Chefin | A Recipe Finder App
Description
People love to eat, especially if it’s a home cooked meal. The thing that holds most people back from cooking at home is the lack of cooking skills. Some might not know what to cook or where to start. That’s where we step in and help. Chefin is trying to help people get from point A to point Z in the cooking world. By suggesting recipes for the users and giving them step by step instructions. We incorporated the CoreML Camera feature which is the photographic machine learning. This is our story.
My Role
I was in a team that consisted of 3 UX Designers and 2 iOS Developers. We had to design and develop an app within 5 weeks. The Research and Design part took 3 weeks. I was in charge of the prototyping and helped with research and design.
The Challenge
Creating an app for people who have no idea what to cook. Giving them the ability to use ingredients they already have in their home. Then showing the users the importance of using the CoreML camera.
This was an interesting project to be on. I am one of those people that would love to cook but I don’t know where to start. I hate not knowing what dish would be the easiest to make besides quesadillas and mac & cheese. Anyways, this project was a challenge. We had to incorporate the CoreML Camera and our developers already had an idea of who the audience should be, “college students.”
Placing the developers idea to the side, we went through the full process. We jotted down our assumptions and our questions. Once we did that we needed to prepare to go out and see who our true audience should be.
Empathize: Finding An Audience
Once we created our questions, we interviewed people from different age groups. During the scheduling of our interviews, I tried to reach out to foodies in the valley. People that have published cookbooks and have blogs. But, that avenue of research did not pan out, because none of the “professionals” ever got back to me to schedule an interview. Instead, the team decided to interview people who didn’t cook as much. We did this so that we could see if a beginner would use an app like this to start cooking.
I interviewed 4 people and I got great insight into how people view cooking. Some people said that they don’t cook unless its a special occasion. Others said they try to cook daily but don’t know what to cook or where to start. I asked them these 6 basic questions listed below.
Questions:
- Do you cook meals at home?
- Would you download a food recipe app?
- Have you ever used a recipe app?
- What features do you expect in a food app?
- How do you remember your cooking experiences?
- What is your occupation?
- How old are you?
After the interviews, we felt like the information we gathered were so different. We decided to set out and do some street interviews. We split up, half the group went to the nearby university and the rest of us went to the nearby mall.
This was very helpful because I was able to get a great insight for who our audience should be. A lot of the people I interviewed were between the ages of 28–35. They said that they didn’t cook as much as they should. One person I interviewed said:
“I use the internet to find recipes, because I feel like it’s easier to get an idea of what to cook. I usually don’t have an idea on what to cook, because I don’t know if I will need to run to the grocery store to buy items.”
Another person said:
“I like to save my experiences with cooking so that I can share them with family wand friends.”
Based on the research gathered, we were able to create our persona.
Define: User Story Map
Finding out how the project flows is the most interesting part for me. Especially when the team gets together, writes on sticky notes, and let our ideas flow. It is so interesting to me is because I like to see and hear everyone’s ideas. I also like to see where everyone’s head is at. It’s interesting to see how big we can make a project, but then narrowing it down to what it needs to be in order to get the job done for the users.
That’s how we started. The 5 of us writing on sticky notes trying to figure out what the users are trying to accomplish with the product. Like most projects, we had over 100 ideas! We had to group and eliminate some core ideas that were not going to be possible to create due to technology and the timeframe we were given. For example:
- Leaving a rating would not be possible due to the API we were using for the app.
- Sharing a photo in the app could not be done because we didn’t want to create a social network within our app.
- Having a substitute ingredient could not be integrated because that is something we would’ve had to create ourselves.
During the elimination process we kept the core ideas that would make the app viable and meet the users needs. For example:
- We kept the grocery list so that users can save ingredients from a recipe and reference it the next time they are at the grocery store.
- We kept the food journal so that the users can log their cooking experiences and share it with family and friends.
- We liked the idea of sharing a favorite recipe with family and friends, so we kept that idea as well.
After eliminating some core ideas, we were able to develop our user story map.
Ideate: Wireframes
The first sketches we came up with focused on how we could get the user through the app and accomplish their needs. The 3 of us sketched multi versions of every page on our own, so that we could see which layout would work best for the user. Once we finished sketching a section, we would all decide on which layout to go with based on the users needs. This phase took us 2 days to accomplish, and every page we sketched was done in 15 minute timeframes.
After we finished sketching on pen & paper, we moved into the Lo-Fi wireframes. We divided the sections between the 3 of us so that we could complete the Lo-Fi’s and get them ready for testing.
Prototype: Bringing The Product To Life
Once we finished the Lo-Fi’s, I was assigned to be in charge of the prototype. I used Invision for the prototype, and I knew right away we were going to need to cut a few more ideas out or make some changes. The reason I thought that, is because the first prototype had over 100 screens! In the first prototype, the user would need to take multiple steps to achieve their goal. However, that’s why we had this first prototype, so we could receive feedback and make it better. We tested the user’s ability to get through the app, see how they interacted with the CoreML camera, and took feedback about what they liked and what they didn’t like.
This was very helpful. Although the users were able to get through the app fine, there were some features that threw the users off a bit. For example, we got rid of the “suggested recipe based on searches” at the bottom of the search page. We also had to get rid of the reviews & star rating. We found out that the API we were using for the app was able to pull reviews, but our users weren’t able to leave reviews or ratings. However, they would be able to leave a “Like” for the recipe they used. The last thing we had to fix was our “Lists.” One of the people that tested the app’s name was Alison, she said:
“Why do you have multiple lists on the app? You have a grocery list, fav’s list, shared list, and a wish list. Shouldn’t there only be one or two?”
She was right. As soon as we got feedback on the first prototype, we made changes and moved into the Hi-Fidelity mockups. This allowed us to start user testing. During that time, we started making the necessary changes that were needed.
Testing: Getting It Right
Testing the Hi-Fi’s gave us great insight about what the users wanted from the app. Here is some of the feedback that the users gave us:
- Why does it take so long to use the CoreML camera? Can we use text?
- Sharing multiple recipes isn’t what I wanted to do.
- I like that you can go back and change your preferences.
- What is the Journal for? Not everyone likes to share their experiences.
- Can I share my Journal with other people? Can others see my Journal?
- I would like to see reviews on these recipes and comments.
- Why do I have to enter everything that is in my pantry? That’ll take days!
After receiving feedback, we made changes that would fit the user’s needs. In our first Hi-Fi’s we had a feature called, “The Pantry.” We asked user’s to enter the ingredients they currently had in their pantry. Users didn’t like this feature. Users felt like this takes too much time to do. We took that feedback and changed it. Now, the user’s are able to add the ingredients they have on-hand after they click the camera on the dashboard. On-hand items will no longer save in the app, once the user exits the app. This helped the user’s save time and allows them to access recipes faster.
User’s liked the journal but didn’t know if others would be able to see their entries. We wanted the user’s to have the capability of sharing their experiences with users of the app. Due to time constraints and users wanting privacy, we were not able to do that. Instead, the app allows the user’s to log their experiences and show it to people in person if the user would like to.
The Hand Off: Product Support
Once we made the necessary changes after the user testing, we made sure that we had everything the developers would need. We handed off the project to the developers through Zeplin. Soon after the hand off, the developers started working on the app to try and get it into the app store. During this time, the 3 of us were on product support. We were there to help the developers when they needed something fixed. So far, our team has had to adjust the font, come up with an app icon, and fix the icons within the app. Other than that nothing major has needed to be done.
Results & Conclusion:
While we were able to get the design finished for the app, we are still waiting for the app to be accepted to the app store. In order to get it approved we are currently polishing up the terms and conditions. Once the app gets approved, we will need to conduct further tests and research. That way we can make sure the app fits our user’s needs.
Reflection
Working in a team was a challenge but it was totally worth it. I never imagined that I would’ve worked on an app that uses CoreML as the key feature. It was a great experience working as a team. Although we had our different views on how the app should function, we were able to get on the same page and get our work accomplished. I learned how to make compromises and take a step back when people were explaining their ideas. I learned that working with a team is great for brainstorming. It is also great to instill trust into one another to accomplish something, like this app.
I wish we had more time, and that we could have actually landed some professional interviews. It was great working in a team full of people with different personalities. Although we were all different, we did mesh well; we had a great time and were able to accomplish most of our goals. Even though our app hasn’t hit the app store yet, I am satisfied with what we were able to accomplish. Chefin is a great app that’ll one day hit the app store and help those in need of finding a starting point for cooking. Chefin is an app for everyone who has an interest in learning and cooking home cooked meals. Once the user does that, they’ll be Chefin.
