[Case 02]
Fridgemate
Smart Meal Prep App
Reduced meal prep time by 65% by designing a meal planning app
Designing a Meal Prep App
[Background]
Our client, a cook and content creator, expressed frustration with being stuck in a cycle of brainstorming the same recipes. This often led to repetitive meals, wasted ingredients, and limited creativity. They wanted a solution that could help them break out of this pattern, reduce food waste, and save money.
[Problem Statement]
Users often face the challenge of opening their fridge to find a random mix of leftover ingredients without a clear idea of how to use them. This leads to repetitive meals, wasted food, and unnecessary expenses. There is a need for a solution that streamlines meal planning by generating personalized recipe suggestions based on ingredients already on hand—ultimately saving time, reducing food waste, and bringing joy back to cooking.
[Opportunity]
How might we create an easy-to-use meal planning app that maximizes what’s in the fridge, caters to dietary needs, reduces waste, and makes planning simple?
[Business Model]
Smart Meal Prep App
[My Role]
Lead UX/UI Designer
[Platforms]
iOS (Mobile)
[Timeline]
April 2025 - June 2025
[Process]
[01] Empathize
a. Competitive Analysis
To understand how other apps manage their content, we started by doing a competitive analysis of five similar meal-planning apps. We found that none of them have pantry management tools, which is a key missing feature.
After analyzing competitors, we wanted to learn about users' meal preferences, cooking tools, portion sizes, and how they manage leftovers to gather information for creating the app. So we decided to conduct user interviews with five people, each wi th varying cooking habits and dietary needs, to better understand how users interact with food at home.
b. User Interviews
c. Reflection
We learned that many users often struggle with meal variety and food waste, and they’re looking for quick and efficient ways to plan meals, portion leftovers, and accommodate diverse diets like vegetarian, lactose-free, and high-protein options.
They preferred health-conscious options, focusing on foods high in protein and fiber while accommodating their lactose intolerance.
They valued efficient cooking methods; often portioning meals for multiple servings and repurposing leftovers to minimize waste. All while expressing a desire for more vegetarian-friendly recipe options.
[02] Define & Ideate
a. Persona
Based on the results of user interviews and affinity maps, we developed a persona named Sarah—a busy professional looking to save time, reduce waste, and ensure that meal planning doesn’t compromise her health goals.
Sarah Liew
Marketing Manager
"I love cooking, but my busy schedule often gets in the way. I need a meal planning solution that understands my lifestyle and dietary needs, including my lactose intolerance, and helps me make healthier choices without adding more stress to my plate."
Age: 31
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Passionate, Focused, Curious
Gender: Female
[Goals]
Eat healthier meals to improve overall well-being and energy levels.
Streamline the meal planning process to save time and reduce stress.
Discover new and exciting recipes that align with her taste preferences and accommodate her lactose intolerance.
[Frustrations]
Limited time for meal planning and cooking due to demanding work schedule.
Feeling overwhelmed by the process of grocery shopping and deciding what to cook.
Difficulty finding recipes that cater to her preferences and dietary goals, especially considering her lactose intolerance.
b. User Flows & Sitemap
We designed two user flows to collect user information, personalize their experience, and help reduce food waste. The first flow guides users through setting their dietary preferences, while the second helps them create a weekly meal plan based on the ingredients they already have.
Based on the user flows, we created a sitemap to map out the app’s overall structure.
c. Mood Board & Logo Design
We created a Mood board to inspire my typographic ideas and app design. We chose red as the primary color for the interface—this color has been shown to increase appetite, making it a fitting choice for a meal-planning tool.
Next, we sketched and designed the Logo, blending the ideas of a "Fridge" for storing food with a "Smartphone Application" for providing recipes.
[03] Prototyping & Usability Testing
a. Low-Fidelity Wireframes
We then translated these ideas into low-fidelity wireframes to outline the app’s layout and core functionality. This step helped us turn our analysis into a clear, easy-to-understand visualization.
b. High-Fidelity Wireframes
Before conducting user tests, we refined the low-fidelity wireframes into high-fidelity designs and added clickable interactions to bring the app to life.
c. Usability Testing
To gain deeper insights into users and gather diverse perspectives, we conducted a user test with 10 participants using Maze, an online usability testing platform. Our goal was to ensure that users could easily navigate the app, add ingredients from their fridge, and create meal plans with minimal confusion.
Goals
Ensure users can navigate the app smoothly.
Confirm if explanations for each section are straightforward to users.
Check if users can search for ingredients based on what they have in the fridge.
Verify if users can successfully add recipes three times consecutively.
Tasks
Input personalized information.
Set the dates for lunch.
Add ingredients.
Select recipes.
[04] Insights & Iterations
a. Insights
Users appreciated the clean and visually appealing UI, the inclusion of helpful nutritional information, and the use of high-quality images throughout the app. However, testing also revealed some challenges: the lengthy setup process could discourage new users, the experience of selecting fruits and vegetables needs refinement, and there was a lack of clarity around which steps were required versus optional. Additionally, participants found adding ingredients to be more difficult than expected.
b. Iterations
After gathering feedback from the user test, we made several iterations to improve usability.
Users reported confusion when using the search bar, so we updated it to present search results more clearly.
We also improved the visibility of the time bar and scroll button.
We improved the fruit selection interface by allowing users to click on the entire image instead of just the heart icon.
c. Outcome
