Irina Demenev

Focused user-centered designer with an aptitude for communication and creative problem solving. Designing to have a positive impact on users’ digital experiences by translating business requirements into intuitive and efficient designs.

iChef – easy cooking recipes app

OVERVIEW

BrainMaster is a GTA-based organization focused on kids learning. The organization needs a tool that helps kids learn how to cook by themselves. Their primary target users include school students and adults who are would like to cook with kids.

The problem: More and more kids saying “no thanks” to cooking and it’s happens all the time in kitchens across the world.

The goal: Design an app that will spark interest in cooking and help kids and parents with choosing meal and guiding them through the recipe.

My role: UX designer creating iChef app from conception to delivery.

Responsibilities: Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.

USER RESEARCH

I used research on cooking with kids data to develop interview questions, which were then used to conduct user interviews. Most interview participants reported feeling badly about cooking, but they didn’t actively try to help parents. The feedback received through research made it very clear that users would be open and willing to work towards learning how to cook if they had access to an easy-to-use tool to help guide them.

I’ve created Personas and their User journey maps. Mapping Sobir’s journey reveal need in calendar and ability to share events. Mapping Maria’s journey reveal need in organizing list of tours and filter it.

DESIGN

After ideating and drafting some paper wireframes, I created the initial designs for the iChef app. These designs focused on delivering personalized guidance to users to help cooking their food.

To prepare for usability testing, I created a low-fidelity prototype that connected the user flow of viewing an item about to expire and using it in a recipe.

RESPONSIVE DESIGN

The designs for screen size variation included mobile, tablet, and desktop. I optimized the designs to fit specific user needs of each device and screen size.

The high-fidelity prototype followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype, including design changes made after the usability study.

Impact: Users shared that the app made them want to be in the kitchen and help to cook meals. One quote from peer feedback was that “the iChef app helps me to try new food and enjoy it.”

What I learned: I learned that even though the problem I was trying to solve was a big one, diligently going through each step of the design process and aligning with specific user needs helped me come up with solutions that were both feasible and useful.