College Cookbook
Project Overview
Timeline:
I designed this project for the 2024 Rice Designathon (hosted by Rice University, remote). I had about a day and a half to design something that could help college students in some way.
​
Objective:
Create an app to help college students to cook more often, with recipes and grocery shopping tools focused on ease, affordability, and inclusivity.
​
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
Many college students struggle with cooking regularly due to lack of time, cooking skills, and knowledge of healthy or affordable options. Additionally, grocery shopping can be overwhelming when managing a student budget.
​
User Research Methods and Insights
I knew that cooking was something that many college students struggled with, from what I’ve seen from friends and roommates as a college student myself. In order to pinpoint exact issues and ensure I was addressing relevant problems with my product, I interviewed friends and also surveyed other college students. I asked about what students normally eat, if they cook, what is holding them back from cooking, and the importance of budget-friendliness and ease when grocery shopping.
I found that students often eat prepackaged foods such as frozen meals and instant ramen, or they eat at the dining hall, because it is more convenient. Students don’t cook often because it takes time and effort, and they don’t necessarily know how to cook well. Additionally, having budget friendly groceries and knowing what to get at the grocery store was very important to students. ​
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
After obtaining this information, I knew I wanted to focus on easy and accessible recipes, with a focus on budget-friendliness as well. I wanted my app to have a lot of recipes to choose from, including simple and quick recipes, and also recipes from many different cultural dishes, to cater to different people and their preferences.
I wanted the recipes to include written instructions as well as videos so that there is no confusion as to how to make the recipes. I also wanted to include a grocery shopping element to help users know what to get at the grocery store and where to get it.
Another idea I thought of to contribute to ease of finding recipes is an AI recipe generator, which can automatically suggest recipes based on the user's existing ingredients. Users can easily find recipes to make using the ingredients they already have, which can alleviate the stress of not knowing what to cook with what you have.​​​
Final Product Features
-
Wide Range of Easy Recipes:
The platform provides a wide selection of simple and quick recipes from a variety of cuisines. Users can filter recipes by cuisine, budget, prep time, etc., making it easy to find recipes that suit their needs and tastes. -
Clear Instructions in Multiple Formats:
Each recipe includes both written and video instructions to ensure clarity and accessibility, 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. 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. -
Recipe Generator:
An AI tool enables users to take a picture of available ingredients and receive recipe suggestions, reducing indecision and preventing waste.
​
I made the decision to include the features I thought were the most important, including having recipe categories, incorporating the AI feature to use what you already have, having both a recipe and grocery component, and including video instructions on the recipes.
I wanted to make sure users would be able to find the kind of recipes they were looking for, such as quick and easy recipes, since a main finding in user research was that most people don’t have the time or energy to cook in college, and are seeking convenience more than anything else.
That is also why I made the AI feature that suggests recipes based on what you already have, so users don’t feel like they have to buy more food just because they don’t know what to make with what they already have. This promotes ease of cooking and is a great way to reduce food waste as well!
I also thought it was very important to include both a recipe and a grocery component, so that users can find recipes to cook, but also don’t feel overwhelmed by grocery shopping. Ingredients from the recipes can go directly into a shopping list, and users can also budget for groceries and decide where to shop within the same site.
Finally, I didn’t want to limit the recipes themselves to written instructions, both for ease of instruction and for accessibility. Video instructions might be easier for a user to understand for a variety of reasons (e.g. preferred learning style), so it was important to me to include multiple instruction formats. This will hopefully ensure that everyone can make the recipes easily.​​
Home Page
Recipes Page
Auto Recipe Generator
Specific Recipe
Grocery List
Reflections
Given the task to design a product that could improve college students' lives in some way, as well as the time constraint of a designathon, I am happy with what I created. I like the overall concept and features I included and think it was executed pretty well; however, there is always room for improvement. If I were to continue working on this design, I would want to make the recipe pages even more detailed by adding nutrition information, so students can more effectively maintain a healthy diet. This was an idea had when I was initially ideating, but because of time constraints, I didn't get around to adding it to the final design. I also would like to add a meal-planning tool so students can save time by planning ahead.