CookUp
A learning application for people to learn cooking.
My Role
UX Research, User Interviews, Paper Prototyping, Low-fi Prototyping, Design Systems, Hi-fi Prototyping, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Branding
Tools
Sketch, Figma, Figjam, Adobe Illustrator, Procreate,
Duration
13 weeks
Team
Bhumika Sharma
Maitri Patel
Location
Human-Computer Interaction Design,
California College of the Arts
Date
Sept 2021- Dec 2021
Design Challenge
How might we make the future of cooking in the kitchen easy and attainable by making learning fun?
The goal of this project was to provide step by step guided cooking experience to people who are learning to cook. Here, I led my team in the design response which was informed by our qualitative research. Our team looked at 'how to provide guidance in cooking to people who are inexperienced in the kitchen.By providing them a skill tree of lessons that are interactive, and well-curated with gamified visual exercises to drill on skills in cooking.
Key Features
Learn & Upskill: Users can choose to cook recipes that will guide them to learn new cooking skills that they wish to learn. The recommendation algorithm is based on users' level of cooking and the skills they previously learned.
Wishlist your favorites: Users can wishlist the recipes that they come across to cook later if it doesn’t suit their needs and time in that instance. Save it for later, don’t worry about losing out on any recommendation that finds your interest.
Personalized recommendations: CookUP provides a personalized feed which makes it easier and less overwhelming to attempt to cook, the idea is to let users learn the skills that will stay with them forever. As the users learn new skills and try new recipes the complexity of recipes in the recommendations increases based on the skills they already learned and a new set of skills is unlocked to learn.
A user can learn at their own pace and learn something new each time.
Personalized recommendations
Browse through the personalized recipes recommended based on your preferences.
Learn & Upskill
Cooking is not just about one skill but multiple ones such as chopping and sauteing etc. Learn skills required for cooking.
Wishlist your favorites
Love the recipe but don't have enough time, save it for later to cook and enjoy.
Make it easy to cook
Know the pre-requisite, prep time, skills required, and difficulty level
Choose from what suits your skills and needs
Background
In today’s fast-paced and busy lifestyle people lack time, energy, and skills to cook for themselves. Data suggests that 53% of the population in the United States do not know how to cook and rely on services available to them.
This consumer behavior is also related to other concerning factors like well-being, food waste, and unhealthy lifestyle. This is an adaptability issue that needs to be fixed!
Process
We used a double diamond process for this project. We divided our 13 weeks into three parts: Research. Ideation and Prototyping.
1
Research / 4 wk
User Interviews *
Literature Study *
Probes *
Surveys *
Popular Media Scan *
Observation **
2
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Ideation / 5 wk
Concept Organization **
Storyboarding *
Down Selection **
Paper Prototyping **
User Flows **
Information Architecture **
3
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Prototyping / 4 wk
Collaborative Brainstorming *
Low-Fidelity sketching **
Mid-Fidelity Wireframing **
High-Fidelity + Motion **
Specifications **
Style Guides**
Background Research
We gathered our research reflecting this problem space:
​A study from 2021 suggests that 53% of the population in the United States do not know how to cook and usually rely on services available to them.
54%
47%
of people have a hard time planning what to cook every day.
of people admitted to lack of knowledge in the kitchen.
34%
people feel they are judged by others for their skills.
User Interviews
We conducted four interviews to understand this problem in depth. The selected candidates were a mix of people from working professionals to college students. From those interviews, we validated our initial hypothesis:
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People lack knowledge of basic cooking skills.
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Cooking is time-consuming and ordering food and dining out is quick and convenient.
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People lack the motivation to learn cooking.
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I would rather use my time in studies than wasting it in cooking
I want to learn cooking but do not know where to start.
Competitive Landscape
We spent time studying apps in competing spaces. We looked at direct competitors and also the apps which focus on learning aspects such as Duolingo.
By learning about the features these apps provide, noticing the patterns, and evaluating how they differentiate themselves, we were able to gather a lot of insights.
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User Personas
From the research insights we got about the users, we gauged our personas.
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User Journey
This further assisted in visualizing the journey map to be, to map out opportunities in key flows.
Ideation:
The next step was to take the collected divergent data from the research and restructure it into a cohesive story to bring focus to those insights. This was done by creating an Affinity Map where the categories were made organically by grouping together similar viewpoints throughout the process.
Design Solution
Gone are the days when learning to cook was confined to youtube videos and recipe books. Smartphones, tablets, and modern technology, in general, have made learning accessible to practically anyone from any location.
With this in mind, CookUP will engage you with its immersive learning experiences in the kitchen that is effective regardless of device, screen size, or location. Offering you skills that stay forever.
Our Value Proposition
We are a learning-based platform for people inexperienced in cooking that provides them an immersive guided experience which makes the process of cooking fun. It is better than other information-based platforms that just make cooking easier rather than teaching and upskilling.
Design Principles
We are a learning-based platform for people inexperienced in cooking that provides them an immersive guided experience that makes the process of cooking fun. It is better than other information-based platforms that just make cooking easier rather than teaching and upskilling.
Redundancy
The way information is presented also directly impacts learning. Overexplaining or including too much media may overwhelm the users.
Personalisation
Users generally absorb information more effectively when the content is personalized, conversational, and informal.
Conversational
The use of motion breathes life into the products and allows them to communicate with users in easily understood ways.
Design System
High- Fidelity Screens
Easy onboarding for personalised experience
Diet-based learning
Skill-based learning
Understand the user's diet requirements
Understand the user's comfort and knowledge in cooking
Personalised recommentation of recipes to cook and learn
Personalized recipes
Easy to learn
Learn at your own pace and have the flexibility to pick the recipe.
Provide users all the necessary requirements beforehand
Bite sized lessons
Provides step by step guidance focusing on one skill at a time.
Progress tracking
