SAVR Recipe Organizer
5 Day Design Sprint
This project was completed as a 5 day design sprint. User research, interview data and a persona were provided.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Goals
Make recipe execution simpler
Timeframe
3/5/20221 - 3/11/2021
Day 1
User Interview Findings and End-to-End User Experience Flow
User feedback:
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Recipes involve too many steps
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Directions are unclear
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Recipes not easy to execute
Users would like to know:
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What tools are needed for recipe
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Ingredients and how they are prepped
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How the recipe should look at points in the preparation
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What are next steps in the process
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Accurate prep times
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How to easily look up techniques involved in the recipe
Try Me.
Persona highlights
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Nick, 29, Chicago
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Cooks 3x a week
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Likes trying new recipes
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Believes recipes are good for learning basic techniques
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Tweaks recipes after trying the recipe at least once
Pain Points:
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Unsure if on track during recipe
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Not clear on what's coming up
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Stressed always having to refer back to phone at each step
Goals:
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Being able to follow recipe easily so dish comes out
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Recipes are enjoyable and challenging
End-to-End User Experience
To develop more empathy with users, two empathy maps were developed. This would aid in more deeply understanding the user’s needs and pointing out any missing information or additional questions required.
Day 2
Lightning Demos & Crazy 8's
For this project, I looked to apps/programs that would have directions. Where directions were given in a step-by-step process.
I chose Wikihow, Yummly App, and the SideChef App to study because of these traits. I went through these and pulled out some key features which would address user concerns and pain points.
Wikihow
Useful Features:
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Shows tools list needed to complete project
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Has Q & A section
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Includes references​
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Includes videos
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Has article summary
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A quiz to reinforce skills (user wanted to learn basic techniques)
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Image of the project at each step of the process
Yummly App
Useful Features:
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Step by step video previews
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Voice control (next step, etc.)
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List of ingredients with checklist
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List of tools used with checklist
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Accompanying time when a timed step is involved
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A time planner which allows you to complete the recipe at a certain time
Sidechef App
Useful Features:
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Search by ingredients
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Search by meal
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A quiz to reinforce skills (user wanted to learn basic techniques)
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Links for certain ingredients, revealing definitions/technical explanations
Overall features which would be valuable to the Savr user:
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Listing of needed ingredients and tools
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Quizzes to inspire learning of techniques
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Step by step video directions
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Calling out certain ingredients, which can be clicked upon to find out more info
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Voice control so don't have to handle phone during cooking (no dirty phone)
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Able to choose a time when recipe will be completed
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Community Q&A at end of recipe
Solution Sketch
I created a mini storyboard of 3 panels. The first is a find recipe page, then the main recipe page, and ending with a user comment/rating page for the recipe.
Day 3
User Flows
I drew out a few screens to represent the app in an app store, and the basic use of the Savr App. I began in the app store, and ended with the chosen recipe. It was helpful to start where an individual would download the app, showing me the entire process. I could better understand the frame of mind and what a downloader would expect to see.
Day 4
Prototyping
Looking at other apps really helped to inspire functions, and the way that they could be executed.
I really enjoyed the prototyping experience. Having a purpose and reason to design makes the process proceed easily. Instead of trying to come up with everything all at once, it is nice to have the research back up the reason.
Day 5
User Testing
I had lined up 5 individuals to test earlier in the week, but actually getting to people took a little while. Things came up changing the interview schedule, but eventually I tested them all. The users were chosen from people I knew (friends and relatives). I chose people who use recipes and cook meals at least every other week.
I had an easier time interviewing and testing users this time around. I sort of knew what I could expect from the earlier interviews and testing done for my capstone. I created an initial group of questions and tasks that users would perform in the Savr App.
Try Me.
Some example questions:
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You are cooking for a friend who really likes fish. How would you approach finding this? Could you demonstrate another way of doing this?
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If you wanted to learn more about cooking, what would you do?
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What are your initial opinions of the overall design of the app?
The interviews often branched off into other topics, which came up organically after asking initial questions. These were great to hear, as they sometimes addressed observations I had not thought of asking. Tracy expressed that she loved that there were not lengthy paragraphs about the recipe. Her purpose was to make a recipe, not read endless information she was not interested in.
Summary of testing:
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3 out of 5 users would use the “search” field initially after opening the app
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Having an “inspiration” page offering several recipe ideas helped users decide what they wanted to cook
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“Categories” verbiage in the main navigation is unclear. Does not convey what it contains
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Users liked the large images
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Less intro text for recipes received good feedback
Lessons Learned
Overall, I really liked the design sprint. It was exciting getting only a limited time to work on each of the processes of the sprint. The one spot where I did need more time was the prototyping stage. I ended up needing to create more screens for the prototype than I had anticipated. In future sprints, I would rethink how many screens I really needed.
The speed of the sprint worked well with how I usually work. I like to have concrete deadlines and having a daily goal was a great way for me to work.