Identify our project idea and succinctly describe its nature, how we expect it to be used, by whom, and the context under which it will be used.
Identify stakeholders and users.
Conduct user research methods pulled from the IDEO Method Cards.
Make notes about our experience conducting these methods.
Our project is a digital cookbook application that is accessed primarily from the mobile phone, which also has a desktop countertop. In the application a user can search or log in ingredients in the app to pull out a list of possible recipes with accompanying review scores which they can scroll down and select, popping open a list of ingredients and how they should be prepped and under/on a another tab is the instructions which can be pressed on to open a guide on what the step means as well as a timer option for relevant steps ( ex: bake for half an hour, let it stand out and cool for 5 mins.). In addition, there would be a tab for nutritional information and another tab that allows a user to save, edit and share a recipe.
The goal of this app is to help people to cook, from people brand new to cooking to those who are experienced in one style or culture and wanting to try another culture to those that want to share their recipes. Its expected that the app will be able to be used anywhere, from the grocery store to look at recipe ingredient lists and home inventory to cook prep on the table to use during cooking and having buttons big enough that precise presses aren’t needed and instructions are readable under a different number of light conditions to users simply sitting in a chair and exploring recipes they are interested in or wish to share. With this it’s expected that the system will be used daily to weekly by users.
The user that navigates the app while or slightly before cooking in order to perform the given recipe on the application. This stakeholder extends from professional chefs to those wanting to learn cooking skills, and everything in between.
The people either prepping or gathering the ingredients for the recipe that they’ve chosen.
People will add recipes to the app to allow the end users (Chef/Home Cook) to have a wide variety of food to choose from.
Developers of the app who have a vested interest in the success of the app.
The Five Whys research method is an effective method because it is a great root cause analysis tool to delve into the underlying reasons behind user opinions. I conducted this research on a frequent user of an already existing cookbook application to understand her motives, likes and dislikes, preferences, and concerns. In summary however, I found that the root cause for users utilizing this app (from my research), is the variety of recipes and ability to add some creativity to cooking every night. And while the idea of simplifying complex cooking instructions down with step-by-step explanation, we must be careful not to lengthen the cooking process with drawn-out explanations. Because that can turn people away.
Competitive Surveys was one of our choices when looking at IDEO cards as we needed to find a benchmark on what were the baseline functionalities of any cookbook application. Using this, we were not only able to find many other interesting functions, but we were also able to look at customers' opinions and their behaviors towards each app we analyzed.
There were many applications that we found and chose the ones that were similar to what we were planning on designing and in the end chose seven mobile applications from different os’ to study. From our findings there was a huge range in user ratings on applications, so we chose some of the best and the worst, that were free to use. We found that while a lot of the features we were planning on implementing were the same as some of the standards, one unique feature that we hoped to implement was focused mainly on new users in the kitchen. With the function that we will implement it will also teach users and help them understand key terms used in the kitchen. This was not implemented in any of the applications we looked at.
From our findings, users want a single application that was simple but had tools needed for all aspects of cooking. The applications we looked at while implementing only a couple features did not implement them all. One example of this was the timer, unit’s converter and calculator combination in one application. While the application itself did not stand out compared to other applications it was a working application that had all these tools that users would use in addition to a shopping list. We also found other interesting features that we may think of implementing such as the specialized filters and smart recipe. Smart recipe was only implemented in one of the applications, where users choose what they have as ingredients and choose recipes based on what they already have. With these features, the user would only have to look at one application, not having to switch between other applications and web browsers for tools that would be useful when measuring, converting sizes, servings and cooking.
The scenarios research method was conducted to communicate and test design ideas in its context of use. This method was chosen since it is very useful for evaluating service concepts, in our case, evaluating how the interface of the app would be used in the most common scenarios while cooking.
As a summary from the scenarios method, common interactions were found such as finding specific recipes that fit the user's diet and preferences, the need to find groceries for the recipe, hands free operation while cooking, and finding out what a term means in the recipe. Through describing the scenarios, we have a task flow that would be carried out by the user during the specific scenario, and using that task flow will give us an idea of how best to implement the features into our application.
● Be provided a simple explanation for a complicated cooking technique
● Be able to open and easily navigate a recipe
● Ability to move between and read steps while cooking
● Utilize as a virtual pantry list and shopping list
● Search for and find recipes
● Add, edit, favorite and share recipes
● Watch an instructional video regarding complicated cooking techniques
● Utilize included traditional cooking tools such as unit converter, timer
