SAVR
Master Your Meals
Master Your Meals
Imagine dedicating an entire evening to crafting a dish in your kitchen, but when you sit down to feast, you realize: This isn’t what I thought I was cooking?
Why does this happen? It is the dish… kinda, but not really. Or worse! You’ve prepared the meal for others, and hope no one gets sick.
Confidence in the kitchen is not an easy skill to acquire. SAVR, a startup recipe app, is determined to change that.
I redesigned a crucial interaction on the mobile app to help users accurately and easily follow cooking instructions.
Deliverable
Company
Year
My Role
Mobile App
Educational Project
2024
Sole UX/UI Designer
Type
Tools
Methods
GV Design Sprint
Figma
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Research & Strategy
Experience
Interface
Prototyping
Testing
Case Study Highlights
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Project Start
Assistance in the kitchen is getting a bad wrap.
Day 1
Unpacking Research
I noticed something odd about cooking a new recipe at home.
Cooking used to be a skill passed down through family, shared between generations or friends. But now, technology lets anyone—from beginners to pros—learn from chefs across the globe. SAVR taps into this, bringing the joy of home-cooked meals straight to your phone.
But here’s the issue: More and more SAVR users are hitting a wall. Recipes with too many steps and overly complex techniques are leaving people frustrated, and those frustrations are showing up in negative reviews.
It’s clear: something needs to change
SAVR’s research told a clear story, but not the whole story.
Users need clear steps, accurate timing, and a way to prep before cooking. They want to check their progress, feel confident, and match recipes to their skill level.
But the current app? It’s not cutting it. Stress builds, confidence drops, and new recipes get abandoned. Why? Instructions are unclear, and advanced techniques are tough to follow in real-time.
Target Audience
Clear recipe instructions…
but for who?
Diving deeper into the problem space, I wanted to rely on qualitative data and actual human interactions. I needed a target and a specific face to design for. Meet Nick.
Questioning Assumptions
The problem went beyond the smartphone
SAVR’s research revealed a deeper issue: following recipes isn’t just about food. Externally, we cook to eat, save money, or try something new. But internally? We want to impress friends, feel in control, and look confident in the kitchen.
By questioning assumptions with tools like Start at the End and the 5 Whys, it became clear that SAVR should make cooking easy, build confidence, and ensure success. The goal? Users should walk away saying, “With SAVR, I can cook confidently, tweak recipes, try new meals, and host dinner parties without stress or embarrassment.”
Could we enhance the cooking experience for users to ensure it is more enjoyable and efficient?
Could we enrich the cooking experience for users when they are ready to prepare their meals?
How might we improve the in-the-moment cooking process to create a better experience?
Solution Map
Turning Challenges Into Confidence
What began as a simple goal—improving the cooking process—quickly became a challenge of clarity and execution.
How can we better prepare users before they start a recipe? Can we teach key techniques? Can we help them check their progress at crucial moments? The aim is to create an enjoyable, repeatable, and stress-free cooking experience.
With these needs in mind, I saw a clear opportunity to simplify and enhance the journey.
Day 2
Working Through Solutions
What are today's specials?
My hard work understanding the problem paid off. I stepped back to gather the primary insights and boiled them down into single notes.
Lightening Demos
I explored design solutions that help people in and out of the kitchen
I used a modified version of "Lightning Demos" to extract a plethora of inspiration, both within and outside the culinary industry and outside it. My guided perimeter was this: Which features or concepts can I adapt or enhance to address my specific problem?
MasterClass
TED Talks
New York Times
Ideating
Before starting the Crazy 8 exercise, I sketched out ideas as a mental and physical warm-up, prepping my mind and hand for intense brainstorming. This quick pre-work, inspired by the GV Sprint, helped me bring sharper, more creative ideas to the table.
I focused on the recipe overview page, a key hub that combines steps, cooking time, skill level, and user ratings. I also highlighted the prep stages: ingredients, tools, and tips.
By stepping back and viewing the page from multiple angles, I uncovered features I hadn’t initially considered—ideas that added real value to the design.
Scroll to view Sketches
One Big Feature
The Commis Page
The Commis Page, inspired by a chef's assistant, brings everything together: preparation tips, step-by-step guidance, and a “Master” teacher.
The step-by-step instructions are the core, helping users cook with ease and confidence. I also prioritized prep support after users shared frustrations about feeling rushed, unprepared, and disappointed with their results. To elevate the experience further, a header video showcases the teaching chef, offering a quick, exciting glimpse of the process and final dish—setting the tone for a stress-free, confident cooking session.
Scroll to view Low-Fidelity
Day 3
Storyboard
The path from couch to kitchen
With my solution decided, I was able to sketch a storyboard of the primary screens in preparation for building a prototype.
Day 4
Realistic Facade
I built a rapid prototype to test the Commis Page.
I built a rapid prototype to test with users. This was wildly fun and incredibly challenging.
And, of course, the time constraint of prototyping in one day required some sacrifices.
Scroll to view High Fidelity
Day 5
Testing the Solution
An emphasis on video instruction
5 Interviewees experienced my SAVR app solution in an effort to identify success, confusion, or failure.
To provide the most helpful insights, the 5 target interviewees are described as those who regularly cook, enjoy doing so, and often use digital products. These filters helped me recruit as close as possible to the identified persona.
For this sprint, I guided each participant through voice control and the videos of the Chef's instructions to simulate a real-life application.
Insights
Effortless and efficient cooking
Welcome Video & Preparation
Users loved the clear video intro from the teaching Chef, packed with helpful tips, techniques, and a step-by-step guide. The easy-to-follow presentation was both practical and inspiring.
Focus on Cooking
Users loved the voice control feature for hands-free cooking. Adding commands like 'stop' and 'back' made it even better. High-fidelity testing will help fine-tune it further.
Video Tutorials
Adding video tutorials to recipe steps made cooking easier and more fun. Users loved the clear, visual guidance for tricky techniques, which helped them follow along and avoid mistakes.
Step-by-Step-by-Substep-by Step
Inlaying substeps as a small video card on top of the step video enhanced the user experience by providing clear instructions and visual aids.
Intrigued?
Try out SAVR's mobile prototype
Tap “Enter App” to explore the High-Fidelity Figma Prototype
