dish’d

Recipe Manager App

Dish’d is an app created to be a personalised catalogue of existing recipes from multiple sources, that’s easy to search, filter and navigate. How can we simplify the process of indexing your favourite recipes?

The design process worked through the methodology practices of user research, to get the prototype finalised and ready for the UI

my role

As this was a self-driven project I was responsible for the entire end-to-end design process:

Research
User Interviews
Personas
User Journeys
Information Architecture and Site Map
Sketching and Wireframing
High Fidelity Prototyping
Usability Testing

the problem

When deciding on what to cook, it can become time-consuming and overwhelming with the number of recipes out there, causing a real pain point in the process of making a home-cooked meal.

the solution

A way for users to easily search, filter and navigate their own personalised database of recipes collated from multiple sources.

research phase

During the research phase I conducted interviews with the target demographic, using questions that were open-ended and designed to uncover and understand the users’ behaviours, motivations and actions in regards to cooking, grocery shopping and meal planning.

The following key user personas and corresponding journey maps were compiled with the results from these interviews along with quantitative data collated from a survey (through SurveyMonkey)

research key findings

People are overwhelmed by the amount of recipes available, from both cookbooks and online
People forget where they saw particular recipes with no place to collectively collate them
People often edit and make changes to recipes
People are following recipes on their phones in the kitchen while cooking

Key Outcomes for MVP

Add in links or import bookmark folders of recipes
Upload images of recipes to be transcribed
Be able to easily filter through recipes utilising editable tags and categories
Have a “cooking mode” where phone brightness goes up and phone doesn’t lock
Rate which recipes have been tried already
Make it simple to adjust serving sizes, and adjust between metric and imperial measurements
Ability to edit, add or delete ingredients or steps
Inbuilt shopping lists that make it easy to manage grocery items needed

the prototype

Working from intial design wireframes, the below high-fidelity prototype was refined within Axure which was used for the usabilty testing on a Google Pixel

usability testing

The prototype was then tested with a number users, both in person and via Lookback. The following tasks were asked to be completed, with the success criteria outline on the right.

usability test key findings

Users were trying to create accounts on the log in page rather than tapping on ‘Create Account’
When editing recipes, user found the wording of ‘Upload Recipe’ confusing
Most users had difficulty using the Shopping Lists function within the ingredients section of the recipe page
User were confused what ‘Tab Recipe’ meant
Users thought the search bar on the home page would globally search recipes rather than specifically their own

key outcomes for MVP

Have a clear log in/sign up process, with the opening screen giving an option of the two to avoid any confusion
Rename ‘Upload Recipe’ to ‘Save Changes’ on the edit recipe page
Change the design of the check boxes on the recipe ingredients to make it more clear they can be checked
Add a ‘Add to Shopping List’ button at the top of the ingredient list, along with a button can check/uncheck all ingredients at once
Rename ‘Tab Recipe’ to ‘Pin Recipe On Screen’
In the search field, have the default input say ‘ Search own recipe collection’ so it is clear this will only search own recipes