AthensVeg
Veg Made Easy.
Athens, Georgia may be a great place to find classic southern cuisine, but that doesn’t mean that it’s community doesn’t crave more than your everyday barbecue. Anyone who has experienced the struggles of following a vegan diet when dining out is well-aware of how difficult it can be, especially in a small town like Athens. With a steady vegan population and a multitude of college students looking for healthier and more ethical food options, a simple and easy to use vegan dining resource couldn’t be more needed. Say hello to AthensVeg.
While veganism has become increasingly more common and accepted over the past few years, following a vegan diet still has its challenges. When it comes to finding vegan restaurants dining options in smaller towns like Athens, GA, many consumers struggle to find places to eat out while following a plant-based diet. AthensVeg was created to address the need for an easy and accessible way for Athens consumers following a vegan or plant-based diet to find dining options that accommodate them in Athens.
AthensVeg is a mobile app that offers consumers a quick and easy-to-use resource to seek out vegan-friendly dining options in the Athens area. Long gone are the days of scrolling through Yelp reviews and zooming into restaurant menus before every meal out with friends. AthensVeg allows its users to browse the wide array of vegan-friendly options that Athens has to offer. The app also allows restaurant-goers to share their thoughts and contribute information about Athens restaurants.
AthensVeg fills the need for a mobile resource that members of the Athens vegan community can turn to when making dining plans. The app eases the challenges that can come with following a plant-based lifestyle and allows users to eat out without the stress. With AthensVeg, there’s no more worrying about anything but digging in.
The Problem
As someone who has experienced the struggles of following a vegan diet, I am well-aware of how difficult it can be, especially in a small town like Athens. I myself tried following a vegan diet during my freshman year at UGA, and while I loved how it made me feel, I didn’t love how hard it was to maintain — specifically when eating out with friends. “Social eating” is huge in many stages of life, and, for many following vegan diets, having a dietary restriction can suck the fun out of socializing over a meal.
The Solution
AthensVeg will address the difficulty that the Athens vegan and plant-based community faces when seeking out vegan-friendly dining options. There are several vegan-friendly dining choices in Athens, but it can be surprisingly difficult to find restaurants that will accommodate a vegan diet, aside from some of the most popular. The objective of AthensVeg is to provide a quick and easy resource for those interested in vegan dining in Athens. AthensVeg will provide a list of all restaurants and food establishments where vegan-friendly food options are available.
The Features
Inclusive Listings
AthensVeg is comprised of a curated list of Athens’ vegan and vegetarian friendly dining options — long gone are the days of searching for “vegan food in Athens” and being left with one or two results. AthensVeg allows users to find vegan and vegetarian-friendly food options at all types of restaurants in Athens, allowing users an abundance of options to choose from.
Menu Filtering
Users no longer have to endlessly scroll and scan through menus to find dining options that accommodate their needs. With the click of a button, users can see all of the vegan or vegetarian options a restaurant has to offer.
Accuracy and User Feedback
Due to the ever-changing restaurant scene, AthensVeg strives to provide users with the most accurate information available. If a user finds an issue with any listing, they can easily report it and provide feedback to allow AthensVeg to continually improve.
The Medium
AthensVeg is offered as an iOS app. Mobile phones are the go-to for those searching for dining information, and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. AthensVeg’s mobile app will allow users the ability to find vegan and vegetarian options no matter where they may be. Despite the challenges mobile app development can bring, from the jump, I knew that a mobile app would be the best avenue for AthensVeg, due to the ease and flexibility it will offer to users of the application. Dining plans are often made on-the-go, and a mobile app allows users to access AthensVeg wherever and whenever they need it. A mobile app format also is a must considering AthensVeg’s target audience of Milennials and Gen Z-ers. AthensVeg was developed using XCode and SwiftUI to create a clean, user-friendly and functional interface.
The Process
To say that the process of creating AthensVeg challenged me would be an understatement. While I have created plenty of app prototypes and wireframes throughout my EM journey, I had never dipped my toes into the world of app development before AthensVeg was born. I began learning XCode and SwiftUI in my Rich Media Production course during the same semester that I began developing AthensVeg. Ambitious, I know.
With each and every new skill that I had learned in my EM journey up until that point, I had always been able to make my way through and master the medium, so I figured that learning app development would be no different. However, XCode and SwiftUI sure did give me a run for my money. There were many sleepless nights spent slaving over XCode, computer over-heatings and error messages wondering what in the world I had done wrong. Some of the more complex features that I envisioned at the start of my project were scrapped, and there were many times where I just felt plain dumb.
However, bit by bit, I figured things out. The real turning point came during a stressed-out phone call to my grandmother after I had shut my laptop and given up on Xcode for the night. I vented to her for a while before she said the tried and true saying: “Honey, you know what they say: Rome wasn’t built in a day”. It’s seemingly simple, but it really made me step back and realize that building great things really does take time.
I thought about all that I had learned in just a few short weeks, and really took a moment to breathe and re-evaluate what I wanted to take out of this process. I focused on the primary purpose of what I created AthensVeg for in the first place; to ease the struggle of those looking to find vegan or vegetarian food in Athens, whatever the reason.
I stopped comparing myself and my efforts to the seemingly complex and advanced work of some of my peers, and focused on my own personal growth. And while I may not be an expert developer by any means, I can say that I have been pushed and learned more from my EM Capstone project than I ever imagine.
If I could say anything to future EM students, it would be this: focus on what you want to get out of the process. While I could have backed out and tried to do something more within my comfort zone, I decided to stick with the challenges and push through them. At the end of the day, I ended up with a product that I’m proud of, as well as more knowledge and growth than I could have imagined I’d ever have.
Find us at https://mynmi.net/emcapstone/21/athensveg/, and follow us @athensveg on Instagram to stay up-to-date.
