We all get inspiration from cooking somewhere, whether from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Online blogs, Countless Cookbooks, our families and friends. But where does everyone save all their recipes? Do you save it directly on Instagram? Copy & Paste the link to yourself? Print out the recipe? What's your method?
With increased nutrition-related content and focus, it's easier for people to access information but how do we practically use it?
Challenge
Q: How can we make an app that saves all our favourite recipes from various places?
Solution
Save, Edit, and Adjust Recipes all in One App. The features below have been incorporated after investigating the main user needs.
User Research
To find out what frustrations and successes are experienced among home cooks and their current methods, I conducted interviews and an anonymised online survey.
Market Research
User Research
Prototype Research
Competitive Analysis
Interviews
Open-Card Sorting
Heuristic Evaluation
Online Survey
Usability Testing
A/B Preference Testing
Research Questions
What apps or websites do you use to help you cook or learn about new recipes?
What do you use to store your favourite recipes? What are your favourite features in them?
What do you dislike about your recipe-saving method(s)?
What features in a recipe-saving app/website would you find useful?
User Insights & Personas
My Users Wanted an App They Can:
Personalise
Find Reliable Information
Improve their Health
Be Creative
Save Recipes Easily
Easy Access
Challenges & Solutions
Nutrition Tracker → Nutrition Plate
After initial usability testing, several users expressed a lack of interest and lack of engagement with the nutrition tracker. Curious about why this was not appreciated, I returned to the initial user research. When looking over what users desired, were frustrated with, and needed, it became evident that I had lost track of a series of needs... the tailored recommendations & reliable information to meet their nutritional goals!
Manual Categories → AI-Suggested Categories
The Groceries feature was a desired feature for all users, almost as a given, but when I added categories, based on usability tests, they were never used. This was simply because adding categories is not intuitive for people whether digitally or manually - therefore, I decided to incorporate AI and see whether users would appreciate an AI-suggested feature. This was highly appreciated, seen by the number of users who clicked on the feature.
Consistency of UI: Spacing, Colour & Icons
A challenge of mine during the design process was remembering to keep things consistent and following the design system. Overwhelmed by the number of options of fonts, text sizes, layouts, and images available, I decided to put my design system on every page and file to remind myself to keep the design consistent.
Key Learnings:
Prioritise user needs & functionality before UI - you can’t start decorating before you lay down the blueprints and groundwork of a house.
Expect multiple iterations, not just of a frame but of a pop-up, a navigation bar, your colour scheme, the functionality, all of it!
Take time away from your design - this helps you recognise where you were too focused on a detail rather than the bigger picture of the fundamental UX of your design.
Future Directions & Features to Include are:
Ability to automatically edit recipes based on the suggested changes you select
Including and testing AI tools within the app to see the successes and difficulties
Develop a clickable desktop prototype
Collaborate with a printing company to be able to make a hand-held copy of all your saved recipes
