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Delish
Team
Individual
Duration
3 weeks
Role
UX Design, UX Research
Tools
Figma
Brief
Delish lowers the barriers of entry to cooking by teaching fundamental skills, fostering community, and simplifying recipe discovery.
Problem
Cooking is often overwhelming, especially for beginners. The abundance of online resources—each offering different advice, techniques, and perspectives—combined with the challenges of selecting ingredients, mastering preparation techniques, and understanding recipes, can leave people unsure of where to start. This lack of clear guidance makes cooking feel daunting rather than enjoyable.
Goal
Make cooking less overwhelming by offering clear, supportive guidance.
Design Preview
Original Mockup
Home Page
View cooking tips, current lessons, recipe suggestions, and community feed posts.
Lessons
Learn about topics and take quizzes.
Recipes & Meal Plans
Explore a variety of recipes, while meal planning.
New Iteration
Home Page
View in progress lessons & recently saved lessons/recipes.
Lessons
Explore the community hub & browse available lessons.
Recipes
Learn about nutritional values of ingredients while exploring recipes.
01 Research
Context
Because this project was a redesign of an old project and not end-to-end, I focused primarily on usability testing as my research method, rather than conducting secondary research, to identify the key changes needed.
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Process
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Sucess
Metrics
During usability testing, I used 3 quantitative success metrics alongside my insights from the moderated usability sessions.
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01 System Usability Score (SUS)
How much did the new iteration improve overall usability?
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02 User Error Rate
What percentage of users encountered errors during major tasks?
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03 Overall Satisfaction Score
How satisfied were users with the new iteration?
Insights
01 Scope is Too Broad.
Users struggled to understand the app's core purpose. A clearer prioritization of features and a more defined objective will help guide the user experience.
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02 Interface is Cluttered.
Feedback from users highlighted the overwhelming nature of the home page. Reducing clutter and focusing on essentials will make the app more intuitive and user-friendly.
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03 Visual Elements Lack Consistency.
​Issues with spacing, typography, and distorted elements impacted the overall experience. A cleaner, more polished design is needed to enhance usability and appeal.
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"I guess the app seems like it's kind of doing a lot and I feel like it's more a meal planning app."
"I don't know why but some elements were like really large on the screen and it looked a bit awkward."
"To be honest, the idea is good but execution makes the app seem scattered. You told me it was about teaching dunamentals and stuff but you emphasized a lot of stuff outside of that like meal planning."
Thus, besides visual changes, my new main goal was
Narrow the scope to focus on nutritional education and recipe discovery.
Product
Principles
To keep my redesign focused and aligned with my new goal, I came up with three product principles to guide my design:
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01 Empowerment
I wanted users to feel confident enough to take what they learn and actually apply it in their own cooking.
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02 Community
I wanted users to feel supported, with a network of people they could learn from and ask questions, so they wouldn’t feel alone in their cooking journey.
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03 Simplicity
I wanted the app to be clean and easy to use, so users could focus on cooking instead of figuring out how to navigate the app.​​​​
02 Reframing
Areas of
Opportunity
In summary, there were 4 areas of opportunity for the major features in my design
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01 Home Page
How can we ensure the app's entry point clearly communicates the app's purpose and value, helping users understand what it has to offer at a glance?
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02 Lessons
How can we seamlessly integrate educational content and community features into the app, making learning feel engaging and enjoyable rather than like a chore?
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03 Recipe Exploration
How can we design this feature to allow users to feel connected with others, fostering a sense of community?
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04 Nutritional Education
How can we make learning about the basics of food simple?
03 Solution
Home
Page
Original to Iteration 1
Problem 1: Overwhelming Scope ("Feature Creep')
The home page had an overwhelming mix of cooking tips, current lessons, recipe suggestions, and feed posts, making it difficult for users to identify the app's primary purpose and get started easily.
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Solution: Streamlined Home Page Highlighting Lessons and Recipes
By focusing solely on lessons and recipes, the home page is a clear hub for the user's journey, emphasizing what they interact with most. This focus helps users understand the app's purpose and easily access what matters most to them quickly.
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Iteration 1 to Iteration 2
Problem: Horizontal Card Layout Increased Cognitive Load
The horizontal card layout required users to scroll more extensively, which added unnecessary cognitive load and made it harder for users to quickly find what they were looking for.
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Solution: Vertical card layout
Switching to a vertical card layout complements natural scrolling and scanning habits, allowing users to easier locate what they want.
Users wanted a more personalized, streamlined home page.
Tip not accessible
Cluttered
format
Lessons and recipes immediately accesible
Users wanted a more intuitive, quick way to view content.
Unintuitive scrolling
format
More quick, scannable format
Users can see more of their content even without scrolling
03 Solution
Lessons
Original to Iteration 1
Problem 2: Abrupt Transition to Lesson Pages.
Without a dedicated lesson flow, users experienced a jarring transition when accessing lessons. This hindered users’ ability to engage with educational content seamlessly.
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Solution: Centralized Lessons Page for Smooth Navigation
The new dedicated lessons page allows users to easily view, select, and navigate through lessons. By centralizing the experience, users can access lessons more smoothly and confidently, improving their journey.​
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Iteration 1 to Iteration 2
Problem 2: Lack of Lesson Visibility.
Before, users couldn’t see lesson counts or ratings, making it hard for them to assess the course’s length and quality. This made it difficult for users to plan their learning journey effectively, which could deter them from engaging with the content.
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Solution: Lesson Details with Counts and Ratings for Better Clarity
By displaying lesson counts and ratings, users can now gauge the length and quality of a lesson before they start, making it easier to decide which lessons align with their needs. This empowers users to make informed choices, enhancing their overall experience and building confidence in their learning path.
Users felt that the shift into lessons was jarring.
More quick, scannable format
Users wanted to feel more confident about the lessons they were choosing.
There is more prelimary information about the lessons through progressive disclosure. Users feel more in control of their actions.
Users can view lesson ratings and other details to quickly decide whether to start a lesson.
Total number of lessons. Users have a better sense of the scope, making the course feel more approachable and manageable.
Community reviews provide firsthand insights, helping others gauge course quality and relevance
Time estimation. Users have a clearer understanding of the time commitment, helping them feel more prepared.
03 Solution
Recipes
Original to Iteration 1
Problem: Inefficient Discovery
The "View More" buttons in categories like "Dietary Restrictions" required multiple clicks, making it harder for users to explore recipes smoothly. This interruption created friction in the discovery process and discouraged further engagement with the app.
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Solution: Category Tabs for Streamlined Browsing
The introduction of category tabs enables users to quickly switch between categories while immediately viewing relevant recipes. This change creates a more efficient and seamless browsing experience, allowing users to stay focused and engaged with the recipes.
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Iteration 1 to Iteration 2
Problem: No Option for Cuisine-Specific Exploration
Without dedicated cuisine tabs, users had difficulty discovering dishes aligned with their specific cultural or dietary preferences. This limited their ability to explore recipes that matched their culinary interests.
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Solution: Cuisine as a Primary Sorting Feature
Cuisine-focused tabs now serve as the main sorting feature, allowing users to explore recipes by their preferred cuisine. This addresses users’ desire for more cultural exploration, while secondary tabs like "Popular," "Latest," and "Following" allow for more personalized, community-based discovery.
Cuisine is primary filter
Community-based filters keep users connected to popular choices while allowing them to personalize their preferences.
Users wanted to see more recipes upfront
Users have to go through multiple steps to view the actual recipe
Recipes avilable to scroll immediately
Users wanted more cuisine-specific recipes.
03 Solution
Nutritional
Education
Original to Iteration 1
Problem: Competing Priorities Undermine Core Purpose
Users were distracted by meal planning options, which led them away from the app's core focus.
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Solution: Streamlined Recipe Cards for Focused Engagement
The new minimalist design of recipe cards makes learning about food easier and more intuitive. By including nutrition cards in the ingredients, users can learn ncrementally in a straightforward way as they engage with recipes over time.
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Iteration 1 to Iteration 2
Problem: Lack of Community Insight on Courses
Users were unsure of how others felt about the lessons, which led to uncertainty and hesitation when choosing which courses to engage with. Without feedback from the community, users had difficulty assessing the value of courses.
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Solution: Integrated Lesson Ratings
By adding lesson ratings and community engagement metrics, users can now easily see how others perceive a course. This transparency helps users make informed decisions, increasing their confidence and encouraging them to continue their learning journey.
Users gravitated towards meal plan options rather than nutrition.
Meal plan is primary CTA versus nutrition cards
Users wanted to see what other community members felt about the lesson.
Nutrition facts embedded in ingredients list to make learning feel more fun & natural
Cards for quick scanning. Users are able to "learn-on-the-go" while cooking
Users can see engagement metrics to best choose which lessons to start.
Helps users feel connected in their cooking journey while providing valuable insights about the quality
Takeaways
🎨 Design Processes Aren’t One-Size-Fits-All
Instead of emphasizing the "Define" stage of UX research, I focused on usability testing and analyzing previous work. Initially, I attempted the traditional end-to-end process but soon realized it wasn’t necessary or effective for this specific project.
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🔄 Redesigns Offer Fresh Perspective
Because so much of the design process is iterative, coming back to a project over a year later allowed me to come into it with a fresh pair of eyes; it helped me appreciate my progress with my UX and see how I had refined and enhanced my capabilities.
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🚀 Flexibility Spurs Innovation
Adapting and stepping outside of my traditional workflow encouraged creative solutions. It reminded me that flexibility in the design process is crucial to designing the best outcome for users. Being too rigid will pigeonhole you into one solution versus the one that might be the best.
Impact
Based on the original success metrics, the Delish redesign was a success.
I achieved an increase in system usability scores (SUS) and satisfaction rating while achieving a 60% decrease in user error rates for the primary tasks during usability testing.