So I framed it this way:
“We might miss a sales opportunity today, but we didn’t have to miss a brand awareness opportunity.”
My proposal was straightforward from there. The app still reads location, that part stays. But instead of a hard block, users still can see available outlets. If nothing’s in range, they can still browse every brand, see full menus, understand what Hangry is. They just can’t check out.
Brand exposure without ordering
Not being able to order today doesn’t meant not being able to order ever. But never knowing the brand exists? That’s permanent.
The Impact
The first launch went well. Early Google Play reviews came in consistently around: easy to use, smooth, clear choices, seamless from order to pick-up.
Very coooll!
Easy to use! Really smooth! Thanks Hangry for making this easy and useful apps!
First order & very satisfied! Keep a great work ya
Pilihannya jelas, proses order sampai pick up lancar jaya. Bravo Hangry.
DOWNLOADS
100K+
RATING
4.9 star — 8.45K reviews
After the first launch, the Hangry App kept being iterated and the design kept updating, but this experience remained the same.
By the end of 2020, Hangry went from 3 outlets to over 40 outlets, growing faster than almost any F&B startup in Indonesia at the time. A product that clearly communicates what it is and doesn’t block the people it’s trying to reach, is part of how you get there.
Download Hangry App in here:
