Problem

Researching and preparing a vegan meal is a time-consuming yet mandatory chore for some while a lifestyle for others.

With a plethora of options found on the internet for vegan meals, it becomes difficult to organize numerous recipes in one place, search local names or even find alternatives for ingredient.

Can there be an easy alternative where we have recipes in a vegan-specific app that helps people to find and save recipes quicker?

Solution

Build a vegan recipe app where users can find, share, and create recipes by designing wireframes, creating a prototype, and conducting a usability test of primary features in order to find if they address the problem.

Business: Vegan health and lifestyle

Purpose: Find, create and share vegan recipes

Typical user:
○ Vegans
○ Newbie vegans trying to maintain a vegan diet
○ Recipe based cooking enthusiasts
○ Vegans who like to cook at home
○ Vegan chefs

Building on strong foundations

Research material:

• Research papers on rise of vegans in India in recent years

• Indirect data-gathering using survey questionnaire

• Vegan Health & Nutrition Discussion Forum

• Other social media platforms

  
  

• Survey

• User Interviews

  
  

Survey questionnaire:

1. How would you describe your current lifestyle/diet choice?

2. What age group are you in?

3. What is your gender?

4. Where do you live?

5. How often do you cook at home?

6. Do you have a source to find vegan recipes?

7. How frequently do you look up new vegan recipes?

8. Describe the experience of finding new vegan recipes?

9. How would you describe buying vegan ingredients experience?

10. Do you like to save your recipes or maybe create new recipes?

11. Do you like to plan your meals?

12. Do you think having a recipe app that has quick and easy-to-make vegan recipes, gives you information about where to buy ingredients locally - could be helpful in your day-to-day life?

Discarded questions:

• How much do you know about vegan diet?

• Do you have any allergy to certain vegan foods?

These questions could create a barrier to entry for users who are simply interested in exploring vegan recipes, regardless of their current knowledge or dietary restrictions. Hence, to ensure inclusivity and catering to a wider audience, we decided to remove them.

User Interview data finding:

I also conducted a one-on-one user interviews with vegan diet followers as well as people who are trying to adapt the vegan diet. Some of the findings below aided this project in giving the app its solid foundation.

Most responses helped identify the features and expectations that users want in a vegan app. Having the local name of the ingredient mentioned in the app for recipes would be one of the convenience-enhancing highlights of the Sweet Basil app.

Branding and identity

Throughout the process, I worked closely with the co-founders of Sweet Basil app to ensure that the app met their requirements and aligned with their brand identity.