Overview

Foody is a social app that combines social networking and food to help people plan meals, share recipes, and cook together with their family and friends wherever they are.

"Meals are a shared experience in most cultures"

From Kitchn

In a dining room, there's lot more than just eating when we are accompanied by family and friends. We eat, chat, laugh, and have fun. But, when we eat alone, we miss out on the opportunity to socialize.

At the start of 2020, we were faced with a new reality of pandemic, which changed the way of our lives, including how we eat and cook.

During the pandemic, the way Americans consume meals changed drastically. People were cooking more.

65%

Of Americans cooked more at home since pandemic

500%

Increase in Grocery Delivery

7 in 10

Will cook more at home post pandemic

From Visual Capitalist, Supermarket News, and FoodDive

While people were cooking more, pandemics led to the isolation of people.

"Adults living alone are more likely to have common mental disorders, including anxiety and depression — and the reason is loneliness." – Healthline

Family can bond by cooking together - Toca Boca

PROBLEMS

People want to cook familiar recipes and stay connected

I was curious how people were adjusting to new norm of eating habit in isolation and identified these key insights based on surveys and interviews:

1. Need recipe

People want to cook, but more often than not, they don't have recipes handy.

2. Familiarity

People preferred to cook recipes that they are familiar with.

3. Social Interaction

People wanted to see what their family friends are making and share their own recipes.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Identifying what direct and indirect competitors have done

I looked at Instagram, Pinterest, Food Network, and Yummly to identify opportunity.

Social Media Apps

Clear advantage in social interactions and allowing people to easily create content and share with peers. But, recipe contents from these apps were not easy to follow along.

Recipe Apps

Strength in rich set of curated recipes and easy to follow instructions. But, they lacked in allowing users to interact more freely with other users.

Based on the competitive analysis, I decided to bring best of the both worlds by combining recipe sharing and social interactions.

OPPORTUNITY

How might we allow people to cook together remotely and share recipes with family and friends even during isolation?

IDEATION

Make people feel connected through cooking and recipes

After going through the research phase, I started sketching out various ideas to address the problems and needs for people cooking and eating alone.

DESIGN ITERATION

Design that combine social interaction and recipes sharing

Based on the ideas, I created a site-map to plan out where the different features of the app would exist and used the sitemap to create low-fidelity wireframe for feedback.

Sitemap

Clear structure for recipe sharing and social interaction

Feedback 1

Home to focus more on popular recipes and quickly seeing who's online

Feedback 2

People don't really keep up with their meal plan.

VISUAL IDENTITY

Foody Design System

After iterations, I started defining visual identity for Foody design system. I went with the colour that is reddish rose colour to convey the passion for cooking and caring between family and friends to share recipes.