Delicious cooking,
no frills,
on your terms,
on your time
This project was crafted in October 2018, as part of the UI design course from CareerFoundry.
PRODUCT DISCOVERY
Everyone is kinda busy those days and many people struggle with the necessity of keeping healthy while at the same time balancing quite challenging personal and professional routines. Some corners on meal making can be cut, some cannot - but it's hard to see this by yourself. The space for an app that can assist on this process is clear, as busy professionals with a heavy workload, people who study and work and moms with too many tasks and too little time would appreciate having their schedules facilitated. Everyone who needs to save time in the evening to use it for other things and who doesn’t mind using some industrialised products in the meals could use the app.
EXPLORATORY USER RESEARCH
QUOTES
In order to explore the aspects being considered in this project, exploratory user research was conducted with three potential customers, of ages between 24 and 39, male and female, with full time jobs.
The following questions were asked:
1. Where do you usually go grocery shopping?
2. How do you choose the brands of food you buy in the supermarket?
3. How often do you cook your own dinner?
4. How much time are you willing to spend when cooking your dinner?
5. What makes you order takeaway food instead of cooking your own dinner in some evenings?
6. What blocks you from cooking more often?
7. Please describe the execution of steps from your last mean, since the step of planning.
”Supermarket brands are just enough – they don’t stand out, they are just basic.” (J. A., 28 years old, software developer)
“Cooking falls in the territory of chores, so I prefer to just get it done and over with.” (I. S., 25 years old, software developer)
”If I REALLY have time, I can assemble a salad.” (I. S., 25 years old, software developer)
“I am just too completely lazy to even think about food, and I don’t have time for anything.” (P. P., 39 years old, engineering manager)
"In two years, I must have cooked no more than five times. I always find another way to get this topic fixed." (P. P., 29 years old, engineering manager)
RESEARCH MAIN FINDINGS
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.
Busy people fall on unhealthy or takeaway food because they really can't find a way to spare the minutes, and prefer to parallelise the task with others.
CONVENIENCE MATTERS.
Humans are creatures of habit and they mostly go to the same places for groceries. Ingredients need to be found in the usual markets, or the recipe won't be cooked.
LOW PLANNING, PLEASE.
Whenever cooking requires more planning than any of the other necessary chores, it will be relegated to a second plan. Few ingredients and few steps are key in a recipe.
THE HYPOTHESIS
People are willing to consistently cook their dinners instead of ordering takeaway if they are presented with quick and cheap recipes, based on ingredients from brands they can obtain the supermarkets they already go to.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The initial audience will be Germany – the app will show recipes based on ingredients seasonally available in the country, and with shopping lists containing items from local supermarkets’ brands, such as Netto, Penny, Lidl and Aldi.
PERSONAS
THE EXPERIENCE PILLARS
EASY
MinuEat makes cooking accessible to everyone, no matter the skill level or previous experience
FAST
Busy people need to save time, so available recipes shouldn't need a lot of complicated steps
MinuEat has got recipes for all tastes and preferences - you can always find something
DIVERSE
PRIORITIZING JOB STORIES
For the first iteration of the app, the following job stories were chosen:
1. When I am about to cook something fast for my family, I want to discover suggestions of recipes, so that I can serve food to my folks.
2. When I am choosing something specific to cook, I want to search for recipes and filter the results, so that I find what I am looking for.
3. When I have decided on a recipe to cook, I want to follow on the steps carefully, so that I can end up with the dish that I am expecting.
FINDING INSPIRATION
The mood board for this project brings up imagery of kitchen, cooking, family, simplicity and slowness, in opposition to the daily rush normally involved with the activity. The objective is to evoke a pleasant atmosphere when cooking and remind the customer that cooking time can be "me" time.
DEFINING A VISUAL LANGUAGE
TYPOGRAPHY
RALEWAY
RALEWAY SEMI BOLD
COLOURS
Primary
00796B
Accent
D32F2F
Support
FFFFFF
UI ELEMENTS
DISCOVERING NEW RECIPES IS FUN
In the discover screen, new recipes can be browsed in interesting categories, such as "Quick dinners", which guide the customer through specific themes, occasions and types of food. The more the app is used, the smarter those categories become!
EASY PLANNING
With the recipes being presented in organised sections, it becomes easy to set aside what you need to cook and avoid confusions or surprises during the execution of the dish preparation.
SMART EXECUTION
The recipes are organised in easy to follow steps, with a progress bar in order to assist the customer regarding the recipe stages. A smart timer is incorporated into the steps and invoked whenever a time-measured task is required.
GIVING MINUEAT A FINAL LOOK
THANK YOU FOR CHECKING MINUEAT!
