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Bake Club is a new educational app helping bakers learn new skills and develop unique recipes. Between the the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and growing popularity of shows like “The Great British Bakeoff," people have taken up baking as a personal hobby. As the pandemic continues, people are still using apps and other websites to stay socially connected. How might we design a mobile app for home bakers to continue developing their skills and be more creative in the kitchen?
Design an end-to-end mobile app for Bake Club that is joyful and simple to use
Design logo and branding based on Bake Club's company values
Research was conducted to uncover the wants, needs, motivations, and frustrations of users. The observations and insights will served as the foundation for future design decisions. I focused my efforts on understanding users' opinions about current baking trends, educational mobile apps, and recipe development. Before diving into the research I created a research plan outlining the goals, assumptions, and methodologies used.
Explore wants, needs, motivations and frustrations of home bakers
Uncover likes and dislikes about existing cooking/baking apps
Understand the most important features of an educational baking app
The main task flow for the MVP will not be determined until research is concluded
The app is an MVP and will have minimal functionality in the beginning
Secondary research to learn about existing trends
Competitive analysis to research direct and indirect competitors
Online survey to explore user wants, needs, motivations, and frustrations
Market research helped me get a sense of what I already know and don't know, who the audiences might be, and currents trends. Since my goal was to create an educational app focused on baking, I decided to focus my secondary research on home bakers and educational apps.
Multiple news sources suggest that people spent time learning and refining their baking skills during the COVID-19 shutdowns. In fact, about 30% of adults claimed to have acquired new baking skills, or tried new recipes during the pandemic. A poll showed that 40% of people said they will bake more post-pandemic then pre-pandemic. Baking supply companies have realized that people consider baking a year-round activity, opposed to being limited to seasonality.
As people continue building a baking habit they will demand increased access to ingredients, supplies, courses, and unique content. Baking companies have already started offering ingredients in larger quantities per package in addition to creative baking kits. Furthermore, food media companies and celebrity chefs are releasing baking-focused cookbooks to help home bakers become inspired to recreate famous baked goods from scratch.
High quality text supported by research, and high resolution photos and videos
Content available to users should be relevant to the lessons
Modern and intuitive user interface that is easy to navigate
Allow users to customize their experience with the content and the user interface
Allow users to move through the content at their own pace and see their results
Make sure users can share their experience with others
After researching current baking trends and the most highly rated educational apps, I found a few existing apps focused on cooking and baking. Many of the existing apps are free, provide a positive user experience through UI, offer varied content (videos, photos, hands-free cooking mode), and allow users to find and save recipes. There doesn’t seem to be an app for the baking niche specifically and unfortunately many existing apps have poor baking recipes. The competitor feature matrix compares four popular companies that provide recipes or learning.
I conducted a survey to gain an even greater understanding of the wants, needs, motivations, and frustrations of home bakers. A majority of the respondents have basic baking knowledge and skills, but struggle to bring a unique twist to their recipes. The survey results suggested that an educational app focused on baking science and recipe development could have high value.
I asked participants what they are inspired by when it comes to baking. The responses were turned into a word cloud to illustrate the most popular answers. Many are influenced by accomplished chefs and bloggers, as well as cooking shows.
People are using technology to find baking inspiration and keep track of recipes
Users want to see high resolution photos/videos, simplified step-by-step instructions, and trusted resources by celebrated chefs and baking experts
Help users gain confidence in their baking skills by allowing them to learn at their own pace, and helping them achieve realistic goals
People use food and baking to strengthen connections with loved ones; baking is a lifelong hobby for many
Experimenting with new techniques and flavors are great ways for bakers to gain inspiration and explore different cultures
Users see value in having multiple tools in one place, like conversion tools, ingredient ratio references, and pantry lists
Through secondary research, competitive analysis, and the survey, I was able to develop an understanding of the potential users and how they might use an educational baking app focused on developing unique recipes. I chose to develop two visualization tools to help me build empathy for users: a persona and a customer journey map.
The results of secondary research, competitive analysis and the survey highlighted specific patterns in the ed tech and cooking app spaces. Home bakers interested in advancing their skills rely on baking experts and trusted recipes when learning new techniques. Many bakers are interested in developing unique recipes, but often lack the creativity and knowledge of baking science to proceed. Wasting time and money on prep and ingredients, and avoiding food waste are common reasons why people don’t get as creative as they’d like. I developed a persona, Georgie, to build user empathy during the ideate and design phases of the design process.
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I created a customer journey map to show Georgie’s thoughts, feelings, and actions when trying to develop a unique recipe. In the discovery stage, Georgie starts performing her own research about baking and becomes frustrated until she finds a baking app. The app on-boarding promotes buy-in with Georgie through high quality content and ease of use. Watching baking lessons in the app and practicing with the provided recipes helps build trust. When Georgie is ready to develop her own recipes, she trusts that it will go well because of the guidance she received from expert instructors and high quality content within the app.
I created a diagram of the potential baking app to show how the user would reach different screens of the app. The user can access the main navigation using icons on the bottom of the screen. There is a search bar at the top of most app screens to search the app for keywords and important information. The user can access baking lessons from the Course Home screen, all recipes from the recipe screen, and view their profile on another screen. Users will be able to start a new baking project by tapping create, or peruse the explore section for inspiration from other users in the app.
When sketching initial concepts for the baking app I payed special attention to design patterns, and component design specifically for mobile apps. I prioritized the recipe development task as the main flow to show how user’s may use their skills learned in the course lessons. The result was a handful of screens that take the user on a baking journey to create their own unique cookie. Starting at the course home screen, users navigate to their current task - create a cookie. The user is led through a brainstorming phase to discover flavors, and then through a prototyping phase to modify the ingredients of an existing recipe.
Georgie’s been learning new baking skills and techniques to take her baking skills to the next level. She is excited to start her first project, which is to develop her own unique cookie recipe. By the end of the project, she is hoping to be more confident and adventurous in the kitchen. Using unknown recipes and the timing to complete baking tasks typically causes her great concern, but her time with the app has been smooth so far. She is hopeful that the process will help save her time and money on her baking project. The user flows below will help Georgie in creating her first cookie recipe.
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Before creating the mood board for the baking app, I identified a few keywords to describe the brand’s vision. I also perused the survey responses again to find any trends in the baking world. A couple users mentioned they were inspired by 60s cookbooks and I felt the colors, textures and illustrations fit in with the overall feel of the brand. I used Pinterest to find images, textures, colors, vectors and typography to further define the brand’s mood.
I sketched a variety of logo concepts using the inspiration I got from the geometric shapes used in 60s-70s designs. I decided to use a combination of a logo and logomark when developing the first round of logos and branding.
After considering feedback on the first two options, I made iterations based on option 1 and developed option 3. Ultimately, option 3's bold 60s color story and playful geometric shapes were favored. I decided to embrace a more unique style by utilizing bright complementary colors and a less uniform logo.
My initial sketches were transformed into high-fidelity wireframes, keeping in mind the main task flow, mobile design patterns, and the logo/branding initially developed.
A high-fidelity prototype to use during usability testing was developed in Figma using the mobile app designs. Users completed the main flow - developing a recipe, using Maze.
Test how easily the user can navigate between different areas of the mobile app when performing the tasks.
Explore user’s opinions about the overall look and feel of the app.
Test whether the user is able to successfully complete the required tasks.
Observe whether participants exhibit hesitation, confusion, or difficulty with a task and whether the participant makes errors while performing a task.
Remote unmoderated user testing with Maze
The Bake Club app is helping you learn the science behind baking. You've completed the first couple of lessons and now you're ready to create a unique cookie recipe! Tap the Cookie Project module to get started.
Use the Ideation module to help you develop ideas for cookie flavor and texture. Text, images, drawings, and stickers can be added to the canvas! Save when finished. Use the back button in the top left corner to return to your project.
Select the 'New' button to start your prototype. Modify the 'Flour' ingredient module to change wheat flour to animal cracker flour. Save your prototype when finished.
Use the main navigation to access all Recipes.
I synthesized the usability testing data by analyzing each participant's experience with the Maze missions. For each mission, I noted the number of mis-clicks, bounce rate, and time spent on each screen. In addition to completing the tasks, participants were asked about their overall experience with the mobile app, and whether they noticed anything missing or confusing. Below are a few usability test participant summaries.
I organized feedback received from the Maze usability tests and translated it into actionable items for potential design iterations. Changes were made based on strong patterns surfaced during usability testing. Multiple users struggled with the same tasks.
Add photos that represent the topic listed in each module to help the user find lessons more easily.
Relocate save button to a more visible area of the screen.
Add a tooltip box when the user first enters the ideation module as a reminder for what was discussed in the course.
Provide additional instructions related to the ideation module.
Add a tooltip box as soon as user enters the prototype screen to provide the user with additional instructions for interacting with the screens.
Make the modules vertical on the screen instead of in a mosaic pattern.
Review design patterns to see whether the modules can look more clickable.
Modify the module titles to be more playful.
Add simple instructions on the ingredient modification pop-up screen to let users know how they can edit the form fields.
Change the module text to read ‘Write your final recipe' instead of 'Final recipe' to make it clear to users that prototype drafts are not located in final recipes.
Review the icons used to ensure the user understands what they mean.
Add text to the loading screen to describe what the app is about.
I established a set of brand guidelines and design patterns by referencing my logo and branding concepts and revised hi-fi wireframes.
Priority feedback from usability testing was implemented to produce revised mobile app designs. The main areas I addressed related to the location of the brainstorming screen’s save button, language used on some of the screens, configuration of the ingredient modules, providing additional instructions on each screen, and adding images.
Using the information from secondary research, competitive analysis and usability testing, I created a list of potential features that could be added to the app in the future.
Through the design thinking process, I successfully designed an end-to-end mobile app for Bake Club. With the Bake Club mobile app, home bakers can not only improve their baking skills, but also learn to develop unique recipes. Usability testing confirmed that users are excited about the app and would use it to keep track of modifications they make to recipes.
Given more time, I would focus on prioritizing the social features of the app. Users would be able to react to recipes shared by other users, and give/receive feedback on publicly shared recipes. The ultimate goal is to create a friendly, supportive baking corner to inspire, grow, and delight home bakers.
