May 2019 / Crumbs / Product Design / UX Research

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Crumbs Banner 4.png

Challenge

How might we make baking at home an easier & delightful experience?

Result

Designed an app with a seamless user experience, easy-to-follow recipes & helpful app features

Company

Personal Project

My Role

UX Research & Product Design

Timeline

April 2019 - May 2019

Background

Crumbs is a baking app that makes it easy to bake at home.

The goal of the Crumbs app is to help hobby bakers bake better at home with easy-to-follow recipes & helpful app features like personalized recommendations, quick filters based on difficulty, time, utensils, etc., hands-free modes, how-to guides, built-in timer & conversation scales, easy substitutes of ingredients, and an easy ordering system.

Problem Space

Most cooking apps are just mobile-friendly versions of a cookbook.

Apart from the fact that there is no dedicated baking recipe app on the market right now, I found that many cooking apps have the following issues:

  1. Unable to filter recipes by time, ingredients, complexity, etc.
  2. Difficulty to find substitutes for ingredients & utensils.
  3. Doesn't provide a personalized experience to the user.
  4. Ignores dietary restrictions & allergies of the user.
  5. Lacks built-in tools like timer and unit conversion.

Ideal User Journey Map

Based on the finding, I created an ideal user journey map for the app.

Crumbs Journey map.png

Understanding users and needs

  1. Comparative analysis: I compared features of other cooking apps in the market – SideChef, Cookpad, Yummly, Jamie's Recipes, & Kitchen Stories

  2. User reviews: I read reviews of other recipes and mobile apps and identified patterns in what users liked and disliked

  3. User interviews: I conducted 5 in-person interviews with millennials with different levels of baking experience (See interview questions)

    Empathy Mapping

    During my user interview sessions, I created an empathy map that noted down how they felt, what they thought, what they said, and what they did.

    https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/32b28d7d-9a3c-4da6-8151-e3883ef4242b/Crumbs_Empathy_Map.png

Market Findings

  1. People browse 4-5 recipes before deciding.
  2. People prefer watching short instruction clips rather than a long tutorial of the recipe. They need both videos and written instructions about the recipe.
  3. Having all the correct ingredients & utensils is the largest barrier for users. They prefer recipes with fewer ingredients & utensils.
  4. 60% of users prefer to find recipes to cook with what they have in their house.
  5. Number one want for home bakers: Quick & easy
    1. 6 out of 10 people spend less than 30 mins in prep time.
    2. Baking tools gadgets & tools that facilitate baking & cleaning are on the rise.
    3. Convenience tops the list of reasons people like shopping online for groceries (67%), followed by delivery options (59%), and item descriptions (59%)
  6. 1 out of 4 users has dietary restrictions.
  7. Baking is perceived as a positive, fun skill that impresses others.

Features Prioritization based on user needs

  1. Personalized Recipe Suggestions
  2. Substitutes for ingredients & utensils
  3. Search recipes by ingredients; not just by recipe name
  4. Filters for dietary restrictions
  5. Always-on display & Hands-Free mode
  6. Built-in tools like timer, conversion levels, shopping list
  7. Integrated ordering system