Cooking Up a User-Centric Experience: The UX Journey of Gordon's Kitchen Bootcamp
Creating an engaging and intuitive mobile app for novice cooks to learn basic cooking skills.
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Background
Overview
Cooking is a necessary skill, but it can be overwhelming for many. The technical jargon, a multitude of techniques, and the complexity of recipes often deter beginners from exploring their culinary potential. This presents a clear problem - how do we make cooking an accessible and engaging learning experience for novices?
Gordon's Kitchen Bootcamp is a mobile app that teaches beginners how to cook by integrating fundamental cooking skills into real recipes. Each tutorial is based on a specific dish incorporating one or more core cooking techniques. As users follow along with the easy-to-understand video tutorials, they don't just learn how to make a dish – they acquire skills that can be applied to a wide range of recipes. As users progress, they unlock new recipes that introduce more advanced techniques. The app tracks the cooking skills users have learned, providing a clear path of progression and a sense of achievement.
In this case study, we'll discuss how I created this innovative cooking learning experience, transforming intimidating kitchen trials into an engaging, rewarding journey.
My Role and Responsibilities
As the leader of the project, I played a multifaceted role in guiding the ideation and design of the Gordon's Kitchen Bootcamp app. This project was conceived with the intention of enhancing my skills as a UX writer, designer, and project manager, and I took full ownership in its completion. My responsibilities included:
Conceptualizing the app and its features.
Conducting market research and user testing.
Developing user personas, a user journey map, and a user flow chart.
Writing GKB's content style guide and all the app's UX copy.
Designing wireframes of the app’s essential screens
After completing all the necessary elements, I collaborated with a graphic designer, who helped me turn my low-fidelity wireframes into high-fidelity mobile mockups.
Project Timeline
I brainstormed the plans for Gordon’s Kitchen Bootcamp in early April and completed work on the wireframes and subsequent high-fidelity mockups in mid June. (2023)
Current Problems
Cooking involves many techniques and terminology, which can often feel overwhelming to beginners. This complexity serves as a barrier to entry and discourages many from trying to learn.
Most cooking resources provide static recipes without detailed instructions or focus on teaching techniques without integrating them into recipes. This makes it difficult for beginners to understand how techniques are applied in real cooking situations.
Learning to cook doesn't typically have a clear path or progression. Novice cooks often don't know which techniques to learn first, how to progress, or how to track their improvement.
Objectives
Break down cooking techniques into manageable, easy-to-learn units, making the learning process less overwhelming.
Integrate cooking techniques into actual recipes, allowing users to learn techniques in a practical, relevant context.
Provide users with a clear path of progression and a way to track the cooking skills they've learned. It gives users a sense of achievement and motivation to continue learning.
Users & Audience
The primary target users are interested in learning to cook, regardless of their current cooking skill level. It involves beginners and home cooks looking to improve: hobbyists and food enthusiasts, dietary-specific users, busy professionals, or parents.
User Personas
Below are two user personas I created to address the major needs of the users. Based on my real user data and research, these fictional characters helped me understand users' needs, experiences, behaviors, and goals.
I used these personas to guide my decisions about feature prioritization, navigation, and overall functionality.
Alex Smith: The College Culinary Novice
Age: 21
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Occupation: Full-time college student majoring in Computer Science
Education: Pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree
Tech-saviness: High. Alex is proficient with technology and enjoys using various apps on his smartphone.
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Alex is a junior in college living off-campus for the first time. He finds himself reliant on takeout, fast food, and microwave meals, leading to a diet that's not as healthy as he'd like. Additionally, the costs of eating out are adding up. He wants to start cooking at home but feels overwhelmed and unsure where to start. He's looking for a resource that can guide him step-by-step and fit into his busy schedule.
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Learn basic cooking skills to eat healthier and save money.
Gain independence and self-sufficiency.
Impress friends with home-cooked meals.
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Lack of basic cooking knowledge.
Limited time between classes, studying, and socializing.
Fears making mistakes in the kitchen and wasting ingredients.
Maya Johnson: The Young Professional Kitchen Explorer
Age: 27
Location: Seattle, Washington
Occupation: Graphic Designer at a mid-size tech firm
Education: Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design
Tech-saviness: High. Maya uses various design software at work and is comfortable navigating new apps.
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Maya has been living independently for several years now and enjoys cooking. However, she often finds herself making the same dishes again and again. She wants to explore more recipes and enhance her culinary skills but feels unsure about trying complex dishes. She's also keen on understanding how to select quality ingredients and the science behind cooking. She wants a tool that can guide her through advanced recipes and offer insights into ingredients and techniques.
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Learn new recipes to expand her culinary repertoire.
Cook meals at home more often for better health and budgeting.
Enjoy the creative process of cooking as a hobby.
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Often defaults to the same few recipes; wants more variety.
Limited time to explore new recipes after work.
Unsure how to choose the right ingredients and optimize cooking techniques.
1. Discover
The Design Process
Market Research
I carried out extensive market research to understand the cooking learning landscape, trends, user needs, and preferences. This helped me align the app with user needs and market realities.
By considering these strengths and weaknesses, Gordon's Kitchen Bootcamp can position itself as a comprehensive, intuitive, and affordable cooking learning app that teaches fundamental skills in a practical, hands-on way. Through a structured learning path and focus on technique instruction, the app has the potential to fill gaps in the current market offerings.
The competitive analysis helped me validate my hypothesis and see what competitors are doing in the current market. In addition, data from competitive analysis helped me identify users' pain points and gaps in existing solutions that I may not be aware of.
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Strengths:
User-friendly with engaging step-by-step videos.
Broad range of recipes and customization options based on personal tastes and dietary restrictions.
Weaknesses
Focus is primarily on recipes, with less emphasis on teaching fundamental cooking techniques.
The overwhelming quantity of recipes can be daunting for beginners.
Opportunities for GKB
Focus on teaching fundamental cooking skills that can be applied to a wide range of recipes, offering value beyond single recipe instructions.
Implement a structured learning path to make the cooking journey less intimidating for novices.
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Strengths
Wide variety of recipes with easy-to-follow photo instructions.
Encourages user collaboration by allowing users to add their recipes.
Weaknesses
Lacks a clear learning path for users to progress their skills.
User-generated content can lead to inconsistent quality.
Opportunities for GKB
Ensure high-quality, consistent content by only featuring professionally curated recipes and tutorials.
Capitalize on a structured learning with a clear progression path to enhance user skill development.
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Strengths
A vast selection of recipes from various cuisines.
User reviews provide credibility and user engagement
Weaknesses
Interface can be overwhelming for beginners.
The app is more of a recipe database than a learning platform, with a narrow focus on technique instruction.
Opportunities for GKB
Emphasize teaching cooking techniques and recipes to provide a more comprehensive learning experience.
Design a more intuitive, user-friendly interface.
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Strengths
Comprehensive cooking course taught by a renowned professional chef.
High-quality video content and detailed step-by-step instructions.
Weaknesses
Expensive compared to many other cooking apps.
Learning is not integrated into a broader range of recipes, focusing more on specific dishes demonstrated in the course.
Opportunities for GKB
Offer a more affordable alternative to professional cooking courses.
Integrate learning into various recipes, allowing users to apply their skills to various dishes.
Demographics
The target demographic ranges from young adults (18+) just starting their cooking journey to older individuals looking to improve their culinary skills.
The gender distribution is evenly split, reflecting the universal appeal of cooking.
The primary markets are English-speaking countries, including the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, but with plans to expand to non-English speaking countries.
Preferences
Users preferred interactive, step-by-step guidance over traditional cookbooks or simple video recipes.
Users responded positively to mobile applications due to their convenience and multimedia capabilities.
They strongly preferred clear, well-structured content that broke down complex cooking techniques into manageable steps.
User Behavior
Users typically engaged with cooking apps during evenings and weekends, suggesting usage spikes around meal preparation times.
Many users also enjoyed planning meals and learning new recipes during their leisure time.
Users indicated a willingness to spend 10 to 30 minutes daily learning to cook.
Users liked to revisit the content they had learned and appreciated the feature of saving or bookmarking their favorite recipes.
The social sharing aspect of cooking was also essential, with many users wanting to share their culinary achievements with friends and family.
Future Potential
The eLearning market is projected to reach $457.8 billion by 2026[1], growing at an annual rate of 8.4%. With cooking being a fundamental life skill, there's a massive potential audience for a cooking learning app.
As lifestyles become busier and health-conscious eating grows more popular, there's a significant trend toward home cooking. Apps that provide recipes and teach cooking techniques are well-positioned in the current market.
The rise of smart kitchen appliances also presents a future growth opportunity. Integrating Gordon's Kitchen Bootcamp with smart devices could provide a more interactive and hands-on learning experience, significantly increasing the app's appeal and user base.
The potential for expanding to non-English speaking markets, children's cooking education, and specialized cuisines offer several avenues for future growth.
Competitor Analysis
To understand the competitive landscape and app interface, I looked at competitors like Tasty, Kitchen Stories, and Masterclass: Gordon Ramsay Teaches Cooking. This step was crucial in identifying competitors' strengths and weaknesses and figuring out how Gordon's Kitchen Bootcamp could stand out in the market.
2. Define
User Research
I conducted user research to identify novice cooks' potential pain points, needs, and motivations.
Key Findings
Users wanted step-by-step guidance rather than static recipes.
Users were eager to improve but often felt overwhelmed by cooking terminology and techniques.
Users liked to see their growth and progress.
Videos and textual explanations should guide users through each recipe step, ensuring they understand the techniques.
Cooking techniques should be broken down into manageable, easy-to-learn units to address the overwhelming amount of information.
Users should be able to track their cooking skill development and see their progression within the app.
User Interviews
Through user interviews, I directly connected with potential users and gained invaluable insights into their cooking learning journey, pain points, and expectations for a cooking learning app.
Participants ranged from complete cooking novices to those with some cooking experience, all interested in improving their skills.
Interview Questions
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How often do you cook at home?
How would you rate your current cooking skills?
What motivated you to want to improve your cooking skills?
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What resources do you currently use to learn cooking? (e.g., apps, cookbooks, online videos, etc.)
What do you like about these resources? What are their limitations?
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What are some challenges you face while learning to cook?
What features or functionalities do you wish your current learning resources had?
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How do you feel about learning cooking through a mobile app? Why?
What features are most important to you in a cooking learning app?
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How would you feel about learning cooking skills through the context of a specific dish?
Would a progression-based learning system motivate you to cook more often?
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Would you find tracking the cooking skills you've learned over time useful?
How would you feel about an app that gradually introduces more complex dishes as your skills improve?
FINDINGS FROM INTERVIEWS
Overwhelmed by complexity: Many users felt overwhelmed when learning to cook due to the complexity of techniques and the abundance of recipes available. They sought a more structured, step-by-step approach to learning with a clear progression path.
Practical Context for Learning: Users responded positively to the idea of learning cooking techniques through the context of a specific dish. They felt it would provide a more practical and tangible way to understand and apply new cooking skills.
Tracking Progress and Motivation: The concept of a system to track the cooking skills they've learned over time was well-received by users. They believed such a feature would provide a sense of accomplishment and motivate them to continue learning.
Interactive and Visual Guidance: Users expressed a preference for interactive, easy-to-follow guidance. Video tutorials were favored due to their dynamic and visual nature, allowing users to see techniques in action.
Personalized Learning Experience: Several users expressed a desire for personalized learning, such as being able to choose recipes based on dietary preferences or cuisines of interest.
3. Design & Execute
Evaluating and Selecting the Most Promising Solutions
Based on user feedback and research, I evaluated potential design solutions and selected those that most effectively met user needs and the app's objectives.
USER ACCOUNT AND PROFILE: Users should be able to create an account, set up a profile, and save their cooking preferences, dietary restrictions, and cooking skill level.
ONBOARDING TUTORIAL: A short guide or tour to help new users understand how to navigate the app and use its features.
PERSONALIZED RECIPE RECOMMENDATIONS: The app should suggest recipes based on the user's skill level, dietary preferences, and the cooking skills they have learned.
VIDEO TUTORIALS: Each recipe should have an easy-to-follow tutorial broken down into step-by-step instructions. The user should be able to pause, rewind, and rewatch parts of the video.
COOKING SKILLS BREAKDOWN: Each recipe should list the cooking skills needed, such as chopping, sautéing, or simmering. When a user completes a recipe, these skills should be added to their profile.
PROGRESS TRACKING: The app should track and display the user's cooking skill progression. Users should receive badges or rewards as they learn new skills and complete more complex recipes.
PUSH NOTIFICATIONS: These would encourage users to cook regularly, remind them of their progress, and suggest new recipes based on their learned skills.
SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY: Users should be able to search for specific recipes or cooking skills within the app.
SOCIAL SHARING: Users should be able to share their cooking achievements on social media platforms directly from the app.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT/HELP SECTION: Users can access FAQs or contact the support team if they have any issues or questions.
User Journey Map
I created a user journey map to visualize the users' experience throughout the app, identifying key touchpoints and opportunities for improving the overall user experience.
Discovery: Sarah finds out about the app either through word-of-mouth, a blog post, an ad, or a search on the app store. She downloads it because she wants to learn how to cook.
Onboarding: After downloading, the app guides her through a simple, friendly onboarding process where she learns about the key features of the app. She creates an account.
Personalization: Sarah enters her dietary preferences, her preferred cuisine, and indicates that she's a beginner. The app then recommends beginner-friendly recipes that match her preferences.
First Use: She chooses a recipe that she wants to try cooking. The recipe tutorial is broken down into simple, step-by-step instructions integrated with the basic cooking skills needed for the dish.
Learning and Cooking: As she follows the video tutorial, she learns basic skills like chopping, sautéing, seasoning, and simmering. She's able to pause and rewatch parts of the video if she's unsure. By the end of the tutorial, she has prepared her meal and learned new cooking techniques.
Progress Tracking: After completing the recipe, the app shows her the skills she's acquired and tracks her progress. She's rewarded with a badge for completing her first dish.
Engagement: The app suggests the next set of recipes based on the skills she has learned so far, motivating her to keep going. Sarah also gets push notifications encouraging her to cook regularly.
Repeat Use: Sarah continues to use the app over time, gradually learning more complex skills and cooking a variety of dishes. She likes the sense of accomplishment she feels when she earns new badges and sees her progress.
Social Sharing: Once she's confident with a few dishes, she shares her achievements on social media directly from the app.
User Flow
Throughout the user flows, I determine where each tab must be. Mapping out the users' steps helped me create a frictionless user flow that allows them to quickly and seamlessly perform the most specific tasks in the app. Every scenario in the app will be easily visualized at this stage.
User Registration and Onboarding
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What resources do you currently use to learn cooking? (e.g., apps, cookbooks, online videos, etc.)
What do you like about these resources? What are their limitations?
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Users provide information such as their name, cooking skill, level and dietary preferences.
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An optional screen where users could specify dietary restrictions or preferences.
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A screen or set of screens where users are guided through the app’s main features.
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The main screen users see after completing the registration and onboarding process.
Tracking Progress and Earning Badges
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After the user finishes cooking, this screen shows which skills the user used in the recipe, and updates their skill progression.
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If the user earns a new badge (like for completing their first recipe, or mastering a certain skill), this screen will display the new badge and congratulate the user.
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This is a dedicated screen where users can view their overall progress, see the badges they've earned, and check out the skills they've learned so far. It might also show the next set of skills to learn or the next badge to achieve.
Browsing and Selecting a Recipe
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If the user wants to search for a specific recipe or filter recipes based on certain parameters (e.g., difficulty level, meal type, dietary restrictions), they can go to this screen.
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After searching or applying filters, users see a list of recipes that match their criteria. Each recipe could have a preview image, the name of the dish, estimated cooking time, difficulty level, and a brief description.
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When the user selects a recipe from the list, they are taken to a detailed view of the recipe. This screen could include a larger image of the final dish, a list of ingredients, a summary of the cooking skills they’ll learn, user ratings/reviews, and an option to start the tutorial or save the recipe for later.
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If the user decides to start cooking, they would see a confirmation screen or a prompt to begin the video tutorial. This screen might also include any last-minute reminders or tips.
Sharing Achievements on Social Media
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This flow would show how a user shares their cooking achievements on social media platforms from within the app.
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This screen allows users to customize their social media posts, adding a message, tagging friends, or choosing which photo to share (like a photo of their cooked dish or an image of the earned badge).
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After the user shares their achievement, this screen confirms that the post was successfully shared.
Following a Recipe and Learning Skills
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This is where the user starts the recipe tutorial. It should include a 'play' button to begin the video tutorial.
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This screen shows the step-by-step video tutorial for the recipe. It should allow users to play, pause, rewind, or fast forward the video. This screen may also show a list of the steps for easy reference.
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Once the user has finished cooking, this screen will ask for user feedback (like a simple "Did you successfully cook the dish?" prompt), or show a summary of the skills used in the recipe.
To view the rest of the wireframes, tap the button below.
Crafting the Style Guide & Executing the UX Copy
In order to emphasize the UX writing process and align the app's copy with the desired brand personality, I created a comprehensive style guide. This style guide served as a reference and framework for maintaining consistent tone, voice, and messaging throughout the app. It provided guidelines for various aspects of the app's content, ensuring clarity, engagement, and alignment with the target audience.
Incorporating Gordon Ramsey's Persona: I carefully considered Gordon Ramsay's persona, capturing his directness, passion, professionalism, and humor. The aim was not to mimic his voice but to reflect his spirit and dedication to the culinary arts in a way that resonated with the app's users—novice cooks in the age range of 18-25. Writers following this style guide can incorporate their copy alongside the 30 outlined Gordon Ramsay quotes into an AI language model to create the appropriate content.
Understanding Our Users: To write something that our users would enjoy and find helpful, I needed to understand them. So, I made a point in the style guide to emphasize their preferences for language that's clear and full of energy, with a modern touch.
Keeping Language and Grammar Clear and Consistent: Language can be tricky. That's why I decided to use simple and straightforward words. This was a key point in the style guide. When I had to use culinary terms, I made sure to explain them in a way anyone could understand. I also set some ground rules for grammar and formatting to keep everything neat and consistent.
Clarity and Brevity is Key: In the guide, I stressed the need to keep things short and sweet. I didn't want to overwhelm our users with a lot of text. So, I used short sentences, bullet points, and lists to break things down and make them easy to read and understand.
Guidelines for Each App Section: The guide didn't stop there. I also outlined specific guidelines for each section of the app, whether it was welcoming users in the onboarding screens or keeping things upbeat in the progress tracking updates.
Consideration for Visual Content: The guide also addressed visual content, recommending informative captions for images and videos, as well as alt text for accessibility purposes.
Hypothetical Social Media Guidelines: Even though we weren't planning on using social media at the time, I thought it would be useful to include some tips in the guide, just in case. While social media guidelines were included as a hypothetical consideration, the focus of the style guide remained on the app's content and user experience.
Content Strategy and Revisions: Finally, I knew the style guide would need to grow with the app. That's why I mentioned regular updates and new content. I also encouraged easy navigation and finding content.
The guide wasn't a one-time thing. I made a note to review it from time to time, especially when there were big changes coming to the app or when we had new features to introduce. After all, it's all about keeping our users happy and engaged.
To view the style guide in its entirety, tap the button below.
Wireframing
I created wireframes to establish the app's structure, layout, and overall visual hierarchy, providing a solid foundation for the prototyping stage. Wireframes helped me conceptualize the basic blueprint of the app early in the design process. Here are the first 4 screens as an example.
Prototypes
I created clickable prototypes using Figma, maintaining interaction and visual consistency to communicate the design strategy effectively. This was considerably quicker than diving into the complex mobile application build.
To view the rest of the prototypes, use the options below.
4. Validate & Deliver
I conducted usability tests on high-fidelity prototypes to gather quantitative and qualitative feedback.
Objectives
I wanted to assess the following:
Ease of signup and onboarding process.
User's ability to find and select a suitable recipe.
Clarity and effectiveness of video tutorials and step-by-step instructions.
The usefulness of the cooking skills breakdown.
The functionality of the progress tracking feature.
Effectiveness of push notifications.
Ease of search functionality.
Overall navigability and user-friendliness of the app.
Methodology
I used a combination of direct observation, think-aloud protocol (asking users to verbalize their thoughts as they navigated the app), and post-task interviews to gain insights into the participants' experiences.
Results
Users found the step-by-step video tutorials extremely helpful and easy to follow.
The skill-based unlocking system was well received, providing users with a sense of accomplishment.
Users found the onboarding process straightforward and informative. They could easily create an account and set up their profile. The onboarding tutorial was well-received for its clarity in explaining the app's features.
Users appreciated the personalized recipe recommendations.
The concept of earning badges for new skills was motivating.
Users found the app easy to navigate, with an intuitive layout and clear instructions.
Project Outcome
I developed an intuitive, user-friendly interface for the Gordon's Kitchen Bootcamp app that guided users seamlessly through their cooking learning journey. The app successfully achieved its goal of teaching cooking skills in a fun, engaging, and accessible way, thereby making cooking a more enjoyable and less daunting task for beginners.
In the future, I plan to expand the variety of recipes and techniques available and introduce social features, such as sharing dishes and cooking competitions. I aim to make Gordon's Kitchen Bootcamp the go-to app for learning to cook by continuously improving and adapting to users' needs.