Just A Pinch
A Melting Pot of Recipes
Just A Pinch is a recipe-centric social media app designed to foster global culinary connections. Our goal is to bring users from all corners of the world together through the art of cooking.
Just A Pinch encourages users to share and discover recipes, celebrating diverse cultural traditions and providing a gateway to explore different cuisines.
This project is a heartfelt endeavor to ease homesickness, safeguard cherished family recipes, and promote cross-cultural culinary exploration.
My Role
UX Researcher & Designer
Tools
Figma, Miro, Trello
Timeframe
3 weeks
Problem Overview
How can we preserve, share, and exchange age-old family recipes to offer others the taste of our homes?
Home holds a unique meaning for each of us, and the longing for it strikes at various stages in our lives. Whether we've relocated, emigrated, or lost someone dear, food often stands as our most profound link to the idea of home. Yet, with the most cherished and age-old recipes traditionally passed down through word-of-mouth or handwritten notes, how can we harness the potential of the digital age to safeguard and distribute these treasured family recipes?
The Problem
Creating an app that allows users to upload their most treasured recipes for other users to enjoy.
Just A Pinch is your recipe melting pot! It offers a space for users to safeguard their family's culinary legacy while facilitating the cultural sharing of food amongst friends and even strangers. With the ability to upload and share recipes, users can also rate, save, and follow their favorite creators, fostering a vibrant community of culinary enthusiasts.
The Solution
Research
To gain insights into user requirements, we employed a holistic approach that included user interviews, surveys, and a detailed competitor analysis.
Our objective was to gain insights into the following areas:
The Role of Recipes in Easing Homesickness: We sought to understand how individuals use recipes as a means to alleviate homesickness and how these recipes serve as a connection to their sense of home.
Cultural Preservation through Sharing: Our aim was to comprehend how people preserve their cultural heritage by sharing it with others, particularly through the medium of recipes and cooking.
Usage Patterns in Cooking Applications: We delved into the usage patterns of cooking applications to discover how people engage with these tools in their culinary explorations.
This comprehensive approach enabled us to better understand the motivations and needs of our target users, helping shape the development of Just A Pinch.
Primary Research
After collecting user feedback through surveys and in-depth interviews, we structured an affinity diagram, grouping responses into five key categories: Family Cooking, Recipe Mediums, Importance of Food, Culture, and Cooking Practices.
Through our research, we gained valuable insights into the significance of cooking and family traditions for our users. It became apparent that, while many of them cherished the opportunity to explore different cultures and knew of family recipes, they often lacked the means to engage actively with other cultures or a tangible way to preserve those age-old family recipes.
Mia, an open-minded home cook, seeks a source of fresh recipes for her culinary adventures and a means to catalog her family's cherished recipes. Her love for sharing and an insatiable appetite for learning drive her exploration of the culinary arts.
Hypothesis Statement
Survey & Interview Findings
“I think [trying new recipes] is just an opportunity to learn and grow and try something. Like, I don't like doing the same old thing every time.”
Insights
“I’ve watched [cooking videos] on YouTube and I’ve also watched cooking shows [on TV]. I think YouTube is usually a good experience if the user shows the ingredients and the measurements. It’s great because you can see someone make it step-by-step.”
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the market, we meticulously evaluated four direct competitors that share similar missions with Just A Pinch.
Upon gathering insights about users' culinary journeys and the significant challenges related to preserving family recipes, we embarked on an extensive competitor analysis, closely examining Hook's primary direct competitors, namely Dishtory, Cookslist, Recipe Keeper, and Big Oven. Using the SWOT framework, this in-depth investigation aimed to reveal not only their strengths and weaknesses but also areas of potential growth and the immediate threats they posed to Just A Pinch.
Competitor Analysis
Upon our examination of these apps, several strengths became evident. Many of them boasted high app store ratings, featuring straightforward layouts and distinctive individual features. However, several weaknesses emerged during our evaluation, particularly in the form of overly simplistic or dysfunctional designs within certain apps. The most significant opportunity we identified was that while each app had unique features, Just A Pinch encompasses the individual features utilized by these apps. Conversely, the largest threat lies in the fact that, despite their singular functions, these apps excel at what they do.
Overall, while many of the apps we investigated possessed unique features, not all of these features were unified in one place. Just A Pinch aims to be the one-stop-shop app, offering a comprehensive collection of all these distinctive features.
Crafted from our research, we created Mia, a user persona to help us gain more insight into our potential user base. Mia closely resembles many of the individuals we interviewed. Her aspirations align with the desire to broaden her culinary horizons and the need for a platform to digitize her family recipes.
User Persona
Define & Ideate
Guided by the insights and needs uncovered in our research and analysis, we embarked on an exploration of Mia's primary objectives and how Just A Pinch could best fulfill them.
To spark creative thinking and inspire innovative solutions that reach beyond the limits of current recipe-keeping apps, we embraced the 'I Like, I Wish, What If?' framework. This framework guided our in-depth exploration of Mia's objectives, dreams, and challenges, enabling us to develop a solution that truly caters to her needs.
I Like, I Wish, What If?
Following our brainstorming, we created a feature prioritization matrix in order to determine which solutions to focus on.
The ‘I Like, I Wish, What If?’ framework provided us with a large selection of ideas and potential solutions, but we needed to zero in on what was most important to implement. The feature prioritization matrix, in essence, was our compass. It not only directed our attention to the solutions most likely to address Mia’s concerns effectively but also ensured that our resources were allocated wisely, providing a structured framework for assessing each idea based on priority, impact, and complexity.
Feature Prioritization
After identifying key features, we proceeded to create both a User Journey Map and a User Scenario, aiming to provide a visual representation of how users would engage with Just A Pinch from the initial interaction to the final stage.
The User Journey Map was designed to uncover potential pain points and highlight the complete spectrum of touchpoints and interactions a user could experience while engaging with Just A Pinch.
User Journey Map & User Scenario
In tandem, the User Scenario was created to offer a narrative insight into the context, goals, and motivations of a user as they interacted with Just A Pinch.
We identified key tasks for the user to complete for Just A Pinch’s onboarding and uploading process.
With a clear understanding of how users would engage with Just A Pinch, our next objective was to chart the path for each key task. This entailed breaking down both the onboarding process and the fundamental browsing functionality of Just A Pinch. For each function, we delineated the key interactions necessary for seamless user engagement.
First, we identified the primary tasks users needed to accomplish to align with their user goals. Then, we established the specific interactions users would engage in to execute these tasks— actions like browsing, saving, and uploading. Finally, we built a coherent user flow, guiding users through their journey within the app, from initial onboarding to endless browsing.
User Flow
Sketching, Prototyping, & Testing
We drafted paper sketches for each main function— onboarding, browsing, and uploading recipes.
Prior to transitioning to digital prototypes, we opted for a more hands-on approach. Sheets of paper became our canvas, where we sketched numerous iterations of Just A Pinch's diverse functions. This approach allowed us to foster an environment of creativity, facilitating the creation of unique ideas and layouts.
Lo-Fidelity Sketches
Before implementing color and further refinements to a digital prototype, we first developed Just Pinch’s branding.
We started this process by crafting a comprehensive brand board, serving as a reference point for our design objectives. This ensured a consistent design approach throughout the app. In crafting our brand identity, we deliberately selected a warm and welcoming color palette, incorporating rustic tones and soft pastels. Additionally, we designed a distinctive logo and two prospective app icons, all of which would encapsulate the essence of Just A Pinch and its message.
Branding Design
With paper designs finalized, and a branding board developed, we were ready to begin digital prototyping.
To transition from paper sketches to digital prototypes, my team and I utilized Figma. Our primary focus during this transition was on the app's onboarding functionality, encompassing two-factor authentication and diverse login methods. Additionally, we directed our attention to determining the app's overall user interface, delving into aspects such as the profile screen, the main recipe browsing function, and uploading a recipe.
Initial Digital Prototype
Before expanding our design with additional screens and interactions, we adopted a Guerilla Usability Testing approach to gain feedback on our current progress.
To gauge the ease of use of our prototype, we established four key objectives, each aligned with a specific task for the user:
Objective 1: Assess the user experience during the onboarding process, with a focus on identifying any setbacks or frustrations.
Task: Create an account.
Objective 2: Evaluate the flow and user-friendliness of creating a new recipe within the app.
Task: Create and upload a new recipe.
Objective 3: Examine the simplicity of liking and saving various recipes to the user's 'recipe book.
Task: Like or save a recipe
Objective 4: Identify any areas within the prototype that may require further development or clarification, potentially causing user confusion.
This objective primarily involved observational feedback.
Guerilla Usability Testing
Although a majority of users managed to successfully complete each task, the feedback we received proved to be a valuable resource. We carefully compiled and categorized this feedback based on the frequency with which certain issues were reported by multiple users.
Findings & Insights
A cooking app to bring cultures together, one recipe at a time.
Based on the insights gathered from guerilla testing, we entered the last leg of Just A Pinch's development journey. This involved perfecting the high-fidelity prototype, providing users with a complete set of features. The final iteration of Just A Pinch encourages users to engage in various tasks, such as signing in, exploring recipes, saving their favorites, and contributing their own culinary creation.
Hi-Fidelity Prototype / Final Design
Welcome to Just A Pinch.
Next Steps & Reflections
As I look back on the entire journey of crafting Just A Pinch, I'm filled with a sense of fulfillment and growth. This project wasn't just about designing an app; it was about exploring the beautiful relationship between food, culture, and technology. It was about listening to users, understanding their cravings for connection and preservation of traditions, and then crafting a solution that satiated those appetites.
Working in tandem with a passionate team, I not only had the privilege of delving deeper into their personal connections with culture and food but also bore witness to these deep-seated bonds springing to life.
Just A Pinch has not only deepened my understanding of user-centric design but also opened my eyes to the incredible power of technology to unite people across cultures. It's a reminder that, in this digital age, we have the means to preserve and share the most cherished aspects of our heritage. This journey was not only a professional endeavor; it was a culinary and cultural adventure that broadened my horizons and ignited my passion for human-centered design.