Meal Muse

Empathy Map

Deck Research Articles & Videos

Findings form user interviews:

Cooking Level

Sketches Mockups Design System

"I can cook only a few dishes. Eating the same things over and over makes me feel limited in choices and unsure about what to eat. Sometimes, I go on social media to search for new ideas and get inspired.”

Final Design

Solution:

Design Studio

Why do users cook for themselves？

- Limited time during the week to plan and prepare meals - Tendency to rely on unhealthy takeout or pre-made meals due to her busy schedule - Struggles to find recipes that are both healthy and satisfying

Alex, 22yrs

10 participants

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jinyun-li-a253b1232/

Uploading

5% of participants say they need at least one hour to decide what to cook.

Meal Muse

“I'd like to see directly on the recipe cover whether I have saved this recipe before or not.”

Add the save button on the cover of the recipe is more intuitive and user-friendly for users to know whether they’ve saved the recipe.

Cooking Instructions

Why do users enjoy cooking?

User Persona

Goals

Wireframes

“The images of both recipes and chefs are square-shaped, which is quite confusing for me.”

Key Insights

Where can I get meal inspiration?

Occupation: College Student

Through user interviews and testing, I found that some people were bothered with preparing meals for events like parties or family gatherings. A collaborative cook list feature can encourage users to work together and share ideas about meal options, making the meal-planning process more efficient and enjoyable.

Background Story: Why creating this app?

- Upload recipes - Cooklists collection - User profile - Onboarding - Search & filter - Cooking video - Cooking instructions

Healthy

76%

User Persona Competitive Analysis Wireframes

You can easily add your favorite menus to your cooklists to help you prepare for the next meal.

before

I created paper sketches to quickly visualize possible layout and later on translated these sketches into mobile wireframes.

I want to focus more on the social part of Meal Muse, designing the user flow of how users comment on recipes and follow each other.

Artour Page

Pain Points

How do users feel about making cooking decision?

Result:

Indicate calories on the recipe to cater to dietary needs.

45% of participants need 5 - 10 minutes to decide what to cook.

Age: 22

Meal Muse is an intuitive platform designed to help users make informed food choices and cook their meals with ease through a playful and innovative “recipe playlist” feature.

Recommend recipes for me directly without complex processes.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jinny-l-a253b1232/Learning Page

Offer personalized recommendations based on user preferences.

- Find budget-friendly recipes that are still flavorful and satisfying - Save time and reduce stress by simplifying the process of meal planning and preparation - Learn new cooking skills and techniques to become a more confident cook.

Reflections

Frustrated. The recipes I searched for sometimes are challenging to follow.

users cannot create recipes, complicated interface

Pros:

Tasty

Cons:

cooking videos, online grocery shopping, nutrition info, advanced search

users cannot create recipes, complicated interface

Tasty

Pain Points

Spend 5 -10 minutes thinking about what to cook for the next meal.

Marketing Manager

1. Competitive Analysis

Feel

Share recipes to increase engagement

Nutrition

What should I cook for tonight?

Cooklists

- Find quick and easy recipes that fit into her busy schedule - Incorporate more healthy and balanced meals into her diet - Discover new and interesting recipes to impress her guests at dinner parties

Think

Recipes Browsing

Usability Testing

- Cooking Enthusiasts Community

Include user reviews and ratings to foster community engagement.

Iteration_02: Visually distinguish the recipes and chefs sections.

- Limited budget for groceries and ingredients - Difficulty finding recipes that are both budget-friendly and satisfying - Time-consuming process of meal planning and preparation - Limited kitchen space and equipment

Timeline: Feb 2023 - May 2023

Q: Have you ever been bothered by not knowing what to cook?

Solution:

College Student

“I enjoy sharing food on social media. I like to showcase my taste in food, and I also enjoy taking photos of my dishes, which motivate me to cook. I like inviting friends over to cook together as well. I believe sharing food can bring happiness.”

When users don't know what to cook for the next meal, they like to search for recipes on social media to get cooking inspiration.

Name: Alex

Due to the time limitation, I didn’t realize all the features I conceptualized in the ideation process and visualize all user flows into hi-fi prototypes. If given more time, I would like to explore more about the features.

Potential Features developed from sketches:

Goals

Users were asked to finish several user flows: - Browse the homepage and explore recipes. - Watch cooking tutorials. - Read cooking instructions. - Add a recipe to a cook list.

Iteration_01: Add the save icon on the cover of the recipe.

Homepage

Work

Work Page

About

About Page

Jinyun Li

- Collaborative Cook List

Exquisite cooking tutorial videos provide you with an immersive learning experience.

3. User Interviews (12 Participants)

Cooking Time

Deliverables

Feedback:

homepage1.0

Survey Results

“Only the food that I cook myself can I be certain that it is nutritious, healthy, safe, and hygienic.”

Result:

Expect

Images and text descriptions make it easy for you to follow along and learn step by step.

Users are very concerned about their dietary health, including the carbohydrates, fats, and calories in food.

Search for meal inspiration on social media.

unsaved

homepage2.0

76% of participants say that they are always struggling with not knowing what to cook.

I’m always happy to meet new people:) Say hi via hello@jinyun.space or connect with me on LinkedIn

Pain Points

Feedback:

Recommend daily recipes to provide inspiration

Looking for a UX Designer Position. If you like my works, let’s connect!

The goal was to figure out if there was any design confusion existing in the current project and how I could solve the problem to provide users with a better experience.

Testing and Iterations

Goals

Product Showcase

- Advanced Personalized Recommendations

Boring. I only know several recipes and have cooked a few dishes.

no progress bar for cooking videos, user cannot upload recipes

Pros:

Cons:

Pros:

Yummly

large and clean high quality images, clean layout

no progress bar for cooking videos, user cannot upload recipes

large and clean high quality images, clean layout

Yummly

Recipes Adding

Research Goals

Here are some user quotes:

About

Learning

Provide step-by-step instructions with high-quality images or videos.

- Limited budget for groceries and ingredients - Difficulty finding recipes that are both budget-friendly and satisfying - Time-consuming process of meal planning and preparation

Here we have daily recommendations, popular chefs, and a massive amount of cooklists to help you discover cooking inspiration every day.

Reflections

Iterate

Users enjoy documenting their daily meals, and gaining a sense of happiness through sharing delicious food.

saved

popular cooking shows, famous chefs, meal planning

Pros:

Cons:

long paragraphs no video tutorials

popular cooking shows, famous chefs, meal planning

long paragraphs no video tutorials

Cons:

Food Network

Onboarding

I would like to get deeper into the customized design in Meal Muse. For example, during the onboarding process, I would like to add more preference questions to understand users’ needs. Besides, I want to upgrade the filter feature to generate more specific recommendations for each user.

User Interviews (12 people)

cooklists collection

on boarding process

Cooking Instructions switch between video and image version

Homepage Browsing

Research results after filter

Add your interested recipes into the cooklist

Filter and Recipe Uploading

Info shown on the user profile page

Paper Sketches

Connect with other cooking enthusiasts.

@ 2024 J.L. All rights are reserved.

Research

after

online grocery shopping, user can create recipes, cookbook, reviews and rate

Pros:

Cons:

SideChef

online grocery shopping, user can create recipes, cookbook, reviews and rate

Pros:

no video cooking tutorials, no systematic recommendations

Cons:

SideChef

Q: What factors do you consider most when cooking?

Research Summary:

Ensure a clean, visual appealing and easy-to-navigate interface.

I run a cooking account on Instagram, and a common question I often receive is, "How do you decide what to cook?" After being asked this repeatedly, I recognized that indecision about meal preparation is a widespread issue affecting many individuals. As a dedicated UX designer, I feel compelled to help people overcome this challenge. Consequently, I initiated my recipe app project.

Cooking Tutorial

Individual UX Project

Sarah, 28yrs

2. Surveys (43 Responses)

Artour

Information Architecture

Chef images will be circle shape while recipe images stay the rectangular shapes, avoiding making users feel confused between recipes and chefs.

Inspiration