Savr Recipes
The Problem
Users love the quality of Savr recipes, but they find the cooking instructions unclear and hard to follow. This creates a lot of stress—rushing around, feeling overwhelmed, and often ending up with results that don’t match their expectations.
The Solution
I’ll redesign Savr recipe instructions—both in text and images on the app—to make them simpler, more intuitive, and efficient. Imagine this: you’re in the kitchen, ready to cook, and the steps just flow. No stress, no confusion. Just clear guidance that helps you nail the dish every time. 🤩
My Role
For this 5-day Design Sprint, I was the only UX designer, taking charge of everything from start to finish. My goal was to make Savr recipe instructions feel effortless—so cooking felt less like a stressful puzzle and more like a smooth, enjoyable exploration.
Day 1: Map
1.1 User Feedback
Users were asked about their experience cooking a new recipe for the first time. Here are some highlighted responses.
“I can see the final goal, but I'm unsure if I'm on the right track midway.”
Dan
“I often have to stop what I'm doing to look up unfamiliar ingredient details.”
Sara
“I like to stay prepared for the next steps, but sometimes I waste time waiting instead of starting something productive.”
Lindsey
1.2 User Map
I incorporated user feedback from interviews, addressing pain points and successes to create a smoother cooking experience.
Day 2: Sketch
2.1 Lightning Demos
Based on the previous user feedback, I conducted lightning demos of the SideChef and Blue Apron cooking apps to gather design ideas and inspire new solutions, ensuring a great user experience.
Based on user Sara's feedback, she mentioned having to search on Google for certain ingredient details. The SideChef app does a great job of listing all ingredients and making some of them clickable for more information.
Based on user Dan's feedback, even though he knows what the final dish should look like, he's unsure if he's making any mistakes during the process and if it should look like that at each step. The Blue Apron app does a great job by adding pictures to each step.
Based on user Lindsey's feedback, she wants the recipe's timing to be efficient and not waste time. The SideChef app does a great job by allowing users to set timers, but we could add features to help users make use of the waiting time during this period.
2.2 Crazy 8s
Since the "Cooking Steps" screen is crucial for the main activity, I chose it as the primary screen to explore different ideas. Here are my Crazy 8s sketches for it.
2.3 Solution Sketch
Here is a three-panel board featuring the screen preceding the critical screen, the critical screen itself, and the screen that follows.
Day 3: Storyboard
3.1 Persona
This is the persona: Nick, created to better understand his needs and align the product or service accordingly. I will design the storyboard with him as the target audience.
3.2 Storyboard
Based on Nick's needs and pain points — including uncertainty about whether he's on the right track, wanting to use time efficiently, and frequently checking his phone for unfamiliar techniques — I designed six screens. The first screen retains Savr's existing home interface. On the second screen, ingredients are clickable, so users don't need to search for them. Each step includes images to show what the ingredients should look like at that stage. I also provided an option to help users manage their time efficiently.
Day 4: Prototype
Day 5: Test
5.1 Summary
The user appreciates the clean design, especially the time and difficulty labels for quick decision-making. They find the progress indicator useful but would like to see remaining time for each step. They enjoy the 'Time-Saving Tip' feature and would love similar tips throughout. The ‘Add A Photo’ button feels too plain and could use a more engaging design. They like the ‘More Delicious Ideas’ section but suggest adding more personalized recipe recommendations or themed plans. They also want nutritional info next to ingredients and would find voice guidance helpful for cooking.
5.2 Afterthoughts
Although this project only took a few days, I had so much fun working on it. What brought me the most joy was being able to listen to and understand users' pain points and needs, and apply my UX knowledge to design an app that enhances their experience. It’s a fulfilling process that allowed me to put my skills into practice and see the results come to life.