phaseI

Phase I: Analyzing Users, Competitors, and Initial Designs

Introduction

Our project tackles the prevalent issue of deciding what to cook with the ingredients available at home, addressing the challenges faced by individuals with diverse lifestyles and hoping to minimize food waste.

This initial phase concentrates on understanding users through personas, evaluating competitors like Supercook, and initiating design concepts. By delving into these aspects, we aim to lay the foundation for a user-centric meal planning application that revolutionizes kitchen interactions and addresses the identified challenges.

Our project in Phase I addresses the universal challenge of deciding what to cook with the ingredients at home, catering to many different lifestyles. We aim to streamline the meal preparation experience by understanding users through personas, evaluating competitors like Supercook, and initiating design concepts. This phase sets the stage for a user-centric meal planning application that transforms kitchen interactions, providing an efficient solution for creating delicious meals with available ingredients.

Methods

During our research, we conducted multiple research methods, including downloading applications similar to ours, reading reviews left by the user from our competitor's application, testing their functionalities, and identifying any software errors or bugs.

As we conducted our competitive analysis, our team was divided to investigate both the Google Play Store and the App Store, as these were the two main application stores from which potential users would download. While performing this analysis, we documented strengths, weaknesses, quality levels, and costs. Then, we selected the top five competitors that we would be facing

After selecting the five applications, as a group, we started to look into the reviews of each application to find existing problems and any potential bugs we might face. We commenced testing the application to generate ideas and identify any problems. By doing this, we collected data that would help us improve our application and make us stand out from the rest of the other competitors.

Findings

Kitchen Pantry Competitive Analysis

Products	Strengths	Weaknesses	Quality Level (low - high)	Cost	Platform
Paprika Recipe Manager	Recipe organization Automated grocery list Meal planning features	Learning curve for new users Limited free version features	High	One-time cost (around $4.99)	Web, Android, iOS, MacOS, Windows
Yummly	Personalized recipe recommendations Automated grocery list Ingredient substitution feature	Some users report occasional glitches Limited free version features	Medium-High	A freemium model with in-app purchases	Web, Android, iOS
BigOven	Large recipe database Menu planning and grocery list features	Ad-supported free version Some users report slow customer support	Medium	A freemium model with in-app purchases	Web, Android, iOS
SuperCook	Simple and user-friendly interface Quick recipe suggestions	Limited recipe variety No meal planning features	Low-Medium	Free to use	Web
Cooklist: Pantry Meals Recipes	Pantry inventory and expirations Recipes with ingredients Order groceries and compare prices	Requires you to sign into various accounts to use High yearly cost	Medium-High	Paid subscription $50 a year Partly free	Web, Android, iOS

During our competitive analysis, we discovered that most applications offer a paid version. This allows the users to have full access to the application, including premium features, but in most cases, the users are required to pay a one-time payment or a monthly subscription. This is because the majority of applications are either useless, non-functional, or limited to what the user can do. Furthermore, users have stated that the application has a huge amount of bugs and is unable to operate properly without opting for the full version. Besides this, some of our competitors have a great user interface that suggests meal ideas but also provides a user-friendly experience.

Application Analysis

Describe	Observations
Downloading Applications	While downloading similar applications, we found that most of the applications were targeting users who are on a diet, fitness users, and users who are willing to learn how to cook simple meals.
Reading Reviews of the Application	Multiple users were complaining about how limited features were available until they paid for a subscription that allowed them to use the completed version of the application. Users complain about how many bugs need to be fixed and how slow the application gets. Error in scanning barcodes. Linking Store to certain applications.
Testing the Application	The user interface works wonderfully. The application looks modern for today's standards. Certain applications have built-in shortcuts. Certain applications didn’t allow you to roam freely until you finished the tutorial or paid a subscription. Makes it simple to shop for ingredients. Gives you recommendations for certain foods and recipes. Certain applications make you answer a few questions to find what kind of food you like.
Software Errors or Bugs	Certain applications will crash. Certain applications will lag. Exit the tutorial option: Certain applications won’t let you do anything without finishing the tutorial first. Linking external shopping accounts will sometimes make the application crash or duplicate orders.

After completing our research, we acquired various types of data, which include how our competitors are software or operating. We learn that some of the applications are plagued with numerous bugs, leading to instances of the application crashing and certain features malfunctioning. Besides that, we learned that our application should have a nice useable, and user-friendly interface. By doing so, our application will stand out from our competitors. The table above shows various types of problems and features that our competitors have to offer.

Conclusions

Users are seeking an affordable or free app that efficiently manages their pantry items and offers recipe suggestions. They desire avoiding frequent sign-outs that complicate while grocery shopping from various websites inside the app. A suggested improvement is to eliminate the option to place orders from stores in the app and just being able to create a list. Maintaining a familiar layout and users being able to navigate effortlessly would encourage them to want to use the app more. For example, keeping a bottom bar for easy navigation or incorporating a menu section at all times helps users understand the app's functionality without much thought.

Through heuristic evaluation, the UX team discovered that the user would like a simple app with not too many instructions or tutorials on how to use the app. They would like an app they can easily navigate through.The user would like the app to be free. Users also would like less app crashes and bugs with all the features.

This app should include features such as expiration dates, quantity of items in pantry, a grocery list, a way to skip the tutorial, meal suggestions based on pantry items, new recipes to explore and a simple design for the user to understand.

Caveats

The paywall is the biggest limitation in these apps. These types of apps will provide a very small amount of features, or no features, you can access without paying. You have to sign into each account separately to use the shopping feature and most times it crashes. Because of the paywall, we could not access many parts of the apps to learn more about the bugs or other possible issues.