yes chef case study

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Yes, Chef

End-to-end design for a mobile app that nurtures and guides the skill of cooking.

OVERVIEW

Yes, Chef is a mobile app designed to empower users facilitate their relationship with cooking through lessons that grow a cooking skill set, packaged with resources to meet a user’s specific needs. Yes, Chef includes a gamified approach of learning with a personal skill tracker, learning material, calendar planner and recipe library.

ROLE

TIMELINE

TOOLS

PRODUCT DESIGNER

80 HOURS

FIGMA - FIGJAM - OPTIMALSORT

PROBLEM DISCOVERY

People’s engagement with cooking is often affected by external factors, making the task at hand overwhelming. Learning is a vulnerable and empowering position to be in.

To better understand and facilitate a desire of learning to cook, I looked to discover what would improve a user’s relationship with the task. From early conversations, my eyes were opened to the emotions, barriers and tools that facilitated this personal experience.

The question became

HOW MIGHT WE FOSTER A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT THAT IMPROVES A USER’S EXPERIENCE WITH COOKING?

became the solution

Yes, Chef

A place where you can find comfort in your kitchen.

Experience your recipe as a journey with your destination in mind

Progress tracker that keeps users present

Recipes will be supplemented with checkpoints to review images and videos to ensure a user is on the right path

Users will have the opportunity to review their recipe with tabs, to ease screen fatigue

Recipes will initiate a progress tracker that moves forward when user’s check a step

Setting up structure for your relationship with food

A personal calendar that is thoughtful towards how life decides

Users will have a personal calendar that offers a day, a week and a month a glance

Weekly goals view will help users keep their aspirations and tasks in mind

Events have the option to upload images, videos, articles or recipes for the user to have necessary sources to better accomplish their tasks

THE PROCESS

RESEARCH

at a glance

I conducted a competitive analysis, user interviews, affinity mapping, user personas and storyboarding to supplement my user-experience research.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Exploring What’s Out There

I evaluated other available tools and services in the market, exploring user-interfaces and features, discovering common practices and defining differences.

USER INTERVIEWS

Understanding Our Users

Participants interviewed

Age group of

Objectives

Understand the lifestyles that learning how to cook compliments

work days, social events, daily enjoyment, self-help, trends

Determine common goals users have when cooking their own meals

basic needs, fulfilling experience, dietary needs, health, community

Understand the barriers and triggers that hinder one’s ability to explore

income, public health, disabilities, learning, tools

What are some challenges that you face when approaching a new recipe?

May
is a recent graduate student, always on-the-go and has to find methods that meet her needs
Charlie
lives in a big city, takes care of himself and his dog, decades of working experience
Kerri
loves to cook with a family to take care of, always eager to experience more

May
is a recent graduate student, always on-the-go and has to find methods that meet her needs
Charlie
lives in a big city, takes care of himself and his dog, decades of working experience
Kerri
loves to cook with a family to take care of, always eager to experience more

I discovered these insights

BRANDING

Approaching Design

IMPROVED COMPOSITION

Balancing Screen Composition & Clear Active/Inactive States

Set “trend” tag buttons to one color, to avoid confusion

Adjusted scaling of objects to better improve readability and use of space

CHECKPOINT REVAMPED

Providing Better Direction with Resource Display

Created a “Check Point” button to initiate media pop up to display resources for user to ensure they’re on the right track

Removed navigation bar to lessen cognitive load and improve composition on specific features like recipes, calendars, goals, etc.

Transformed progress bar to be sticky, staying with the user and screen as they move forward.

ADDING PURPOSE

Text Display Where It Counts

I drew inspiration from fill forms to provide better purpose to the notes sections, adding in examples of what user’s could input.

POWER OF ICONS

Focus on a “Less is More” Approach to Icons

I focused one icon to communicate, the arrow, symbolizing opening/closing and editing a feature. This would lessen cognitive load, improve intuitive learning and enable trust in the user.

Titles were added in on the screens to better display and communicate purpose

WHERE INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE HAS A PLACE

Providing Direction with Information Architecture and Native App in Mind

Created a “Sync My Calendar” option to create a relationship between our product and the native app, enabling users with an easier path to engage with the platform daily.

“Your Week At A Glance” transformed to include more common calendar features like viewing your day or monthly calendar.