SAvr

App design - A modified GV Design Sprint

Project Overview

Savr is a mobile application built for at-home newbie chefs or professionals alike that makes time int he kitchen easier than ever. There are hundreds of recipes to choose from and even cooking tips to help along the way!

I am tasked with improving the user’s experience during the cooking process. To ensure that all users have a joyful experience while cooking up delicious meals at home. The current information architecture and how the recipe instructions and requirements are shared with the users of the app had to be reevaluated.

This five-day (GV) design sprint project is a deliverable for the springboard UI/UX design course.

Duration

1 week

Role

UI/UX Designer

Tools

Figma

User research

Savr provided an overview design brief, user research data, persona information, and the reviews collected by current users. It is important to note that the app only provides text-based recipe instructions. I took this data and created a sticky note affinity map and identified 5 main user problems. Using paper and sticky notes allowed me to move fast in these early stages

Main user problems

Inability to verify whether on track - Users don’t know if they are on the right track during different points in the cooking process as there are no visuals for them to compare their progress to.
Tricky timing - Stipulated time required was often inaccurate. It was tricky to calculate the time needed to prep between steps for more complex recipes.
Vague prerequisites - The recipe miscommunicate the skills and equipment needed. This leads to users who find themselves too invested to turn back
Using technology with grubby hands - Mid cooking, users have to wash their hands to check the recipe on their device
Badly ordered steps - The steps were not ordered efficiently and were not conducive to a fluid experience. Users would find themselves having to wash a pan mid-process that could have been avoided if the steps were ordered differently. Also, the possibility to do steps in parallel to save time was not always communicated, which wasted time.

User journey map

With the problem space understood, it was time to map out the ideal user journey - our home chef fearlessly and simply cooking a delicious meal that turns out exactly as expected

Competitor research

The user journey map gave me direction as I approached the ideation phase of the project. Lightning demos were now carried out to learn from products in the market. I believe there is a lot to learn from tried and tested solutions already available. 4 of the main market competitors were evaluated.

The evaluation of the apps led to valuable insight. Identifying the products’ strengths and weaknesses inspired many new potential solution ideas. I also explored products that were not cooking applications but effectively shared information with their users (YouTube and Uber)

Lightning demos

Sketching is a big part of my competitor's research process as it allows me to get a feel for sketching solutions relevant to the current industry. These sketches are explorative and meant to inspire creativity

Crazy 8’S brainstorm

Now armed with an understanding of what was already available to my users, it was time to move onto sketching potential solution designs. First, I had to determine what the most critical screens were. Given that the primary concern was the trials faced by users during the cooking process, the critical steps were identified to be:
• A recipe overview page - the screen that would appear just after the users selects the recipe they
would like to cook
• The collection of screens that walked the user through the recipe

Then I began the sketching using the “crazy 8” method. Inspirational bits and pieces of the previously done research came together to create 8 potential features for the critical screen.

It was tricky to make the user’s journey following the recipe delightful and clear. Special focus was given to solutions that could offer users a relatively handsfree experience (reducing no of clicks/swipes/scrolling)

The ideas played around with different uses of video/photo content, tabs, timelines, vertical and horizontal scrolling.

Common user challenges addressed

Inability to verify whether on track - The entire cooking process is available in video. Think of it as cooking alongside the chef. The user can skip to the steps they would like to see (similar to YouTube's new Chapters feature), allowing users to compare their cooking at any point to the video.
Tricky timing - The video is of the full cooking process! From start to finish, including prepping time. So it is unlikely that timing would now be inaccurate.
Vague prerequisites - There are tabbed sections for Ingredients, tools and skills.
• Ingredients and Tools tabs - Tell the user what they need (checkbox against each item that, so the user can keep track of what they have as they work through the list) and includes the ability to add items to a shopping list. A prepping video for the user to follow and get organized.
• Skills tab - A list of skills that are the recipe requires along with video tutorials/learning material for the user to learn on the app (user does not need to navigate out)
Using technology with grubby hands - The entire cooking process is available in video so the user just has to press the “cook” play button and cook along!
Badly ordered steps - Again, the cooking along video ensures that steps are all
captured in the correct order

Storyboarding

Now that the proposed solution was sketched, I had be sure that all UI elements needed to build a smooth experience for our users were identified for the prototype. All steps from our hungry user opening up the recipe app to being ready to indulge in a delicious home cooked meal were mapped out on an easy to follow story board.

Prototyping

On the fourth day, the prototype came to life. The prototype was based on the solution sketch and Storyboard defined on days 2 and 3.

Components were first built to reduce redundancy during the design process and ensure consistency between screens. The brand colours were also revamped to brighten the user experience

see figma prototype

Validating the designs

The goal of the prototype was to quickly test the new designs and iterate on the user feedback. I was testing how users navigated through the app once they’ve selected their recipe. How they would use the
app during the cooking process.

I observed the users as they navigated the prototype as they wished. As the prototype was quite intuitive, I did not ask them to complete fixed tasks. I asked the interviewees to talk me through their thought processes and opinions as they worked. I observed their actions and listened to their feedback.

I carried out five user tests on zoom with participants who were selected for their experience with cooking apps. Each test session ran for roughly 20 minutes. The overall feedback regarding the look and feel was positive. The use of colour was described as “exciting” and “fun”. I was happy to note that navigating through the app came intuitively to the participants. They also didn’t struggle to understand the offered feature functionality. The idea of a full video tutorial that you can skip chapters in was appealing to all.

There were a few recommendations for additional features to be added - ability to save recipes they like, ability to comment under recipes and a rating system based on reviews.

Takeaway

The testing was successful and helped validate the success of the new design. Confirming that it did improve the user’s experience during the cooking process. Main new features that contributed to this:
• Including video content of the full cooking process (no skipped sections), with the option to skip
to the specific step
• Ingredients, Tools and Skills tabs with checklists and video content for prep and learning.

The Google Ventures Design Sprint was an invaluable tool for testing and iterating quickly without getting too tired down by ideas that don’t work. Making sure the design process is agile and no time and resources are wasted. At the end of the process, the validation of my recommendations though testing leaves me confident with my recommended improvements.

As a bonus, the testing has also left me with insight into what new features users would like to see in the next iteration of the project - comment threads and reviews!

I believe that Savr now offers their user base a more seamless and joyful cooking experience, which should result in happy satisfied customers, and strengthen their market position

SAvr

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