Somethin' Sweet

UX/UI Case Study

01 Overview

About the Project

Somethin' Sweet is an mobile platform for customers to buy Asian desserts making kits. It provides step-by-step guide for each dessert so everyone can make their favorite Asian dessert easily at home.

Tools Used

Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Lightroom
Adobe After Effects
Figma

My Role

UX/UI Designer

Time Period

Fall 2020

02 Preliminaries

Problem Statement

Asian desserts are great to enjoy, especially when freshly made. Yet, COVID-19 has prohibited us from eating at restaurants, and it is hard for us to eat fresh Asian desserts. Even though many are trying to make them at home, some ingredients are not easily accessible, and recipes online are not always authentic. The challenge is to design an Asian Dessert Delivery App that allows users to order pre-packed ingredient kits and make Asian desserts right at home.

Goals

I believe this product is important because:

Huge Target Audience Group

There is a huge Asian population in the bay area, and they prefer to cook with fresh ingredients. As Asian desserts are a part of their culture, and they enjoy eating them. Therefore, we assume there will be many potential customers.

Few Competitors

Even though there are many food deliveries to online shopping apps available, many of them do not sell pre-packed ingredient kits. As this is a relatively new concept, our app will not have a lot of competitors in the market.

03 Research

Statistics

To begin with, I found some statistics online regarding the Asian population in the Bay area, as well as people's cooking habits.

Competitor Analysis

Based on my research, I conducted a competitor analysis to understand what are the existing market is offering to their customers and what might be missing from them.

Tong Sui

Known for Heart-crafted healthy Chinese pudding dessert
Only focus on Chinese dessert, not many options provided for other Asian countries
Do not offer any pre-packed ingredient kits

Whisk Takers

Includes cookies, cupcakes, dog treats, and more
Great for first-time bakers and family baking activities
Only focus on baking goods and simple recipes
Only have Western baking kits, but nothing for Asian

Mint

Pre-measured Thai food meal kits created by Thai chef
Each package includes fresh and pre-packed ingredients with cooking instructions
Great for busy working professionals who enjoy healthy and freshly-prepared meals
Only focus on Thai food and there are not many dessert options

I noticed that there are some online stores that sell pre-measured ingredient kits, however, the choices are limited. Even though some of them offer Asian desserts, they only have a few options.

User Interviews

I conducted user interviews with 3 Asian dessert lovers who have been making Asian desserts at home. I want to discover their pain points and needs in making Asian desserts. Here are some key takeaways:

Some Asian desserts ingredients are hard to buy in America.

Not easy to find authentic Asian dessert recipes.

Defining the Audience

I first categorize the users into two high-level audiences:

Asians in Bay Area

They can be anyone from the Asian community living in the bay area, including American-born Asians, immigrants, or international students.

Non-Asians that enjoy Asian foods

People from any other racial group enjoy eating Asian foods and are interested in trying out new Asian desserts.

The two high-level audiences can be further categorized into two different targeted groups:

Millennials

Millennials were the generation that most likely to eat desserts once a week or more.

Home Cooks

54% of Americans are cooking more because of COVID and are willing to continue cooking after the pandemic.

Personas

After combining all my research findings, I have developed 3 personas (Emily, Ken, and Tracy) to define users challenges and goals. They are essential for me to identify the user needs and make design decisions.

Solutions

Based on my findings, I recognized the customers' needs for:

An online store that sells Asian-specific desserts with pre-measured kits so they can make desserts directly at home.

An easy way for customers to access dessert recipes by scanning the QR code on the package.

A platform that allows people to share and connect to exchange thoughts on desserts.

04 Planning

IA Map

To get a general representation of my app, I have drawn out an IA map. This can help me understand the flows and features of my application easier.

User Flows

After defining the key features of my app, I have created 3 user flows to examine the purchasing process, dessert making process and the photo sharing process.

05 Ideation

Brand Style Guide

I developed a brand style guide for the app, and hoping it can express the warmth, homey, and friendly feelings to the audience. Unlike a lot of dessert brands that use a lot of variant colors in their designs, I picked a earth tone for the brand as I want to emphasize the organic and use of natural ingredients in the branding.

06 Design

App Features

After several user testing, I then came up with a high-fidelity design of the app and listed out some key features of it:

The Journey

Interactive Prototype

Marketing Promotions

To promote the app, I have created several ads on Instagram to attract people to download the app.

07 Summary

Conclusion

Somethin' Sweet is done! In the future, there may be a chance for the app to sell more desserts rather than just Asian desserts since Western desserts are also very popular in the bay area. More considerations can be taken in for the community page flows; perhaps there can be more interactions between users.

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