Savr: A Design Sprint Case Study
Many people rely on recipes they find online as a fun means of learning how to cook, many people like to modify a recipe. Apps like Bigoven and Tasty are popular because they provide easy-to-follow instructions to craft these recipes. For this design sprint, my role for the start-up Savr, an application for searching for and learning how to make these recipes was having issues with their users feeling stressed and frustrated with trying to follow their recipes, becoming confused with the process, and disappointed when the dish did not come out to the desired effect. For this sprint, I was tasked with redesigning Savr to better assist the user with following the recipes and relieve the confusion with creating these dishes. As an aspiring home cook myself, I leaped at the opportunity to work on this application.
Day 1:
For our user research, we were given the persona of Nick, a 29-year-old that lives in LA. Nick cooks about 3 times a week usually for himself but occasionally his girlfriend and loves trying new recipes. Some of Nick’s frustrations are that he often doesn’t know if he is on the right track with Savr when creating a dish from their app, and is confused as to the order of steps for each recipe, leading to disappointment when the recipe does not come to his standards. Nick’s goal is to more confidently create recipes using Savr.
There was also an interview with Savr user Maria about her experience with the app. Maria also expressed being stressed and confused when making certain dishes, describing a time when she had friends over and tried to cook a Korean dish; however she didn’t know all the ingredients needed for the recipe and some of the ingredients are not easily available. Maria also expressed some frustration with having to wash her hands because she constantly had to refer back to the recipe directions. All of this led to disappointment in the dish when it did not look like how it was supposed to on the picture in Savr, or tasted as expected.
After reviewing the user research and based on my own observations of the application the best solution occurred that the app needed easier-to-follow instructions, one user interview expressed frustration with the order of the steps, as Savr didn’t explain when to perform certain steps, such as what steps or prep to perform while certain dishes were cooking. The user also expressed frustration with certain dishes not explaining what equipment or ingredients are necessary for certain dishes; certain ingredients and equipment were not easily available to the user. After compiling all the research I had I began to map out a straightforward solution for Savr that would list all ingredients and equipment needed for the recipe before the actual prep and cooking took place (see below). Once I felt satisfied I moved on to the next day.
Day 2:
On Day 2, I discussed with my team possible solutions and began to sketch out solutions I thought worked best for the problem. For the application, I drew inspiration from the previously mentioned applications Bigoven and Tasty for possible solutions.
What Bigoven does right:
Condenses sections for prep and cooking.
Clear, numbered, instructions.
Video instructions to follow along.
What Tasty does right:
Clear, numbered, instructions.
Video instructions to follow along.
An optional slideshow for following directions at the user’s pace.
A Grocery bag button to preorder all ingredients at a local store (Walmart)
As I sketched out solutions on a sketch pad, I was hit with inspiration for a solution from Tasty. Tasty has video instructions for all their recipes that play on a loop whenever the user is on the recipe page; this would eliminate the need for the user to constantly have to touch their phone to find instructions. With both inspirations in mind, I sketched out possible solutions provided below and moved on to day 3.
Day 3
On day 3, we reviewed multiple solutions and sketched out storyboards. Ultimately our team decided to go for a video solution similar to Tasty as well as more clear and organized solutions using drop-down tabs to organize all steps in the process as well as separate drop-down tabs for ingredients necessary for the dish and the equipment needed to create the dish. I included the winning storyboard below.
Day 4
Day 4 was one of the days I was looking forward to, it was time to bring our storyboard to life. Using Adobe XD and drawing inspiration from the Tasty app, I created a sample prototype of picking a recipe and the step-by-step process of building the application. Tasty does excellent work of categorizing recipes by certain themes, including the difficulty of the recipe, so we decided to borrow that idea and also add a difficulty indicator for each recipe so users. I also built the drop-down tabs and organized each tab so that the user would see the ingredients and equipment first before getting started on the recipe. For the flow of the recipe, I chose to use a Bacon and Egg Ramen recipe as it was simple to follow for the test and had various steps within prep and cook. I also included in-progress photos of the recipe so users could get an idea of what the in-progress dish should look like. Once everything was laid out to my satisfaction I sent off the slides to become a full prototype and be ready for the final day and testing.
Day 5
For the final day of testing, I took the prototype to a friend’s house with a large kitchen and I had some more friends come over to test the application. I created a script and requested for the testers to create the Bacon and Egg Ramen recipe from the instructions provided. The users found the more organized and straightforward approach useful for following the recipe, and being able to look at the ingredients and then see what equipment was needed helped them to organize before diving in. The video ended up being a good idea as the testers would look over at the video for each step to be sure they are on the right track. The in-progress photos came in handy for the testers to help them stay on track.
