Simplifying mealtime with relevant, on-demand meal suggestions.

MY ROLE

UX/UI, User Research

TIMELINE

6 months

TOOLS

Figma, Figjam, Airtable, Maze

Project Overview

In today's fast-paced world, managing household food inventory, planning nutritious meals, and making informed dietary choices can be challenging and time-consuming. Many individuals struggle with keeping track of the contents of their kitchens, leading to food waste, unhealthy eating habits, and inefficient grocery shopping. This problem is compounded by the lack of integrated tools that can seamlessly assist users in organizing their food, planning meals, and tracking dietary preferences and expiration dates.

Problem

Many people struggle with inefficient management of household food inventory, which leads to significant food waste, unhealthy eating habits, and inefficient grocery shopping. Users often struggle to keep track of what they have in their kitchens, the expiration dates of items, and how to plan meals that align with their dietary preferences and nutritional needs.

Solution

An AI-powered app that can manage the user’s household food inventory and generate meal suggestions for them on demand, using ingredients they already have in their kitchen. Cheffy aims to simplify the complexities of food management, promote healthier eating habits, and reduce food waste, ultimately enhancing the overall food experience for users.

01 / Empathize

Understanding user needs through research and exploration.

1. RESEARCH GOALS

2. USER INTERVIEWS

3. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

1. Research Goals

We began our project with the following research goals in mind:

• Learn what factors influence users’ meal choices beyond ingredients (dietary restrictions, preferences, etc.)

• Pinpoint users’ biggest pain points when deciding what to cook.

• Identify features users would find most helpful in an app that suggests meals based on the ingredients they already have in their kitchen.

2. User Interviews

From there, we conducted a series of interviews with 9 participants aged 23 to 66. These interviews were conducted in person, over the phone, and through Zoom. Our interview protocol consisted of 17 questions, covering user demographics, user lifestyles, and specific app features. The following is a summary of our findings:

Lifestyle Considerations
Most participants prepare meals for their entire family and often turn to Google for inspiration. They prefer websites over apps for their more robust search filters and budget-friendly meal options. The most commonly mentioned websites were AllRecipes, Pinterest, and Food Network.

Desired Features
Participants want clear information for each recipe. Prep, cook, and total time required; recipe yield; cuisine and meal type tags; etc. They would also like the ability to save recipes for later use and leave reviews for recipes they especially enjoyed.

Concerns & Challenges
Many participants try to stick to a strict budget and struggle with preparing a wide variety of meals that stay within their limits. They also find that some recipes are simply too challenging for them or require far too much time and effort to prepare. When stuck with leftover ingredients, participants have difficulties utilizing them for other recipes before they spoil. Additionally, several participants expressed concern over the use of an AI chatbot and the accuracy of its suggestions. Older users expressed a need for a robust tutorial to gain comfort with AI.

Dietary Considerations
5 out of the 9 participants account for dietary restrictions for themselves or their families when preparing meals. Personal preferences often guide meal choices for participants without dietary restrictions which can severely limit their options. Participants often substitute ingredients to accommodate everyone.

3. Competitive Analysis

After completing our user interviews, we conducted a competitive analysis of 7 meal planning apps: Samsung Food, SuperCook, Cooklist, Yummly, Mealime, Jow, and eMeals. We evaluated 32 features in 4 main categories. The following is a summary of our findings:

Basic Features
Common features included meal planning, grocery lists, and recipe saving. Only 2 of the 7 apps offer recipe personalization. 5 of the 7 apps are free but offer premium memberships. Ratings for all 7 apps are consistently high across the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, with the lowest-rated app holding a 3.4★ rating on the Apple App Store and a 4.4★ rating on the Google Play Store.

Filtering Options
Most apps allow filtering by dietary restrictions and cuisines. Recipe reviews and complexity filtering are less common. Many of the apps gate more robust filtering options behind their premium membership. Only 1 of the 7 apps offers an ingredient count filter, and 5 of the 7 apps offer cook time and meal course filters.

Recipe Information
Nutritional information, user ratings, measurement conversions, and total recipe time are consistent across all apps. Complex recipe information and ingredient substitution options are lacking. Only 3 of the 7 apps list the required equipment for each recipe.

Ingredient Information
None of the evaluated apps allow users to specify a brand when adding new ingredients. Only 1 of the 7 apps allow users to specify an ingredient’s expiry date, and only 2 of the 7 apps allow users to specify an ingredient quantity. Only 3 of the 7 apps filter ingredients into categories.

Overall our exploratory research revealed that our evaluated apps:

• Vary in focus: social, healthy eating, personalization.

• Have similar general recipe information available.

• Could improve upon personalization and ingredient substitution options.

• Gate certain features behind their premium memberships, only offering basic features for free.

Therefore, Cheffy should incorporate essential features expected by users with a strong emphasis on personalization and ingredient substitution to stand out in the market.

02 / Define

Establishing key pain points and requirements.

1. PROBLEM STATEMENTS

2. REQUIREMENTS

1. Problem Statements

Through our exploratory research, we were able to dive deeper and identify key user pain points with meal-planning apps currently available in the market. We developed a series of “How Might We” statements to narrow our scope and tackle the problems most meaningful to users:

• How might we make the meal-planning process less frustrating and time-consuming?

• How might we provide users with a variety of meal ideas that fit their budget?

• How might we help users meet their health goals through meal choices?

2. Requirements

We then developed a set of requirements to address user needs and guide our design process:

• Kitchen Inventory Management

• Meal Planning

• Dietary Preference Settings

• Nutritional Information

• Expiration Date Tracking

• Recipe Searching

• Recipe Suggestions

We also defined the specific role of AI within Cheffy to help provide transparency and peace of mind to users:

Computer Vision AI
Scans and recognizes food items using image recognition technology. Analyzes images from the smartphone camera and matches them against a food database to update the user’s kitchen. Saves time by automating ingredient entry and helps maintain accurate food inventory.

Chatbot AI
Acts as a virtual assistant, providing guidance and answering questions related to meal planning, dietary preferences, and recipes. Users interact via typing or voice commands to get personalized assistance and recipe recommendations based on available ingredients. Enhances the user experience with real-time interactions, personalized assistance, and informed meal planning.

Overall Impact

• Efficiency: Automates kitchen management through scanning.

• User-Friendliness: Offers an interactive and engaging experience.

• Personalization: Provides tailored meal and dietary recommendations.

• Time Management: Reduces manual entry and supports informed dietary choices.

03 / Ideate

Exploring ideas, establishing a framework.

1. SKETCHES

2. SITEMAP

3. USER FLOW

4. WIREFRAMES

1. Sketches

We began our ideation process by creating a series of sketches for various pages and functions of the app.

2. Sitemap

From there, we moved on to creating a sitemap to help guide the creation of our lo-fi wireframes.

3. User Flow

We also created a user flow for one of the most complicated app functions: adding an ingredient to your kitchen.

4. Wireframes

Finally, we created our wireframes, drawing inspiration from apps evaluated during our exploratory research. Our competitive analysis revealed that only 3 of the 7 apps evaluated include some form of a ‘virtual pantry’ feature. This feature is essential to Cheffy, and we placed a great deal of importance on not only designing a comprehensive kitchen management system but also ensuring the user’s kitchen inventory would be taken into account when browsing recipes. We included a robust set of search filters so that users could further tailor their suggested recipes.

04 / Prototype

Bringing the project to life.

1. DESIGN SYSTEM

2. HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

1. Design System

We developed a full design system for Cheffy to ensure a consistent look and feel throughout the entire app. The Cheffy Design System is robust and features a wide variety of components for many use cases. We selected green (Forrest) and orange (Tangerine) as the main colors in our palette to exemplify Cheffy’s health-conscious theme.

Design System Figma File

https://www.figma.com/design/9NN2L4gXNQrbROoTsX55kL/Cheffy-Design-System?node-id=33525-578

2. High-Fidelity Prototype

We then created our high-fidelity prototype utilizing the Cheffy Design System. It features a comprehensive onboarding process that allows the user to set their preferences, such as dietary goals and restrictions, before they begin their cooking journey. Cheffy offers three methods for adding new ingredients to your kitchen; the user’s kitchen inventory dictates their search and meal plan suggestions. The user can also connect their store accounts to place grocery orders right in the app, updating their kitchen inventory in real-time. Cheffy Chat is accessible from nearly every page of the app, ready to assist whenever the user might need it.

High-Fidelity Prototype

https://www.figma.com/proto/TolUWYbyftqVhKxqqGssuv/Cheffy-Wireframes?node-id=210-3644&t=UZNYyB6bxGZGCztG-1&scaling=scale-down&page-id=127%3A5383&starting-point-node-id=210%3A3644

05 / Test

Testing the prototype with real users.

1. USABILITY STUDY

2. FINAL DESIGN

3. NEXT STEPS

1. Usability Study

We conducted an unmoderated usability study through Maze. We received responses from 19 participants who completed 5 tasks total:

• Complete the Onboarding process

• Write a Recipe Review

• Chat with Cheffy

• Add Ingredients to Kitchen

• Create a Meal Plan

Our usability study yielded the following findings:

• Participants rated the level of difficulty on a scale of 1 to 5, with an average difficulty level of 1.3.

• Many participants described the app as accessible and easy to navigate, stating that they love the robust options offered and would utilize it in their daily life.

• Most participants followed the intended path to complete each task.

• The main complaint was slow responsiveness, though this may be due to Figma’s own limitations.

2. Final Design

Our usability test did not reveal any major flaws in Cheffy’s design. The primary changes made during our design revisions were minor prototype fixes and adjustments. These are present in our High-Fidelity Prototype Figma File.

3. Next Steps

Additional usability testing could significantly benefit Cheffy due to the lack of meaningful findings during our initial test. This would guide future revisions of the app, further improving the overall look, feel, and experience.