Savr
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What questions did you want to answer in your sprint?
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How might we make recipe instructions easier to follow?
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How might we best instruct home cooks to create meals?
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How might we make following a recipe more enjoyable?
User Goals
Following a recipe with confidence and delicious results.
Team
👋 Just me.
How did you want to create your prototype
Resources
Being the daughter of a French cook 🍽 , I thought of the apps my mom uses for cooking, as well as her approach. I scolled through Pinterest, The Cooking Network, and New York Times apps.
Early Ideation
User Map
I started with the first method in a GV deisgn sprint, mapping. I mapped the flow a user would go, from wanting to cook a meal, to completing the recipe.
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Launch Savr cooking app
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Sign up with their email and password, or login.
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Search a recipe
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Select and view the recipe
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Play a video of the recipe
Design Inspiration
The second day of a GV design sprint is Sketching. Browsing through various cooking apps, I analyzed what made each app more enjoyable and easy to use. I began sketching the most important screen, the recipe. Because, I know recipes are often hard to understand, I sought a way to make it easier on the eyes. Whenever I have cooked using an online recipe, I preferred having both the words and video of the recipe displayed.
User Pain Points
A few users were interviewed and asked their frustrations about Savr’s current cooking app.
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“I get nervous that i’m doing something wrong, I like to know that i’m on the right track.”
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“Sometimes I feel like steps are sprung on me and it make me anxious.”
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“I like to know things in advancing like prepping the food.”
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“Sometimes there are terms I don’t understand and I have to go look them up.”
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“I like to know what cookware i’ll need that way I can use less dishes.”
Low Fidelity Sketches
For the third day of a GV design sprint I created a storyboard by weaving my best sketch sentences together. Empathizing with the user’s frustrations, I added features to Savr that would make this app easierto use. Some of the features I added were:
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Quick Search (for example: Quick meal).
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Displaying prep time, total time, and difficulty level.
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Full ‘how to’ video at the top.
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Step-by-step displayed as you scroll down
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Step-by-step videos with each step displaying what step is next.
Initial Prototype in Figma
For the third day of a GV design sprint I created a storyboard by weaving my best sketch sentences together. Empathizing with the user’s frustrations, I added features to Savr that would make this app easierto use. Some of the features I added were:
-
Quick Search (for example: Quick meal).
-
Displaying prep time, total time, and difficulty level.
-
Full ‘how to’ video at the top.
-
Step-by-step displayed as you scroll down
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Step-by-step videos with each step displaying what step is next.
User Testing Results
On the final day of the GV design sprint, I tested some random users from friends of friends. My target market was aimed at people who cooked often. A few the users considered themselves expert cooks while the others were beginners. I found that all users preferred when recipes had both a video and written step by step instructions. This approach caters to both visual and hands-on learners.
Key Learnings
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One user stated, “I wish I could see what I recently cooked on the homepage”. I moved recently cooked items from the user profile to the homepage for easy access.
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“You already have a timer icon, I don’t think you need another time once in the recipe” another user stated. I learned that having less is more with a cooking app. I removed the timer from the recipe video.
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“I live on my own and always have a hard time finding recipes for one, I love that this has a “for one” suggestion”. I empathized with this user having the same issue living on my own. I added a “For One” suggestion button that displays recipes for one person servings.
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“I wasn’t sure if “skip” meant skip the next or “next step””. From this user I learned having more clarity with words creates for fewer user errors and more enjoyment. It’s best to eliminate as much user confusion as possible.
Savr Itirations
Some improvements I made based on the usability testing
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Added recently cook items to the homepage.
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Made the FAQ and Help buttons in the profile smaller in order to differentiate it.
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Removed the timer from the recipe steps and changed the wording from “Skip” to “Next Step”.
Final Prototype
Some improvements I made based on the usability testing
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Added recently cook items to the homepage.
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Made the FAQ and Help buttons in the profile smaller in order to differentiate it.
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Removed the timer from the recipe steps and changed the wording from “Skip” to “Next Step”.
What I Learned
I learned that an app that teaches a person anything is always going to have some challenges. Creating multiple ways to teach with written steps, pictures, and videos will help. Eliminating useless information and fancy wording will help users have more clarity when cooking a recipe. I designed Savr to be used quickly, easily and delightfully when cooking any recipe at any level.
What I Can Improve On
Cooking terms when preparing a meal. Another is adding clickable links on each ingredient in a recipe, displaying a picture and defining what the ingredient is. I would have wanted to watch a user test the app when cooking to find out how well it works when doing the task. I would add questions when signing up to filter their home page with recipe suggestions based on users food preferences.