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Capsule
Project Overview
Timeline:
I worked with a team of four to design this app for an extracurricular project. We worked through the stages of the design process over the course of about three months.
Objective:
Design a wardrobe and fashion inspiration app that makes user more excited, confident, and conscious about their wardrobe.
Summary:
College Cookbook is an app designed for college students seeking easy, budget-friendly recipes. The platform offers a variety of recipe categories, including quick meals, affordable recipes, and a range of cuisines. Key features include recipe browsing, keyword search, customizable filters, and a grocery shopping integration to simplify the cooking process.
Sketches and Preliminary Designs
Problem Statement
How might we design an outfit inspiration app that helps users feel more confident, excited, and conscious about their clothing choices by providing personalized, easy-to-access outfit ideas based on their wardrobe, lifestyle, and daily context, while minimizing the effort required to style an outfit?
Research and Insights
As a college student, I knew firsthand the challenges I and many of my peers faced around cooking. To further validate these insights, I conducted:
Interviews: Conversations with friends and roommates to understand their cooking habits and challenges.
Surveys: Distributed to other college students to identify common barriers to cooking and grocery shopping.
Key Findings:
Convenience:
Many students rely on prepackaged or dining hall meals, prioritizing convenience over cooking.
Limited Cooking Knowledge:
Many feel unsure about cooking basics, lacking recipes they feel confident in.
Budget:
Students need affordable options and often find grocery shopping costly and overwhelming.
Design Objectives
Based on these pain points, I focused on making the platform accessible, practical, and affordable for college students.
Wide Range of Easy Recipes:
The platform provides a wide selection of simple and quick recipes from a variety of cuisines.
Clear Instructions:
Each recipe includes both written and video instructions to ensure clarity, particularly for students unfamiliar with cooking basics.
Integrated Grocery Shopping:
Users can add ingredients directly to a shopping list from each recipe. The platform suggests the best prices from nearby stores, and users can search for local grocery stores.
AI Recipe Generator:
An AI tool enables users to take a picture of available ingredients and receive recipe suggestions, reducing indecision and preventing waste.
Final Product Features
Recipe Categories & Filters:
Users can filter recipes by cuisine, budget, prep time, etc., making it easy to find recipes that suit their needs and tastes.
AI Recipe Generator:
The AI integration offers recipe ideas based on ingredients the user already has available, saving money by reducing the need for additional grocery shopping and encouraging students to make use of existing food.
Integrated Shopping List with Price Comparison:
Ingredients can be added to a shopping list with a single click, and real-time price comparisons from nearby stores help users stay within budget. Users can also search for local grocery stores.
Multiple Instruction Formats:
Both video and written instructions are provided for all recipes to cater to different preferences and ensure accessibility.
Reflections
College students have particular pain points when it comes to cooking and shopping, and this platform offers practical tools to make them easier. I'm happy with the overall concept and features I included, but there is always room for improvement. Going forward, I want to make the recipe pages more detailed by adding nutrition information, so students can more effectively maintain a healthy diet. I also want to add a meal-planning tool so students can save time by planning ahead.
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