A responsive app making gourmet cooking accessible and affordable.
UX/UI · Motion · Academic
Figma · Responsive Design
The Problem
people worldwide cannot afford basic nutrition
Ritchie, 2024
of US adults meet standards for healthy living
Tompa, 2025 · Kalmbach, 2018
of college students are dealing with food insecurity
SNAP, 2024
A poor diet can contribute to obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. Gourmet cooking offers high-quality ingredients and nutrition, but affordability and unfamiliarity with the craft create real barriers for low-income adults. Well Savouré explores how an app can make gourmet dishes accessible by helping users source ingredients within their budget while building their cooking skills, all in one place.
Approach
Design Strategy
Focusing on low-income Americans (18+), food enthusiasts who want to learn and improve their skills, substitute ingredients for more affordable options, and plan meals with ease. The goals are to create high-quality meals with guidance, options to substitute ingredients based on costs, build upon cooking abilities, generate a grocery list, and filter and organize recipes.
Mobile
Convenience, notifications, quick browsing, shopping lists, and short tutorials. Best for on-the-go use, though limited by screen size.
Tablet
A wider display for more detailed recipes. Can be placed nearby while cooking without needing to get close.
Desktop
Best for multitasking, organizing notes, lessons, and extended cooking tips. Less practical for active cooking.
Automation & Monetization
Ways to automate Well Savouré are through feature recipes based on users’ preferences and budget, automatically generate a grocery list that can be edited, receive notifications regarding cooking, in-season dishes, lessons, reminders, and set timers or videos for users to follow. For monetization, there can be a subscription based on how much the user wants to learn, personalized meal planning by professionals, in-depth and advanced techniques and lessons, and deeper insights regarding the ingredients and cooking process.
Design Process
Usability Testing
Tested with 3 college students across 5 tasks focused on the effectiveness of choosing a recipe. Completion was strong overall, with most participants finishing 4 of 5 tasks.
What Worked
Navigation bar and icons were intuitive. All participants searched, filtered, and followed recipe steps with ease, and described the interface as clean and easy to digest.
Needed work
2 of 3 participants struggled to generate a grocery list. All participants initially struggled to locate the folder feature, and a few minor glitches and wording inconsistencies were flagged.
“Seems all your buttons are working. Your interface is very easy to read.”
Participant - M.V.
“I feel a little stuck on it and have to reread it to understand. Maybe the list should say review, and start should say proceed to match the verbiage from the instructions.”
Participant - A.C.
Design Priorities from Testing
High Priority Usability Concerns
Make the grocery list generator a smoother experience and easier to locate. About 2 of 3 participants didn’t complete the first task as intended.
Rather than a profile section, shift the focus to a folder section. All participants struggled to locate the folder feature to create and store saved recipes. They tend to browse through different features before they can locate it.
High Priority Accessibility Concerns
There are a few areas that need to be reviewed and updated.
Buttons & Tap Targets – Increase Button Size and High Contrast Colors.
Images and icons – Adding alt text descriptions, avoiding text inside images, and using recognizable icons.
The Final Design
Reflection
Usability testing showed that Well Savouré’s core experience, browsing, searching, and following recipes, worked well and felt intuitive to users. At the same time, it surfaced real friction points around the grocery list and folder features that wouldn't have been visible without putting the prototype in front of real people.
If I had more time, I would go back and conduct a second round of testing after addressing the issues found, particularly around the grocery list flow and folder navigation. Seeing whether those changes actually resolved the confusion would be the next step in refining the UI and navigation. This project reinforced how much testing reveals that design instincts alone can't predict. There is always room for improvement, but the foundation, gourmet cooking made approachable across devices, is one I'd be excited to keep working on.
