HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING APP
How to Cook Everything is a Cooking App created by the Mark Bittman
My Role
My role as the User Interface designer was to re-design the How to Cook Everything App by Mark Bittman and make it look more modern.
The Backstory
Mark Bittman is one of the country's best-known and widely admired writers and is known for his candor, straightforward, no-nonsense style, and simple recipes. He's the author of several blockbuster cookbooks and appears regularly on public television. He is the author of more than 20 books. How to Cook Everything Series was one of his best-selling and award-winning book, several of which are also successful apps. He is a New York Times novelist and writer and produced The Minimalist, along with hundreds of food and travel stories and videos. He devotes most of his time to cookbooks, teaching and developing strategies to guarantee the food is fair, affordable, nutritious, green, and delicious.
The Objective
-
1. Redesign Mark Bittman's App How to Cook Everything App and make it look more modern and clean. The App was designed in the early 2000s and has not been updated ever since.
-
Create multiple screens with images of the final product which the original app did not have
-
Break down the recipe directions with formatting and lay out the text in a clear and concise way
-
Figure out how to incorporate a seamless recipe with directions and ingredient list
The Challenge
How to Cook Everything App was a very popular app among Mark Bittman's fans.
The app had a 4.7 rating. However, the last copyright was back in 2017.
-
The app doesn't seem like it was updated or redesigned at all because the app appearance reminds me of how the iPhone looked when it first came out
-
The challenge is to figure out how to layout the information in a user-friendly
manner and easier way to display the recipe, ingredients list, filters, and directions along with the image
The Competitor Analysis
Prior to starting the design process, I analyzed 3 main competitors as well as Mark Bittman's app How to Cook Everything to gain a better understanding of the qualitative features that users want and need. My analysis of competing apps includes Overview, Target Market, MVP Features, Usability and Navigational Structure.
The Interview Process
I conducted a qualitative interview to discover what the user wants and need. This will help me discover what kinds of tasks and functions the cooking app needs in order for the users to complete their goal.
During the interview, a lot of questions popped up in my head such as
-
What are the user's intention and purpose?
-
What kind's of functions or tasks does the user need to perform?
-
How can the app be productive for the user and motivate them to cook?
-
What are the steps needed to help users succeed?
-
Who are the users that will benefit from the cooking app?
These questions allowed me to dive down deeper into my research and I was able to narrow down the target audience for the app.
Identifying the Users
I identified two main target audiences for the cooking app. The primary target user is a user who is a mom and has kids. The secondary target user is a user who is single and in their 20s, a student or professional.
The Mental Model
A mental model was created based on what the user believes they know about the app. By doing this, I can identify several potential approaches to the design solution.
The Wireframe/Mockup
The Analysis
After doing my thorough research from my Competitor Analysis and downloading multiple Cooking Apps on my phone, I created a few screens using the card system and scrolling features with images that show the final product.
The Recipe Cooking Directions were created in a meticulous way as we all know how tricky following directions can be. As the user scrolls down, the directions will be in a darker color and become lighter/grayed out as you scroll down to the next step.
The Ingredients list will turn orange when the user indicates that they have the ingredients on hand and grayed out when they move past the next step.
The Filter Screen allows the user to select a Cooking time frame, so they can select
a dish catered to their own schedule. The users can also search for a favorite dish or food category list of their own preference. Finally, the user can select or deselect the Popular Food Category list to reduce their search.
