‘Grow it, Cook it’ Design Journey
I would like to run you through my design journey of a newly created “Grow it, Cook it” App by Sustainability Victoria.
1. About Client
Sustainability Australia has a mission to establish the connection between people and their food production and consumption. In response to the declining number of suburban gardens in Australia and the lack of understanding and appreciation of how food is grown, Sustainability Victoria decided to raise up the trend by introducing the “Grow it, Cook it” app. The mobile app is designed to educate, as well as assist users in growing and cooking their own food.
2. Challenge
The client wants to see three design concept variations that focus on:
a. Context- Urban Space
b. Aesthetic- Photon Design
c. Accessibility
Additionally, the design has to adapt to the initial UI design language displayed on their website. This includes the logo, color palette, etc.
3. Research
Existing Designs
The research begins with reviewing and analysing existing similar applications.
From this research, I have spotted a few similarities shared amongst the designs, which are:
Growing App
- Uses a balanced mixture of the visual and textual elements.
- Uses graphs to display data
- Use colour to highlight the numbers on graphs
Cooking App
- Uses horizontal scrolling gallery to display recipes that belong to the same categories
- Display recipes with a little information and prompt them to see more details by clicking the button.
- Use categories to filter the recipes for quicker and easier access.
Survey
The second research method I’ve done is asking survey questions to gather quantitative data. Here are the 10 questions asked in the survey:
Interview
Besides analysing other designs and gathering data from the survey, I have also conducted Interviews with 5 people that represent the targeted user group. Some of the findings can be seen through the quick finding report below…
Persona
After gaining an insight into the user, I have identified a number of personas that represent the user group.
scenario
The scenario reflects upon the obstacles, motivation, and needs of the user.
User Goal
The steps above have led me to identify the user goals. Three main user goals are:
4. Ideation
Low Fidelity
The Low fidelity wireframes help to visualise the structure of the designs
High fidelity
While the high fidelity helps to visualise the real product of the main screens, before proceeding to the next stage.
Out of the three concepts, the ‘Urban Space’ Context design received the most votes. Hence, I will be taking this design to further development.
I have also received a few inputs regarding the content that users would prefer to see and additional features that might help users in operating the app. Therefore, I have decided to replace the ‘Tips’ green box on the homepage with a countdown and change the layout of the recipe. Instead of having the recipe run vertically with no progression bar- which leaves the user with no clue about their progress, I have provided an individual screen for each step with an additional progressive bar that lets the user have expectations of what is coming.
5. Prototype
please follow this link for the full interactive prototype:
But here is the overview of the main screen:
6. User Testing
I conducted 5 User tests that are part of the target market mentioned above. The User test is divided into two parts:
- Run App user test
- A/B Split tests
Below is the User Test Report:
I have applied a few changes based on the problems identified during the user test. However, there are some more problems that have arisen regarding the most effective way to display some elements. Hence, I have organised another user test (A/B split screen test) to achieve the best user-centered design.
Below is the A/B split screen test report:
7. Final Prototype
After receiving various feedback from the user and modifying some elements within the app, the final prototype is ready to be presented to the client.
Here is how the final prototype look:
Reflection
Although it has been a long design journey, I have learned so many things and had fun trying out different ways in order to achieve the best user-centered digital product. If I have more time to design this project, I would like to explore and develop more features within the home page, as well as the profile page. I would’ve added features like stats that show the user’s progress or add something more fun and interactive that can increase the engagement of the user.
