The most accessible recipe app

This is a project I did myself for an invented brand called Mirais Lácteos, a brazilian company that makes dairy products. The task was to do a recipe platform according to users needs.

Main Objective

To develop a UX/UI process for the brand Mirais Lácteos and make a recipe platform with the results of the investigation and strategy to make the brand more relevant, credible and visible in Minas Gerais culinary.

Tools used
Challenges
  • Make an strategy to understand the needs of the people that use recipes.

  • Create a modern app that illustrates the traditions of Minas Gerais.

  • Discover the problems and paint points of users when making a recipe.

My process

RESEARCH

What do I need to understand?

Before starting to do research, I made a prioritization of the brand needs to keep in mind both, the company and users.

Then, I focused on users. I wrote all the questions I had, to understand their mental processes. According to this, I used three methodologies:

  • Interviews

  • Observation (how they use other similar apps)

  • Adapting a beginner mind and making a recipe.

RESEARCH

Insights

I realized that the process of making a recipe starts before taking the cellphone and searching for one. They need to decide:

  • The ingredients they want to work with or what they have in their kitchen.

  • The time they need.

  • The preferences of the people that will eat their food, etc. sdivjasjvnasjkvndvnv

Many times it’s hard for them to find a recipe that is adequate for every specific event. Generally, it’s not because there are no options, but because of the lack of organization in the search and results. It’s also because the instructions could be confusing and inefficient.

User comments in different recipe apps

DEFINITION

I created a proto-persona

This persona is not based entirely on the investigation, but rather on the designer's understanding, our best guess of what we know about users and which should be changed as future projects take place.

The first question I wrote helped me a lot to make the customer journey map and thus have better empathy with users.

Zoom in

IDEATION

Make the ideas flow

I made a brainstorm and then wrote in yellow post-its the ideas designed for users and in pink post-its for the company needs. Then I did a prioritization process according to cost, business value, relevance (with the goals), loyalty. 

The most important ideas that I worked on were:

  • The filter is an important element so users find recipes according to their ingredients, the time they have, the expertise, or the price. 

  • Different formats (text, video, guidelines) to show the recipe help users focus on each step and don't make mistakes.

  • A dynamic home according to the time of the day can be interesting for users that need quick recipes. 

  • Recipes for special events can engage users because they will always have the best recipes for each occasion.

  • Cultural content about the recipes is also relevant because users can feel more identified with the brand.

PROTOTYPING

The happy path

I made a final low fidelity prototype of the happy path, from the home section until the end of the recipe where users can leave a comment and rate the recipe.

TESTING

Cognitive walkthrough

I did a test with 5 target people to prove if the site's usability is great.

The most important issue was that the interaction in the ingredients is not very clear, there is a lack of a message indicating the function of marking the ingredients. Since it’s not something that affects the interaction positively, I decided to abandon the idea.

On the other hand, they found helpful to have different ways to present the recipe, as well as knowing how to navigate between the recipe, nutritional information, and opinions.

FINAL RESULTS

Conclusions

For this project, I did a project for the Mirais Lácteos brand. Due to time, I decided to do a sprint design where I understood the users better and succeeded in making a relevant brand.

I managed to make a prototype of the happy pat on the site and solved the problem that users had due to a lack of organization and information architecture.

In addition, I also focused on the brand's goals and needs, I designed different formats to show a recipe, which made the brand more relevant and visible for users.

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