About the project

Details

My Responsibilities:
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, considering accessibility, and iterating on designs.

My Role: UX Designer, designing an app for the Google UX Design Certificate Program from conception to delivery.
Date: April - May 2023

Quick Chef is a concept recipe mobile application that aims to support busy people and help them generate more ideas on what to cook and how to be healthier.

QuickChef

Busy people often lack the time to search for the best recipe online or in books. They need help developing new meal ideas and ensuring the meal is nourishing and the ingredients are safe.

The Problem

The Goal

To help people organise their weekly meals through an easy, time-saving cooking experience at home and meet their specific needs, including learning new recipes, promoting healthier eating habits, and achieving their fitness goals.

User Research: Summary

I found qualitative research methods to be the most useful for this project. These methods include a literature review, competitive analysis, interviews, and, most importantly, persona hypothesis construction. I conducted this research using interviews with five professionals aged 25–50. A primary user group identified through research was working adults who didn't have time for cooking.

The research findings helped me establish which application features will be necessary and valuable to build relevant solutions.

Pain Points

Having trouble finding a recipe when getting too many options and choosing the healthiest one.
Having trouble planning meals up to seven days in advance, organising recipes, and providing a personalised shopping list.
Frustrated that there aren't enough customisation options available so that users may customise the features according to their preferences.
Don't know how to track their nutrition and monitor their calories, fat, and protein at a glance.

Persona: Andrew Galanis

The Problem Statement:

Andrew is a flight attendant with a tight schedule who needs to organize their weekly meals and track their nutrition because Andrew likes cooking but generally doesn't have enough time for it.

User Journey Map

I created a user journey map to understand users' needs better. This user journey map describes the visualisation of the user's steps to reach his goals.

Digital Wireframes

I used digital wireframes to focus on information architecture and structural design. They allowed me to improve the creation process by simplifying the initial user interface testing stage.

Low-fidelity Prototype

After finishing the wireframes, I transitioned to a low-fidelity prototype, which helped provoke innovation and improvement.

I started creating user flows to ensure that each step is meaningful and that the user reaches the required goal smoothly.

Usability Study: Findings

To find the right design solution, I conducted an unmoderated usability test with five participants. I wanted to determine whether the app's functionalities were missing and ensure the user could complete the task as efficiently as possible.

Round 1 findings

Most users felt overwhelmed by getting too many options when searching for a recipe, so they were confused about choosing a recipe.
4 out of 5 participants were frustrated that there aren't enough customisation options.
Filters were helpful for most people after understanding their value.

Round 2 findings

It's unclear how to set goals for most participants.
Creating a shopping list is difficult for more than half of the participants.
3 out of 5 participants had concerns about measuring ingredients listed in the recipes.

Solution

01

Designed a super easy and accessible home page for users with different levels of tech literacy and all types of mobile devices.
Based on Gestalt Principles, grouped similar elements.

Solution

02

Optimised the search field on the top of the screen and clarified its functionality with a text prompt and a search icon.
Presented the user with just enough options to choose from by using Hick's Law principle in my UI design. The user has four options: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snacks.