Somethin' Sweet - A Dessert Recipes App
Project Intro
The ever-growing popularity of TV shows like Zumbo’s Just Desserts, Nailed It!, The Great British Baking Show, and Cupcake Wars to name a few has created an interest among millions of people to learn more about creating desserts. Unfortunately, in most existing cooking apps, dessert recipes are often overlooked and thus, lack variety and visual appeal. My desserts-only recipe app aims to fulfill users' goals such as being able to pick and choose from a vast variety of desserts, create shopping lists, and save favorite dessert recipes.
User Research
Conducting user research helped me to determine the users' needs and goals, their frustrations and pain points, what devices they prefer to use when searching for recipes online, and what features they like or do not like in existing recipe apps.
User Interviews
How often do you prepare desserts for yourself or others?
Do you use any recipe apps to look up dessert recipes online? Which ones?
What are the features in the recipe source that you use most often?
What is a feature that you do not like in the recipe source that you use?
What additional features would you like to have in the recipe app that you use?
How often do you look up special diet recipes? How hard or easy is it to find such recipes?
User Personas
Creating user personas helped communicate and synthesize the research findings by highlighting users' needs and behaviors. The user personas created for this project are based on the findings from my interviews with three participants such as their common goals, interests, frustrations, etc.
User Flow & Wireframes
Mood Board & Style Guide
I wanted the overall visual appearance and feel of this app to be fun, friendly, and inviting. I chose bright colors and aesthetically pleasing images and illustrations to match the mood of the app.
Usability Testing: A/B Testing
After creating the screens and applying the colors and typography, I wanted to test two versions of the home screen to see which one was preferred by users. The test was administered through UsabilityHub.com and Version 1 emerged as the winner!
Based on the feedback received from the test, I made some changes to the preferred version as well. A few testers had commented that they felt that the background color was a bit bright so, in the reiterated design, I changed the background color to white to balance the colors.
App Screens
Responsive Design & Mockups
During the user interview phase, some of the users stated that they use their phones, tablets/iPads, or even laptops to view recipes while cooking. This motivated me to create these responsive designs, using the mobile-first approach (designing the smallest screen first). Also showcased below are mockups of the screens on digital devices of varying screen sizes.
What I learned...
I gained valuable insight into the design thinking process and different design methodologies.
I learned about the importance of user research and how crucial it is to the design process.
I was able to put on my problem-solving hat and think of creative and innovative solutions to the users' real-world problems.
As always, I look forward to your comments and feedback.
