The road to Recipy: what I have learned on interaction design

I enrolled on the Interaction Design Specialization on Coursera a couple of days before I had a dumb gym accident and broke my left toe. I had to stay at home not walking for 45 days, and during those days I started my journey on design studies. I have a degree on Information Systems and I work as a frontend developer for e-commerce, but I felt curious about how users interacted with screens and buttons on a product.

The course surprised me in many ways, and it has introduced me to many incredible and valuable insights on the user needs and why people act the way they do. Developers are infamous for blaming misusage on users, but I have discovered that bad information display is the one to blame, and those who have not displayed it well are the real bad guys.

The course has taught me a lot about product design and how iteration is essential for a good product. After each step, a new breakpoint may be discovered. The capstone project was a great way for me to experience this iterative process. I chose to work on something I really appreciate, which is cooking, and merge it into an app idea. I was inspired by my mother’s cook book to present an online solution that would offer easy access to a personal recipe catalog, as well as intuitive managing of the entries.

1. The subjects

I have learned a lot from the subjects I have interviewed throughout the assignments. Programmers may be known for giving little regard to users, but I have discovered that user research is paramount for the success of a product, because the product is meant to adapt and serve the user, not the other way around. I have learned to listen to them, observe their behavior and take into consideration the context they would use a solution.

My family’s cookbook. When talking to my mother about the project, she mentioned how awful it was that the recipe book would shut itself while she cooked, which prevented her to read the directions while her hands would be dirty to open it. This made me realize that an ideal recipe app would have to prevent the device screen to go dark because those using it would be unable to use their hands to wake the device.

2. Scheduling

Because we had to schedule our tasks and prepare our timetables beforehand, we felt how it is to work on a real project, with deadlines and stakeholders. This is an unexpected yet valuable skill I have practiced throughout the course. However, it teaches you the hard way that in every project there will be setbacks and circumstances you did not account for.

This is my planning spreadsheet. You think about a beautiful app, but then deadlines and unexpected problems surface and you have to trim your dreams.

3. Surprises

I expected we would build an app during this capstone, but I was unaware of many steps involved during its conception. Drawing storyboards, brainstorming and ideation sessions, and interviewing were also unexpected and welcome surprises I had. The best part, however, were the insights gained from subjects I interviewed. I was sure people would say interesting things, but it is very humbling to hear from people critiques and suggestions about my beloved project. It is even more impactful how correct they may be once you take a closer look to what they are saying.

A subject gave me a suggestion for a new function on the app. He even showed me a good example on an app on his phone spontaneously.

Started from the bottom, now we are here

This project has taken me 10 weeks to develop, but I would argue that my design journey has approximately 6 months of studying and cracking my head to not think logically as a programmer so I could embrace my humanities side. This last assignment should have been a showcase platform for my app, but I believe I have turned this into summary of my personal experience. Nonetheless, if the design has evolved, I have evolved as well, so our journeys are the same.

Finally, I would like you to check the result of this specialization: Recipy. You can check the prototype here. It is far from perfect, nevertheless it illustrates my seeking for knowledge.