A new app that provides meal inspiration & puts home chefs in charge of their learning.
For the capstone project of Bethel School of Technology, this project was initiated to design a better way for aspiring home chefs to learn how to cook.
If the task of designing a better way to learn how to cook was to be accomplished, the natural first step would be to examine what the current ways to learn are. And so the project was initiated by conducting competitive analysis of the existing product market across 7 websites and 2 apps.
Two main product offerings were found in the market: online resources and meal kits. In regard to online resources, it was clear that the market was heavily saturated in with recipe websites, cooking blogs, and paid courses all providing clear value but with remarkably similar content types.
Another key discovery was that the solution of a meal kit service doesn’t appeal to most, with 80% of people citing that they have no interest in trying these services according to a survey by ReportLinker.
Given these findings, a hypothesis was formed based on the idea to differentiate from competitors in content type/delivery and by not utilizing meal kits. The hypothesis that was proposed was to create an app that heavily featured a social media component where users would be able to scroll through content, share their creations, and receive feedback on their posts.
Through the surveys and interviews conducted, it became clear that people struggle with a lack of knowledge and knowing where to start learning how to cook because of poor recipe layouts that make finding information hard.
As good as the above hypothesis seemed at the time, it became clear with research that it was one that research participants did not want. Social media was actually one of the least mentioned ways participants liked to learn something/find something. Instead they preferred the forms of content commonly used by competitors - recipes, video lessons, and cooking blogs/websites.
Seeing that differentiating the product by content type was no longer viable, the idea was refined with stakeholders. These conversations seemed to led towards an alteration to the product that kept the content type the same as competitors but instead delivered it in a new way. This idea of a customizable content delivery service was verified through further market analysis and was found to be the first of it’s kind.
Our research has shown that users are looking for content that will grab their interest as well as satisfy what they are looking for. That’s why we have chosen a vibrant palatte for this design.
Our research has shown that users are looking for content that will grab their interest as well as satisfy what they are looking for. That’s why we have chosen a vibrant palatte for this design.
This is where the customizable learning experience really comes into play. Through the guidance and lessons included in their path, they are more than able to achieve their goal of becoming a better chef. And the best part is, users don’t need to bother with learning things they don’t want to.
Many research participants had mentioned their struggles with coming up with ideas for what to make on a given night. We have built a page full of recipes so users don’t have to worry about not knowing what to make.
When you follow the research and what you’re hearing from users, you can deliver a product that truly provides value. This is especially true when you do so in spite of previous project directions and hypotheses.
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