Forklore

Forklore

Forklore

Forklore

Project type:
Project type:

Bootcamp Project

Bootcamp Project

Role
Role

UI/UX Designer

UI/UX Designer

Duration
Duration

9 Weeks

9 Weeks

Intro

The brief for this bootcamp project seemed simple: design a web app for recipes that meets user needs and solves problems they face with existing apps. It seemed like a straightforward task of creating another recipe app with a polished interface. However, as I progressed through the project, it transformed into a exploration of how we interact with culinary information in the digital age. This journey challenged me to question assumptions about the project and pushed me beyond the initial scope of merely improving upon existing platforms.

Initial Questions

As I started to brainstorm ideas for the app, a series of questions kept coming up:

  1. Do users actually need another recipe app, or is there a more fundamental problem we’re not addressing?

  2. Is there room for another recipe app in a market, that felt already saturated?

  3. What are the real pain points to home cooking, beyond just finding recipes?

As I grappled with these questions, I formed a hunch that the project might need to evolve beyond a simple recipe app. I suspected that a better user experience might lie in addressing the entire cooking process, not just recipe management. This initial hypothesis led me to approach my research with a broader perspective, investigating the entire journey of home cooking - from meal planning to the finished dish.

Competitive Analysis

To ground my understanding of the current market, I began with examining popular recipe apps on the App Store and Play Store. I took particular focus on Samsung Food and Kitchen Stories as they are strong players in the space. This analysis revealed a potential opportunity: while good recipe apps were abundant, comprehensive meal planning solutions were less common.

User Research

With insights gained from the market analysis, I structured my user research to capture the underlying motivations for using recipe apps. I interviewed five potential users, focusing on their entire cooking journey rather than just recipe discovery and management. My questions were broad, designed to test my initial hunch and uncover if a comprehensive meal planning solution was needed.

Key Insights

The research revealed several insights:

  1. Time and ingredients as primary barriers:
    The most significant obstacles to home cooking were time constraints and ingredient availability, not a lack of recipes.

  2. Grocery shopping grudge:
    Most users viewed grocery shopping as a necessary evil that added another layer of complexity to the cooking process.

  3. The fatigue factor:
    Tiredness often led users to choose takeout or pre-packaged food over home cooking, even when they had ingredients on hand.

  4. Confidence gap:
    For some users, a lack of confidence in their cooking skills was a significant barrier to preparing meals at home.

These findings led to a realization: a recipe is just one part of the cooking experience. To truly improve home cooking, I would need to address the entire journey from meal planning to grocery shopping to preparation and cooking.


The research revealed several surprising insights:

  1. Time and ingredients as primary barriers: The most significant obstacles to home cooking were time constraints and ingredient availability, not a lack of recipes.

  2. Grocery shopping grudge: Most users viewed grocery shopping as a necessary evil, adding another layer of complexity to the cooking process.

  3. The fatigue factor: Tiredness often led users to choose takeout over home cooking, even when they had ingredients on hand.

  4. Confidence gap: For some users, a lack of confidence in their cooking skills was a significant barrier to preparing meals at home.

These findings led to a crucial realization: a recipe is just one part of the cooking experience. To truly improve home cooking, I needed to address the entire journey from meal planning to grocery shopping to preparation and cooking.

User Personas

To help synthesize these insights and guide the design process, I created three personas representing key user segments:

To help synthesize these insights and guide the design process, I created three personas representing key user segments:

Personas (Mouse over to show)

Personas

These personas helped encapsulate the needs, frustrations, and skill levels uncovered during the research phase, ensuring that the final product would address the varied challenges faced by different types of users in their cooking journeys.

These personas helped encapsulate the needs, frustrations, and skill levels uncovered during the research phase, ensuring that the final product would address the varied challenges faced by different types of users in their cooking journeys.

Reframing the Problem

Based on these insights, it became clearer that improving the experience of the other areas of the cooking journey would inherently enhance the recipe app experience. Simply focusing on recipe discovery and management wouldn’t address the core issues users were facing. Instead of asking, “How can I create a better recipe app?”, the question became, “How can I make the entire home cooking process more manageable and enjoyable?”

This reframing allowed me to formulate a new hypothesis from the user research:

Based on these insights, it became clearer that improving the experience of the other areas of the cooking journey would inherently enhance the recipe app experience. Simply focusing on recipe discovery and management wouldn’t address the core issues users were facing. Instead of asking, “How can I create a better recipe app?”, the question became, “How can I make the entire home cooking process more manageable and enjoyable?”

This reframing allowed me to formulate a new hypothesis from the user research:

Based on these insights, it became clearer that improving the experience of the other areas of the cooking journey would inherently enhance the recipe app experience. Simply focusing on recipe discovery and management wouldn’t address the core issues users were facing. Instead of asking, “How can I create a better recipe app?”, the question became, “How can I make the entire home cooking process more manageable and enjoyable?”

This reframing allowed me to formulate a new hypothesis from the user research:

Based on these insights, it became clearer that improving the experience of the other areas of the cooking journey would inherently enhance the recipe app experience. Simply focusing on recipe discovery and management wouldn’t address the core issues users were facing. Instead of asking, “How can I create a better recipe app?”, the question became, “How can I make the entire home cooking process more manageable and enjoyable?”

This reframing allowed me to formulate a new hypothesis from the user research:

"Users will eat healthier and enjoy cooking more when they have the time, ingredients, and know-how to make meals themselves."

"Users will eat healthier and enjoy cooking more when they have the time, ingredients, and know-how to make meals themselves."

"Users will eat healthier and enjoy cooking more when they have the time, ingredients, and know-how to make meals themselves."

"Users will eat healthier and enjoy cooking more when they have the time, ingredients, and know-how to make meals themselves."

A Holistic Solution

Cooking at home should be a positive experience, but often it's not. Planning meals, buying groceries, and cooking can feel like too much work. Forklore addresses these challenges by helping with every step of home cooking, from deciding what to eat to getting food on the table. By simplifying each part of the process, it aims to make home cooking more manageable and enjoyable.

With a clear understanding of the real challenges users face, I set out to design a solution that would address the entire cooking journey, not just recipe discovery and management .
Here’s how Forklore’s features directly address the pain points uncovered in my research:

Sketches of early wireframes from Crazy 8s, Low-Fi wireframes and the initial user flow.

Smart Meal Planner

Users consistently cited time as a major barrier to home cooking, with many choosing takeout when time or energy was limited. One user noted, "Time constraints are my biggest challenge when I cook at home." Another expressed a desire to be "better at meal planning for further in the future, like 2 weeks, so I won't have to go grocery shopping so often."

By making meal planning more manageable, this feature aims to reduce the likelihood of defaulting to takeout or that frozen pizza due to lack of preparation.

Visual Meal Schedule

The planner presents a clear weekly view, with each day divided into meal times. Users can easily see which meals are planned and where gaps exist. This visual layout provides a quick overview, helping users balance their meal schedule at a glance.

Visual Meal Schedule

The planner presents a clear weekly view, with each day divided into meal times. Users can easily see which meals are planned and where gaps exist. This visual layout provides a quick overview, helping users balance their meal schedule at a glance.

Visual Meal Schedule

The planner presents a clear weekly view, with each day divided into meal times. Users can easily see which meals are planned and where gaps exist. This visual layout provides a quick overview, helping users balance their meal schedule at a glance.

Time-to-Table Display

Each recipe in the planner shows the total time needed, from prep to serving. This at-a-glance information helps users plan realistically, considering their daily schedules. It's especially useful for busy days when time is tight.

Time-to-Table Display

Each recipe in the planner shows the total time needed, from prep to serving. This at-a-glance information helps users plan realistically, considering their daily schedules. It's especially useful for busy days when time is tight.

Time-to-Table Display

Each recipe in the planner shows the total time needed, from prep to serving. This at-a-glance information helps users plan realistically, considering their daily schedules. It's especially useful for busy days when time is tight.

Easy meal additions

The planner shows breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack sections for each day. Users can quickly add meals to any of these from their recipe collection. This setup makes it simple to plan a full day of meals or just fill in specific times as needed.

Easy meal additions

The planner shows breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack sections for each day. Users can quickly add meals to any of these from their recipe collection. This setup makes it simple to plan a full day of meals or just fill in specific times as needed.

Easy meal additions

The planner shows breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack sections for each day. Users can quickly add meals to any of these from their recipe collection. This setup makes it simple to plan a full day of meals or just fill in specific times as needed.

SAVE AND NOTES

Effortlessly save recipes to your collection or meal plan. Quickly review your notes before cooking to ensure perfect results every time.

Difficulty Ratings

Basic Cooking Skills Videos

SAVE AND NOTES

Effortlessly save recipes to your collection or meal plan. Quickly review your notes before cooking to ensure perfect results every time.

Difficulty Ratings

Basic Cooking Skills Videos

Helpful Recipes

For some users, a lack of confidence in their cooking skills was a significant barrier. The research indicated that users, particularly those with low cooking confidence, were interested in basic cooking knowledge and time-efficient solutions.

Difficulty Ratings

Each recipe is assigned a difficulty rating, allowing users to choose meals that match their skill level and gradually build their cooking confidence.

Save and Notes

Effortlessly save recipes to your collection or meal plan. Quickly review your notes before cooking to ensure perfect results every time.

Basic Cooking Skills Videos

Integrated video tutorials for fundamental cooking techniques provide just-in-time learning, empowering users to tackle new recipes with confidence.

These features aim to build cooking confidence gradually, making home cooking feel more accessible and less daunting. By addressing both the practical and emotional barriers to home cooking, Forklore strives to make the entire process more enjoyable and manageable for users of all skill levels.

Prototype

Screens

Prototype

Screens

To see prototype, open on desktop.

Prototype

Screens

Prototype

Screens

Next Steps

Forklore was created for and within the structure of a bootcamp. While it successfully met the bootcamp's project requirements, there is still more that can be done to it.

Immediate Next Steps

  1. Expand User Research: Validate findings with a larger, more diverse sample size to ensure the solution addresses a wide range of user needs.

  2. Conduct Usability Testing: Perform testing on a high-fidelity prototype to refine the user experience and identify any usability issues.

Future Development Opportunities

  1. AI Integration: Explore the integration of AI-powered features to enhance personalization and recipe suggestions, creating a more tailored experience for each user.

  2. Grocery Partnerships: Investigate potential partnerships with grocery delivery services to streamline the shopping experience, making it easier for users to obtain ingredients.

  3. Advanced Meal Planning: Develop more sophisticated meal planning algorithms that consider factors like nutritional balance, budget constraints, and seasonal ingredient availability.

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