Food-up

Role

UX Designer/UX Researcher

Tools

Figma, Whimsical, Google Form & Google Sheets

Date

March 2022 - May 2022 (5 weeks)

Overview

Background

The objective of this project is to create an app that enhances recipe browsing efficiency while expanding users' recipe repertoire. Ultimately, users can improve their culinary skills, making it quicker to decide what to cook as they master more recipes.

A typical day for a university student is quite busy, often requiring a delicate balance between work, finances, and health. With thousands of recipe options available online, the search for a suitable recipe can be overwhelming, especially for those who are pressed for time, budget-conscious, and inexperienced in cooking.

Primary User Research

interview and survey

I wanted to know if cooking is a common struggle among my peers, so I conducted interviews and surveys to understand how college students prepare their meal. The demographic is between the age of 18-22 years old and mix of both students currently living on campus and commuters. I asked them questions related to their diet, budget, and time management. Here are some key insights I have gathered:

Key Insights

Time takes top priority when deciding what to cook.

Inexperienced cooks typically take longer to decide what to cook and are more likely to opt for their default meal.

Ingredients ranked as the second most significant factor in cooking decisions can be contributed to the challenge of effectively managing ingredient inventory.

Analyze and Define

affinity mapping

I created an affinity map to organize my data. My objective was to understand the specific motivations that drive students to cook and the factors that deter them. The abundant array of search options can be overwhelmingly time-consuming to navigate. My next goal is to determine the most efficient way for users to quickly find what they are looking for.

User task flow

The user task flow below outlines the crucial decisions and functions users will navigate in the application. The app places a strong emphasis on efficient search capabilities through filters and browsing the exploration page.

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

Iteration From User Feedback

Enabling easier searchability

In my initial iteration, I prototyped the app and had some users navigate through it. My goal was to assess their ability to intuitively navigate and complete a set of simple tasks, such as browsing through the exploration page and finishing a recipe. The user feedback provided valuable insights for improvement. Below, you can see the changes made, with the before (left image) and after (right image) visuals.

improving reading accessibility

Solution

Visual Style Guide

I created a visual style guide to establish a cohesive brand identity with orange as the main color. I chose orange based on studies showing that this color evokes feelings of happiness and excitement. Orange is associated with bright and playful elements, such as the sunrise or the citrus fruit. As a secondary colors, I chose red and green. Red represents passion and intensity, while green can represent the feeling of refreshment and growth. These two colors balanced each other out.

final design breakdown

Reflection

next Steps

1. Measuring Success

If I had more time, I would conduct usability testing to ensure that user goals are met. One specific area to focus on is the navigation efficiency of the explore page. The objective is to enable users to easily discover new recipes, making 'time on task' a crucial metric to measure. In-person observations would be ideal to identify any issues users may encounter while pursuing their goals.

2. Functionality Improvements

Unlike the initial drafts, the final design did not include the Calendar function. Users are able to track their meals and see cooking patterns. This could possibly help them learn to add variety of meals into their calendar or review past recipes that were not added to the favorite.

This app focuses mainly on the aspect of browsing efficiency and customizing recipes. However, we can improve on the app by making it easier for users to read the recipe. Implementing a speech-to-text function or a video function of the recipe may allow more a more engaging learning experience for the users.