SKILLFULBITES
This app is designed to help home chefs enhance their cooking skills with recipe videos, blogs, step-by-step guides, and more. Key features include an automated shopping list, intuitive search tools, diet modification options, and low-ingredient recipe suggestions. While its customization and recipe variety may fall short for experienced chefs, it’s an excellent resource for beginners looking to build confidence in the kitchen.
PROJECT INFO
TOOLS
Figma, Miro, Microsoft Teams
ROLE
User Interface Designer
Primary Visual Designer
I was one of the primary visual designers and contributed to the design process.
- Splash Screen, Home Page, part of Grocery List, some components, Figma file organization
TEAM
Me and 4 others
TOOLS
September 2023 - December 2023
PRODUCT PROBLEM
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The primary focus of existing meal prep and cooking education software has been on experienced cooks and quick-fix meals, often overlooking the needs of beginners.
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Current solutions fail to address the learning curve involved in cooking simple, healthy meals.
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Our product aims to bridge this gap by providing customized meal plans tailored to various dietary needs, scheduling constraints, and lifestyle preferences.
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Initially, we will target inexperienced cooks with limited time to learn how to cook.
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Success will be measured by community engagement, such as users sharing, liking, and commenting on their progress and improved cooking skills.
KEY FEATURES
Based on our hypotheses, we decided to incorporate the following key features:
Grocery List
Helps users track ingredients and monitor expiration dates, reducing food waste.
Detailed Instructions with Pictures and Videos
Provides the most effective teaching method for users to learn and improve their cooking skills.
Customizable Options
Includes diet preferences, time constraints, and difficulty levels to cater to a wide range of user needs.
Smart Fridge Integration
Allows users to easily track their available food and manage inventory efficiently.
PROCESS
SOLUTIONS
Structure
Participants were given a prompt to design a new form of transportation only using readily available materials. Participants were not told about the assignment beforehand and weren't allowed to get extra help with the design challenge.
Time Limit
15 min
Purpose
We were testing to see how resourceful people were and how willing they were to do something they had no experience with, such as creating something from a randomly assigned assignment.
INTERVIEWS ROUND 1: Transportation
KEY FINDINGS
Time Constraints
Most new cooks have a busy schedule. However, there were split results on how our interviewees felt about the time constraint.
Instructions
Users felt lost and put on the spot when given little to no instructions. All of our interviewees were conflicted while figuring out an “invention.”
Ingredients
Interviewees felt limited because they could only use what they had, but made it work in the end.
MAIN AFFINITY DIAGRAM FINDINGS
3/3
They were satisfied with their results, considering the time constraint and not knowing the prompt beforehand.
Split Results
One felt they needed more time, one was fine with the time given, and one felt there could have been less time.
INTERVIEWS ROUND 2: Scavenger Hunt
Structure
Participants were asked to solve a series of activities and riddles to solve a scavenger hunt throughout campus. We were assigned to one of three difficulties based on opposite preferences for instruction.
Time Limit
Easy: 8 min
Medium: 10 min
Hard: 12 min
Purpose
1. How users understand new information on the fly
2. Effective learning methods & techniques
3. How does stress affect learning
KEY FINDINGS
Overthinking
When instincts couldn’t help, distrust formed. Users weren’t able to trust their decisions.
Visualization
The closer to the end they were, the easier it was for decision-making; users "saw" fewer options.
Relief = Time = Stress
Users were able to manage stress and plan effectively when they knew how much time they had.
Mixing Methods
Users figured out the solution faster when given another method.
WIREFRAME ROUND 1
Explore Page
We originally had an Explore Page but decided to combine it with the home page since they had similar topics.
Feedback on the Explore Page:
1. The Explore page could be about trying new stuff, not algorithmically introduced.
2. Icons are a little confusing.
3. The Explore page is good for going more in-depth.
Cook Book Page
Categories in the Cook Book pages are necessary and helpful, but some categories need to be defined better.
Feedback on the Cook Book Page:
1. Would like tags on Cook Book with extra information.
2. Redefine subcategories under Cook Book.
Recipe Page
The Recipe Page is a necessary feature but has a lot of issues in terms of information architecture/layout and navigability, and some features are not clearly defined.
Feedback on the Recipe Page:
1. Likes the recipe generate feature.
2. Layout for recipe and visual hierarchy needs to work.
3. Filtering recipes might be a little confusing.
WIREFRAME ROUND 2
Images
Realistic photos work best for showcasing the actual recipe, while animated or illustrated visuals are ideal for instructional and educational modules to simplify concepts and engage learners.
Tags
Users want to quickly determine if a recipe suits their needs. Here's how to improve:
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Add filter tags for prep and cook time to streamline the search.
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Keep descriptions on the recipe's detailed page instead of the card, keeping the preview clean and focused.
