Home Chef
RESEARCH | UX DESIGN
Home Chef
RESEARCH | UX DESIGN
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INTRODUCTION
Home Chef is an AI cooking and health platform that provides users with personalized home recipes to save money, lessen food waste, and educate users on the importance of food and nutrition.
ROLE
Research, user experience design, design systems, visual design
TIME
Spring 2021, 6 weeks
TOOLS
Miro, Figma, Photoshop, Tableu
DISCOVER
DESIGN
PRODUCT
Establishing context
Gaps in health & food market
Research
Competitive apps & user research
UX Design
Information architecture & user flow
UI Design
UI components
Interaction design
Prototype
Testing
Final design
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Design Process
Develop
Brand Values
Style Guide
Concept Designs
Wireframes
Style Guide
Concept Designs
Wireframes
Deliver
Final Design
Conclusion
Conclusion
FINAL DESIGN OVERVIEW
Insights about food and nutrition
Food storage information
Recipe generator from selected ingredients
Visual data based on savings from home cooking
Nutrition viewed in AR and verified articles
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The United States is the second largest country to waste food per capita and residential homes are one of the largest producers of food waste, according to earth.org. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of remote working, more people are eating in their homes. Buying too many ingredients and food with the least nutritional value can be problematic for Americans' pockets, health, and environment. How do we lessen food waste at home, while also building knowledge of health and nutrition in an ultra-processed food society?
108 billion
pounds of food is wasted in the United States each year, which equates to 130 billion meals.
According to feedingamerica.org
70 percent
of the sodium that Americans eat come from packaged, processed, store-bought, and restaurant foods.
According to cdc.gov
Discover
RESEARCH OVERVIEW
Research Goals
To gather quantitative data about user demographics and their perspective on food waste. To obtain qualitative insights of the user concerns, needs, and wants to confirm my assumptions and better proceed with the design solution proposed.
Research Method
I created a survey and sent it out to participants between the ages of 18-35 and received 20 responses. I reviewed the data to compare relevant information.
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PRIMARY RESEARCH
Key Research Findings
Nutrition and home cooking are ideal and important to most users, but they still dispose of food that has gone past the expiration date because of too many ingredients and not planning meals in advance.
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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Evaluating current technology
The three apps evaluated below are the most popular apps for cooking during this time. After navigating through each app and noting my first impressions, I created a table to evaluate areas I could pay key attention to when creating Home Chef’s prototype.
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DEFINE AND CONTEXTUALIZE
Developing a target user
At this stage, the design is aimed towards working professionals who are young-mid adults. The ideal user may be health and environmentally conscious, but still struggles to understand the full impact of nutrition on themselves and the environment.
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DEFINE AND CONTEXTUALIZE
Walking through the user's journey
To pinpoint pains and opportunities, I created a user journey based on my persona starting from planning dinner to post-eating. I focused on three opportunities to develop a solution for the application.
DEFINE AND CONTEXTUALIZE
Ideating and conceptualizing
I generated various ideas and came up with lo-fi wireframes to walk through the process of using the application. I kept to 15 main screens to ensure I was solving the main problems and still meeting the given deadline.
Defining brand goals
Based on the research and ideation process, I was able to put together the top four brand goals that the design should follow.
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Save time
Quickly use the app to input or scan ingredients for a recipe to be generated.
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Better Health
Discover the nutritional benefits of ingredients through an AR experience.
Eco-Friendly
Understand the benefits of minimizing food waste and learn tips along the way.
Cut Costs
Manage money saved through using already bought ingredients.
Final wireframes and user flow
I was inspired by apps that users already enjoy like Flo, Yelp, and Pinterest. This aims to help users with navigation and a sense of normality when using Home Chef.
Define
Typography and colors
I wanted the app to have a colorful yet muted layout to promote excitement around cooking. Just like much of our plate should be colorful, I selected a palette that represented a variety of different foods.
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Deliver
Final Outcome Highlights
APPLICATION FEATURES
Insights for learning
One of the application's major highlights is providing educational information on food and nutrition. A user can scroll and swipe through related topics based on their needs.
I wanted to design a fun and positive layout - creating a cohesive backdrop for each image could give the users a consistent design to follow.
I wanted to design a fun and positive layout - creating a cohesive backdrop for each image could give the users a consistent design to follow.
APPLICATION FEATURES
Storage information for less food waste
One of the major reasons people were throwing food away was because it spoiled before/after the use by date.
Knowing when and how to freeze food before it spoils can save a user money and help contribute to lessening the problematic food waste problem in the US.
Knowing when and how to freeze food before it spoils can save a user money and help contribute to lessening the problematic food waste problem in the US.
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DESKTOP FEATURES
Interactive nutrition education
People wanted to know the nutritional information of food, yet still didn't take the extra steps to research this information.
I later would like to try the concept of using technology like augmented reality to make this process interactive yet still informative.
I later would like to try the concept of using technology like augmented reality to make this process interactive yet still informative.
DESKTOP FEATURES
Ingredients to recipes
As part of the recipe generator, users can view the desired meal to create and also leave a review with images when completed.
It was important for people who are time constricted to be able to see the serving size, time spent, and recipe on the first load.
It was important for people who are time constricted to be able to see the serving size, time spent, and recipe on the first load.
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DESKTOP FEATURES
Measuring serving size and $$$
For a later concept, I found through research that people, especially young adults, can be motivated to pocket their money through visual spending/saving.
By inputting the ingredients and servings used, the savings section shows users how their home-cooked food compares to a similar meal that would be bought on a delivery app or dining out.
By inputting the ingredients and servings used, the savings section shows users how their home-cooked food compares to a similar meal that would be bought on a delivery app or dining out.
TAKEAWAYS
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Iterate, iterate, iterate
Looking back, I would have hoped to dive more into the ideation and testing process. I would have wanted to explore the usefulness of each feature, especially the AR solutions.
After completing this project, I have a better sense of where I can direct my focus to ensure the app is designed with intention before getting into the sparkles of designing.
Effective storytelling in design
Presenting application designs requires a balance of structuring stories in a concise, yet effective manner. Through the process I found myself being too vague with scenarios which could sidetrack my audience.
Containing the right amount of detail can depend on the goal, in this case, I wanted users to imagine new solutions for food waste and a food-as-medicine approach to nutrition knowledge. Knowing where to cut and add details can help me engage my audience for future design explorations.
Failure is an option
In some phases, especially development, I found myself wanting to have the perfect product from the jump before conducting user testing.
Understand that perfection is not going to be possible and that learning from a mistake and moving on is the best way to keep pushing forward.
