This is a personal project made during my UX training, which I like because of certain reasons: only time was a constrain, it is highly customised and also because it’s proving that, with the right process, you can find out what’s the problem and solve it quickly.
The challenge
Quiz a mate about their interests, and find a problem that could be solved with the design of a simple mobile app. Work with him directly to address the problem and create a rapid prototype.
I quizzed Jem.
I conducted a 30 minutes interview with him, asking about his background, hobbies, habits, important things in life and also what is causing stress to him. Such a speedy way to meet new people!
I learned that he likes Playstation, talking with a headset with friends, watching football home or at the pub. He doesn’t like rushing and tries to avoid being late.
Jem has to cook every day for himself; he enjoys it sometimes but he doesn’t like to spend a lot of time on it and to clean after.
“I don’t have any preferences, I can eat anything, I usually cook simple food, based on rice. I don’t have inspirations”.
Jem
The problem
I continued to interview Jem and map his behaviours, purposes and motivators to understand better his needs. A concept map clearly showed that he could improve his cooking experience.
I introduced Jim to some features which meant to answer his problems. I understood if they would be unnecessary from his point of view, for instance cooking battle option, which I thought would be interesting for him since he’s also a serious video game lover, but he was clearly against.
Jem was enthusiastic about very simple functionalities, like easy recipes using common ingredients and planning his dinners for the week.
His motivations: spending less time cooking and not worrying too much about it.
Recapitulation
Jem has to cook almost every day. He enjoys it but doesn’t like to spend too much time in the kitchen. He’s also not inspired to experiment, which can be sometimes annoying for him.
Moreover, he likes to plan so there’s no need to rush later.
Aspiration
Jem could prepare original meals in 10 minutes, without changing his habits.
My solution
Creating an app with recipes that are easy to compose with products we currently have in fridge.
On top of it, a scheduling feature: ability to set up a reminder to shop the ingredients needed for recipies you liked, which would help in forming a habit of planning meals.
The sketches & user flows
The first user flow helped to clarify Jem’s individual needs and after refinement, it has been I simplified to the minimum.
The final user goals:
1. Jem selects ingredients remaining in his fridge, then picks a recipe from the suggestion list and start cooking
2. For the scheduled meals, Jem can set reminders to buy missing ingredients.
Both goals should motivate him to cook new and simple meals!
Rapid Paper Prototyping: Round I
Defining the first UI elements
I created fast, low-fidelity sketches that helped us to establish the primary goals and remove the overcomplicated ones, for instance, complex social profiles and cooking battle.
Rapid Paper Prototyping: Round II
Prototyping in Marvel
After testing the prototype, we’ve refined the designs and cleaned up the user interface. It brought us to shorten the user journey (1 step less in both two goals)
Jem seemed to be happy
“Great! I would use it!”
Branding & UI
To get started with a proper branding – personality, name and logo – I had to review again the aim of my user’s app and the circumstances in which it is likely to be used.
Circumstances
For adults with no skills in cooking or who never tried to practice their cooking skills.
The Mood
When using the app, my user should feel more in control, relaxed and conscious of adapting to a more healthy lifestyle.
They spend less money, have more time; they discover new recipes matching their skills and don’t feel overwhelmed when they are about to cook.
The mood of the app would be: familiar, friendly, fresh, crispy, intuitive, home-like, simple to use and clean.
The Name & Logo
Out of this, I came up with the idea of branding. A friendly hand glove, waving to say: “Hello, let’s cook together!”
Just like this bear:
Logo iterations:
Final Logo:
The Mood
When using the app, my user should feel more in control, relaxed and conscious of adapting to a more healthy lifestyle.
They spend less money, have more time; they discover new recipes matching their skills and don’t feel overwhelmed when they are about to cook.
The mood of the app would be: familiar, friendly, fresh, crispy, intuitive, home-like, simple to use and clean.
