Culinarian

overview

Match with a recipe and learn how to cook

The project showcase my UI senses and how I turn users' need into feature design. The goal of the project is to design a cooking app for university students to learn how to cook. I designed features that enable students to find ability-compatible recipes and motivate them to learn cooking.

Project type

Class Project

timeline

Sep 2022 - Dec 2022
(4 months)

role

UX Researcher
UX Designer

tools

Figma
Competitor Analysis
Persona
Storyboarding
Questions, Options, and Criteria
Paper Prototype
Usability Testing

Why this project ?

Eating out costs a lot in the US, and cooking at home can be the solution for them to save money. Home cooking also provides other benefits, such as being healthy and developing new skills. However, some specific problems exist while college students learn to cook. In this project, I targeted college students who are new to self-cooking and face time constraints.

problem

1. Information overload

Too many recipes for users to read through and find one that meets their requirements.

2. Ingredient mismatch

Users cannot find what to cook with what they have.

solution

set up preferences for enhanced matching outcomes

Users customize steps, time, cooking level, and preferences for personalized recipe recommendations.

Swipe to find suitable recipe matches

Swiping streamlines recipe browsing, minimizing the time users spend checking details.

Add notes to enhance learning and reflection

The app aims to help users learn cooking with reflections. Add notes, earn points to unlock special recipes.

Elevate learning motivation by unlocking special recipes

Gamifying the learning experience, unlocking recipes serves as motivation for users to delve into the art of cooking.

lesson learned

Feedback is important, but so is maintaining design integrity
While deciding the setup flow, I got feedback that food types should be chosen before setting up proficiency levels and other requirements. The rationale is that it is a cooking app, and thus food types can help set the position of the app. However, since the cooking ability is the main issue based on the goal of the app, I decided not to take the suggestions and followed my original app flow.
Always consider the context! The interaction that meets the most criteria is not necessarily the most appropriate way
When deciding which interaction should be used to find recipes, matching does not meet the most criteria. However, since the goal of my app is to help users learn how to cook, it becomes the most appropriate way based on the design goal and the benefits it provides. While evaluating design through criteria, quality should always be more important than quantity.
Beyond the app: Solutions come to life
While brainstorming, a lot of interesting solutions came up. For example, leveraging AR technology so that users can know the next steps or using AI note-taking technology to help record the cooking process. Although digital solution is relatively accessible and convenient, the design solution should not be constrained to a phone app.