10 · Food & Community · Mobile

Joaan—FoodieCommunityRedesign

A full redesign of Joaan — the Saudi foodie community app that connects restaurants with loyal diners through reviews, exclusive clubs and reward-based subscriptions.

Client: Joaan
Role: Product Designer
Scope: UX Audit · Product Strategy · Visual Identity · UI Design

Joaan — Foodie Community Redesign — cover image. Where restaurants and food lovers connect.

Overview

Joaan is a Saudi foodie community app where restaurants build their own loyal audience and food lovers get rewarded for exploring. The redesign replaces a cluttered, low-identity product with a confident red-and-gold system, a clear reward loop and a set of screens designed around the two audiences it actually serves.

01 · Project Overview

Restaurants and food lovers, in one loop.

Joaan is where restaurants build a loyal foodie community and diners get rewarded for showing up. The redesign started from a simple mission — empower every restaurant to build its own loyal audience, and make every food lover feel like an insider.

For restaurants

Attract repeat customers, launch rewards, promote the brand and see redemptions — without extra ad spend.

For foodies

Discover trending spots, earn loyalty points, track rewards and get taste-based recommendations.

One reward loop

Reviews, coupons and clubs feed each other — the more users engage, the more the platform learns.

Joaan — a foodie community with rewards built in.

02 · Problem

A product with the right idea but the wrong surface.

The original Joaan had a strong concept but a weak execution — visual hierarchy was muddled, CTAs disappeared into the background, and the brand identity barely showed up on the screens users spent the most time on.

Toast messages were unappealing, key screens like profiles and restaurant identity were missing, and status indicators (redeemed vs active, joined vs available) were inconsistent enough to make users hesitate at exactly the moment they should convert.

03 · Suggested fixes

Revamp the surface, sharpen the identity, complete the flow.

The audit produced a short, opinionated fix list — and every screen in the redesign is a direct response to one of these bets.

Revamp visualsRebuild every screen on a single red / cream / gold system with real hierarchy and confident type.
Enhance identityBring Joaan's Saudi-first personality into hero art, illustrations and micro-copy — not just the logo.
Full flow firstDesign the end-to-end user flow before polishing pixels, so no key screen (profile, empty states, subscription) is missing.
Promoted listingsIntroduce clearly-labelled promoted cards — an Upwork-style featured pattern — as a monetisation surface.
Clearer statusesDistinct visual states for Active, Redeemed, Joined and Available across coupons, clubs and reviews.
Taste-based onboardingReplace generic sign-up with a ‘Tell us what you love’ card picker that feeds recommendations from minute one.

04 · Business & market

A community with three ways to make money.

The redesign is scoped around a scalable monetisation model, not just a nicer UI. Joaan Plus subscriptions, promoted listings and restaurant-run loyalty programmes stack on top of the same community loop — and each is surfaced honestly on the screens users already touch.

Joaan PlusSAR 9.99 / month subscription — 1,200+ deals, save up to SAR 450 / year, upgrade to Premium any time.
Promoted listingsFeatured restaurant cards inside the community feed — clearly badged, never disguised as organic.
Loyalty programmesRestaurants create and manage their own coupons and clubs; Joaan keeps the reward verification honest via phone-number check-ins.
Feedback for pointsAfter redeeming a reward, users are nudged to leave feedback in exchange for points — quality reviews become the growth engine.

05 · Audience

Built for the users who show up.

The redesign is tuned for students, young professionals and budget-conscious diners in Saudi Arabia — users who want to eat well without overspending, and who trust community reviews more than paid ads. Restaurants get a way to reach exactly that audience without competing on discounts alone.

06 · Outcome

A community that feels like an insider club.

Joaan now has a coherent visual system, a complete user flow from taste-picker to redeemed coupon, and three clear monetisation surfaces baked into screens users already visit. Restaurants get a stage for their brand; foodies get a rewards loop that keeps giving back.

Final screens

07 · tap a screen

Outcome

A confident redesign that turns Joaan from a well-intentioned MVP into a coherent foodie community — with a clear reward loop, a scalable monetisation model, and a Saudi-first identity that finally shows up on every screen.