Savr Recipes is a cooking app startup that wants to make it easier for users to follow their recipes.
Project
Mobile (iOS)
Design Sprint
Role
UX Designer
Year
2022
TOOLS
Figma
Maze
The Problem
Redesign the prepping and cooking sections of the Savr app so that instructions are easy to follow and users feel prepared and confident throughout the cooking process.
Due to unclear instructions, users often feel unprepared and that their time is not being utilized effectively when using the Savr app.
The Goal
Working independently, I followed a modified Google Ventures Design Sprint process.
one
Day 1
The secondary research provided highlighted key frustrations from the user, like not having all the proper ingredients and tools ready before they start cooking and wasting downtime in cooking.
User Journey Map
two
Day 2
On day 2 of sprint week I performed a lightning demo. I researched three similar recipe apps to get a sense of what they did well and what could be improved.
Tasty
Savr users would likely appreciate the step-by-step feature, detailing each step in a recipe with a reference video.
Crazy 8s
three
Food Network
Providing a breakdown of time, ingredients, and steps helps users plan their time efficiently.
I chose the preparation step as my most critical screen and performed the crazy 8s exercise to sketch out 8 different solutions for my future prototype, keeping in mind that users want simplicity and organization.
Solution Sketch
I chose one sketch from my crazy 8s exercise and illustrated a three panel story board of my solution sketch. Accompanying the preparation step, I added a screen beforehand that shows the equipment and ingredients needed for the recipe, and after my critical screen there is a screen that kicks off the cooking process.
Yummly
It is unclear how to search for recipes, and the user has to scroll through paragraphs of text before finding cooking instructions.
Day 3
Solution Storyboard
I expanded my three panel story board into eight panels, which included a screen that depicts a user downloading Savr in the app store, a home screen, and a screen that illustrates the final step of a recipe. Each screen includes critical CTAs required to navigate the app and prepare a recipe.
four
Day 5
Usability Testing
For my usability testing in Marvel, I selected five users who have used smartphone apps and have experience using recipes online for cooking. They had three tasks to complete: cook a specific recipe, add the recipe to their favorites, and add ingredients to their shopping list that they’d need to prepare the selected recipe.
Key Insights
Users appreciated the organized layout of the ingredients, equipment and steps for easy preparation.
Users liked that they could create a shopping list and cook all in the same app.
The breakout of total time (preparation and cooking) was useful for planning their schedules.
Compared to other apps and websites, liked not having to scroll through a lot of text to get to the recipe.
Before Usability Test
After Usability Test
Users suggested being able to adjust the number of servings, which would update the number needed for each ingredient, in case they’d like to make more or less servings.
Before Usability Test
After Usability Test
Instead of being directed to the favorites page when favoriting a recipe, users prefer staying on the recipe page in case they’d like to perform other actions like rating or sharing the recipe.
Lessons Learned
Using Marvel to create a prototype was much simpler versus using Figma, especially because I was solely responsible for designing all of the screens, but had I been working with a team and had ownership over just a portion of the design, Figma would have been the better tool to use.
There is power in collaborating with a team. I was not completely confident in making certain decisions, like choosing which critical screen to design from my crazy 8s exercise, because I had only my sketches to choose from.
Conducting usability tests with a low fidelity versus high fidelity prototype was a much different experience. I would have liked to present a more sophisticated, baked design that had input from a larger team.
Next Steps
Should I continue with this design brief, I would retest my design with the few changes I made following my initial user tests. I would also like to experience a design sprint as part of a greater team to fully understand the impact one can make each day to eventually create an effective prototype.