Timeline
● Feb 09-14, 2024 (1week)
My Role
● Solo student project (design sprint) as an UX/UI designer
Tool
● Figma
At a Glance
‘Savr Recipies’ is a cooking app crafted to help users confidently complete their cooking journey, ensuring an enjoyable and seamless experience as they prepare their meals in their kitchen.
Problem
01. Users have to keep stopping to wash their hands and check their phones while cooking.
02. Users experience uncertainty, questioning whether they are on the right track.
03. Users struggle with understanding cooking terms.
04. They worry about small mistakes like overcooking or undercooking dishes.
The Outcome
Users can cook more efficiently by focusing on simplifying the cooking process and providing tools like cooking timers and prep work videos.
Solution
01.
‘Hands-free mode’ for audio instructions to free users from the hassle of the cooking process.
02.
Chef’s tips & prep work videos for cooking experience with confidence.
03.
Once highlighted words are clicked, a pop-up window displays the word’s definition.
04.
Timers for specific steps to ensure they don’t overcook or undercook ingredients.
Day-1 / Understand & Map
Users were mainly worried about not feeling confident when cooking, and they found the instructions hard to follow.
I received feedback from 8 users to understand their pain points and needs. The critical insight here was the need to simplify cooking and make it more fun. I made a few possible maps for each user and decided on the one I thought best addressed the problem so that users could approach it confidently and enthusiastically.
Day-2 / Sketch
Crazy 8’s
I chose the recipe detail screen as the most critical for possible solution sketch ideas because this is where users engage with the recipe content and spend most of their time on the app — accessing ingredients and cooking instructions and often viewing images and videos of the dish.
Solution
I selected one of the Crazy 8s screen sketches of my critical screen. In the middle is the critical screen. The central sketch represents the critical screen, while the left sketch depicts the preceding screen, and the right sketch shows the succeeding screen.
Day-3 / Storyboard
I added several features to our recipe app, including "Prep work video," "Cooking Timers," "Hands-free mode," and "Chef Tips." I chose these features because they can help users save time, make cooking easier, and provide a more user-friendly experience, which were key concerns raised by users.
Day-4 / Prototype
● Usability testing
To discover the usability issues while doing the core tasks in the app, I asked 5 people to conduct assigned tasks.
01. Search for the menu and see the instructions for cooking.
02. Find the word’s meaning within the app, something you might not know what that means.
03. Set a timer for specific steps to ensure they don’t overcook or undercook ingredients.
04. Turn on ‘Hands-free mode' for audio instructions.
Day-5 / Validate
01.
Excessive text on the instruction page
I split up lengthy paragraphs into smaller, easier-to-read chunks to help users follow recipes more smoothly while cooking.
Before
After
02.
Unable to locate the hands-free mode
I added a tooltip displaying brief labels to guide users to the hands-free mode feature.
Before
After
Lesson Learned
01. Investing more time does not always guarantee a better solution: I got to translate ideas quickly into tangible designs that can be tested with users. Knowing what users need, and solving problems well are more important than just taking a long time to find a solution.
02. Keep the design intuitive so that users don’t have to think about how to use it: I made a mistake by assuming that if I understood something, others would too. However, I've learned that most people prefer straightforward things. I’ll simplify things to make them effortless for everyone to understand.
03. Don’t aim for perfection: I was pressured to develop ingenious ideas on the first try. However, I learned I need to pay more attention to incremental change. Through an iterative process, I can make opportunities to make further refinements.