Sage

Overview

Sage is an app that helps users manage stress in the kitchen so they can focus on enjoying the cooking process.

GOAL

How might we help home cooks feel more relaxed in the kitchen so that they can get the most out of the activity they love?

MY ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

I worked with a team that was very collaborative throughout the entire design process, but there are a few areas where there were tasks that I took on:

Qualitative Interviews
User Persona
Empathy Map
User Journey

TIMELINE

Sage was created from research to final prototype in two weeks.

Research

Conduct Preliminary Survey:

We collected data from 59 respondents to help target our survey questions to users’ current lifestyle.

Qualitative Interviews:

We conducted 5 qualitative interviews with young professionals who cook mostly for themselves.

Secondary Survey:

To support observations we made during our interviews we collected data from 57 additional respondents.

Affinity Diagram

At this stage, I analyzed the collected data to find similarities and pain points experienced while cooking. I grouped the notes to help clarify feature ideation.

Quantitative Survey Data

Our data shows that 80% of our respondents said they like or love cooking and cook several times a week. Although they enjoy cooking and do it often, 70% said cooking made them feel stressed.

Research Synthesis

User Persona

Our research led us to our user, Olivia. She’s 23, health conscious and enjoys cooking. She’s a PR Assistant and stays very busy. She wants to find healthy new recipes to try that don’t take a lot of time to prep or cook. She listens to podcasts while cooking and wants to relax after work.

Feature Prioritization

I arranged the product features based on the organizational and user value. This is implemented by using a feature prioritization matrix. This allowed me to narrow down the features to what is of high value to the business as well as the user.

Ideation

Low Fidelity Prototype

Once I had clarity on the users' pains and gains, I conducted a period where I sketched different layouts of sign up and main screens. These wireframes are simplified to stay focused on the user flow.

Final Product

ONBOARDING

The first time a user downloads the app they will be walked through an onboarding introduction to explain the features of the app before they sign in or make an account.

Feed

The home tab is the main feed. This is where an Article of the Day will appear as well as recommendations in each category based on the user's preferences.

The bottom navigation starting from the left are Home, Search, Guides, and Profile.

Guides

The Guides feature provides articles, podcasts, and videos on how to keep calm while cooking. Once the user is finished reading, listening, or watching, there are recommendations at the bottom.

How To & Playlists

The other two features have the same layout as the Guides feature. The How To feature provides article, podcast, and video tutorials on things from basic cooking skills to how to ease stress in the kitchen. The Playlist feature allows the user to organize their favorite podcasts and ASMR sounds or choose from premade playists.

Next Steps

If I had more time, I would have added two features that are responsive to the user interviews that I conducted.

Recipe Sharing

One user stated that "trying someone else's recipe helps you learn who they are." Many interviews came back with the same sentiment that cooking and recipe sharing can connect people with their loved ones. With more time, I would have added a feature where a user can connect with friends and family in Sage. They would be able to add their own recipes and share these as well as the other content with other users.

Progress Feedback

Another user stated that they, "like trying a recipe over and over until I get it just right." Multiple users shared that they continually try to improve their skills in the kitchen whether it is using more creative ingredients or refining knife skills. With more time, I would have included a feature that allows the user to choose their cooking skill during onboarding from beginner, intermediate, or expert. From there, Sage will recommend content that will help improve the user's cooking skills. As the user completes each task, their progress bar will increase and give positive reinforcement to continue cooking.

Conclusion

Completing this project and creating this case study has allowed me to reflect on how much I have grown as a researcher. The highly accelerated timeline from research to the final prototype for this app has helped me refine UX and time-management skills.

I improved on the basics of UX research and design like conducting user interviews and analyzing quantitative survey data in order to better understand the user. I also learned how to interpret the data and articulate it into the prototype. I grasped the importance of usability testing and utilizing critiques for iterations. Although I am still learning, I am committed to creating good work.