🏆 Awarded 1st Place & People’s Choice at Design at UCI’s Winter 2024 Project Teams Program 🏆

Languini is a mobile platform that brings cultural enrichment into every recipe by blending language learning and customary insights into the cooking experience.

At a glance

  • Cooperated in a team of six to design a recipe app that integrates both language and cultural learning

  • Conducted research such as competitive analysis, surveys, user interviews, usability testing, and affinity mapping

  • Designed flows with prototyping; numerous graphics and stickers for user incentive and rewards system

Problem Statement

Cultural heritage is a crucial element of an individual’s identity. However, today’s fast-paced lifestyle renders many without the time to foster that connection.

Solution

We aim to create a platform promoting language learning and cultural literacy through an activity significant to both: cooking.

Research Findings

Surveys

  • 60 responses

    • 85% interested in learning about own/other cultures

    • 23.3% can’t cook foods from their own culture

    • 50%+ describe a weak connection to own culture

Challenges

  • Target audience: Expanding our target audience to encompass more than just college students required further precision and detail with our app functionalities.

  • Theme: After feedback and research, it was clear our initial design was too sterile and disconnected, not representative of food or connection.

Interviews

  • 10 interviews

    • 30min-1.5hrs average time spent cooking

    • Simple, shorter instructions preferred

    • Visuals enhance learning and user experience (videos/images)

    • Rewards for task completion boost user incentive

Competitive Analysis

  • 6 apps analyzed

    • 0/6 recipe apps had a progress tracking system

    • 5/6 apps had skill-level options

    • 2/6 apps had recipe/lesson rating systems

Design Process

Ideation ⮕ Sketches + Low/Mid-Fidelity

I brainstormed different frames based on our data findings, aiming for a simple and welcoming appearance. The conceptualized layouts laid the groundwork for the final design.

High-Fidelity/Graphics

I spearheaded the design and prototyping of primary functionalities including the recipe overview, recipe lesson, and reviews system. With our research data and user story in mind, I aimed to construct a seamless and intuitive workflow for all user groups.

Usability Testing - Overview

Out of 6 usability tests, we discovered our flows were intuitive, however, user experience was inhibited by several accessibility issues:

  • Intuitiveness: Users could not view required ingredients after starting a recipe, only in the overview.

  • Visibility: Users skipped over recipe step checkboxes and info popups. Certain buttons were also not noticeable or difficult to press due to size.

  • Navigability: Certain recipes were not fully clickable. Recipes could also only be unsaved by navigated to individual recipe overview and clicking bookmark button.

Usability Testing - Changes

Recipe Page:

  • Enlarged checkboxes for visibility

  • Added tab to view ingredients in top right

  • Click-through tutorial added explaining basic recipe lesson functions and popups feature

Cookbook Page:

  • Individual unsave buttons scrapped, replaced with ‘Edit’ button and selection-to-remove functionality

Solutions

  • Color palette: We redefined our initial color palette, shifting from cooler to warmer colors.

  • Mascot/branding: Our macaroni mascot, Lini, was created to centralize our app’s food-related branding and promote a friendlier, relaxed atmosphere.

User research methods + results

Key Takeaways & Growth

  • Research, research, research: At first, our research results were revealed to be limited, inhibited by our initial target audience of students. Widening the scope of our user groups taught me how to adjust the research methods to our new needs.

  • Change: Due to our shift in target audience and overall design, I learned to adapt to our new perspectives, implementing the structural changes necessary to reflect our new mission.

  • New skills: Our rewards system demanded captivating graphics users could enjoy. This requirement taught me how to design and breathe life into graphics to fit a brand style.

Final Demo Video