Conceptual project
March - June 2021
4 months
UX designer and researcher.
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.
Saving recipes in all sorts of places and not knowing where to find them later, brings a lot of clutter and frustration to people.
Design an app to help people quickly and easily create, find and plan their recipes.
SOLUTION
The Add Button from the navbar is the starting point where users can quickly and easily create a new recipe.
SOLUTION
One easy way for users to plan their meals is to add a recipe to the calendar directly from the recipe details page.
SOLUTION
Users can add the recipe ingredients one by one to their shopping list or add them all at once directly from the recipe details page.
This is one way to avoid buying more food than needed and a method of reducing food waste.
DESIGN PROCESS - STEP 1
1. UNDERSTAND
The global Recipe Apps market size was valued at USD 476.8 million in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 12.65% during the forecast period, reaching USD 974.3 million by 2027.
A major factor contributing to the growth of the market is Proposing the Interest in Cooking Among the Users. The tendency of Consumers towards Healthy Food and High Costs Related to the same is driving the Market.
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To understand the users needs, I have conducted 7 user interviews and a survey using Google Forms, where I had answers from 41 cooking lovers.
When running into a recipe you like, where do you save it? What is the biggest challenge preventing you from accessing your recipes easily?
Research also revealed that saving recipes in different places and not finding them were not the only issues causing frustration. Other user problems included meal planning, grocery lists and following the recipe steps with busy or dirty hands.
Based on previous findings, I have build 1 persona focusing on one type of user, parents with kids and different eating habits. This helped me visualise the struggles and pain points and look into user needs so I could design features accordingly.
Mapping Anca's user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to a dedicated recipe organiser app.
DESIGN PROCESS - STEP 2
2. EXPLORE
My goal was to get inspiration and compare what features they had to offer, in order to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. What I have found is that meal planning and the shopping list features are only available as pro features (paid).
I created a user flow to show the user's movement and the possible steps towards achieving their goals.
Early sketches
I have drafted a few options for each screen and analysed the information and elements that support users to achieve their goals.
For the home screen, I prioritised a quick way to sort recipes to help users easily find them.
Low-fidelity wireframes
I created low-fidelity wireframes to be used for a prototype that allows us to test the app, before implementing more details.
I made sure to build screen designs on findings received from the user research.
A key user need was to easily schedule or plan a meal, and add the ingredients of specific recipes to the shopping list.
I created the primary user flow beginning with manually creating and saving a new recipe and after then, from the recipe details page, a user can schedule the recipe and add its ingredients to the shopping list.
DESIGN PROCESS - STEP 3
3. MATERIALIZE
Usability studies were conducted in two rounds. Feedback from the first study helped me to guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and informed me about what needed adjusted.
Early designs helped me to check and test the functionality of the app.
After doing the usability studies, I revised the design, and I made the create button stand out and reordered the tabs to let the users quickly see their favorite recipes.
I also added the notification ring bell so that users don't miss important information.
I made sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the usability study.
I created a more visible button for adding the ingredients to shopping list and also added this functionality right at the top being represented by the shopping cart icon.
The second usability study revealed the need of an easy way to follow and jump through the recipe steps in the cooking mode.
I also counting the final page as a step, to be more clear and inform about the existence of that last page.
Users can now save and organise their recipes in just one place.
The goals that were outlined in the beginning of the design process have been met in this final prototype.
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I recharge my batteries by hanging out with friends and family, hiking, jogging, biking or satisfying my curiosities by reading and listening to podcasts about my favorite topics.
I enjoy travelling and discovering the richness of different cultures. This pushes me sometimes, to get outside of my comfort zone, but allows me to experience different points of view and reflect more on the beauty of life.
I am always thrilled to engage in various construction, home renovation and DIY projects. The sense of fulfillment that accompanies witnessing the progress of the work firsthand is truly gratifying. Moreover, this hands-on involvement has had a notable impact on the advancement of my project management skills.
