Consumer product design case study

CookPrep: Smart Kitchen

A mobile product concept designed to reduce cooking decision fatigue by connecting food freshness, recipe discovery, and grocery planning.

UX researchProduct strategyInteraction designUsability testing

22Survey responses

Research responses about cooking habits and decision-making

3In-depth interviews

Deeper context about routines, confidence, and food use

10Potential users

Provided usability feedback on the Figma prototype

3Connected features

Inventory, recipe discovery, and grocery planning

My Role

Planned the research and synthesized survey and interview findings
Defined the product opportunity and three connected features
Created wireframes and the mobile product interface using Figma and Stitch
Conducted usability testing with 10 potential users and incorporated their feedback

Pain Point

Meal planning often starts with uncertainty.

Busy home cooks make quick decisions while trying to remember what is in the fridge, what is still fresh, and what can become a meal. The result can be repeated searching, forgotten food, and a meal-planning process that feels like a waste of time.

The opportunity was to help people decide what to cook from what they already have, then carry that decision through to shopping.

Research & Framing

Connecting meal ideas to the ingredients already at home.

The research explored eating habits, cooking routines, ingredient awareness, and the moments when choosing a meal becomes stressful.

95%

of survey participants said they cook at home.

19 of 22

said they cook several times each week.

20 of 22

found online cooking posts or videos helpful.

How might we help people with busy schedules choose a low-effort meal from ingredients they already have, before overlooked food expires?

Scope decisions

Prioritize the cooking flow before content integrations.

Cut the RedNote integration

I removed a planned RedNote/Xiaohongshu integration to focus the prototype on inventory, recipe discovery, and grocery planning. This narrowed implementation scope while keeping the core meal-planning journey.

Broaden the intended audience

The concept began with Chinese international students and expanded to busy home cooks. That broadened the intended use case; the small discovery sample does not establish that the same needs apply across this wider audience.

Deliverable: a Figma prototype informed by research and usability feedback. Scanning, recipe recommendations, and inventory updates are proposed product capabilities, not a deployed service.

System Design

One decision flows through three connected features.

CookPrep treats inventory, recipe selection, and shopping as one journey. Each feature passes useful context to the next instead of asking the user to start over.

01InventorySee what is available and expiring

02RecipesChoose meals that use those ingredients

03Grocery ListCapture what the selected recipe still needs

Prototype Walkthrough

Three parts of the proposed experience

The final mobile screens show how the connected workflow supports planning before, during, and after a cooking decision.

Know what is available

The inventory highlights food marked as expiring soon. The proposed scanning flow is intended to make adding items easier; ongoing inventory accuracy remains an untested assumption.

CookPrep smart inventory screen. — Freshness cues make expiring ingredients easy to notice.

CookPrep item scanning screen. — A proposed scanning flow for adding items to inventory.

Turn ingredients into meal ideas

The recipe hub shows ingredient availability at a glance and lets people add a personal recipe when the right option is not already there.

CookPrep recipe hub screen. — Recipe discovery stays connected to what is already in the kitchen.

CookPrep personal recipe creation screen. — People can add a familiar recipe when it is not already available.

Guide cooking and the next shop

Step-by-step instructions, optional video guidance, and a categorized grocery list carry the plan into action.

CookPrep detailed recipe guide screen. — A detailed guide keeps ingredients and instructions together.

CookPrep categorized grocery list. — The grocery list preserves momentum for the next shop.

Testing & Insights

Feedback led to three prototype changes.

I conducted usability testing with 10 potential users. Their feedback highlighted three improvements: a lighter scanning screen, a way to add personal recipes, and navigation labels consistent with page titles.

Original item-scanning screen with a muted blue-gray background.

Updated item-scanning screen with a white background.

The scanner background moved from muted blue-gray to white for clarity.

Personal recipe creation screen added after testing.

Testing revealed the need for a create-your-own-recipe pathway.

Original grocery list screen with Shopping in the navigation.

Updated grocery list screen with List in the navigation.

The navigation label now matches the Grocery List page title.

Project Scope

The project demonstrates a researched product concept.

What this project demonstrated

Research findings were translated into a connected mobile product system and refined through potential-user feedback.

What would need more evidence

The next test should examine whether people can choose a feasible meal and keep inventory accurate with acceptable effort. A separate study over time would be needed to assess continued use or changes in food waste.

Reflection

Inventory effort is the next product question.

Feedback informed changes to recipe creation, navigation, and visual clarity. It did not establish whether the product saves effort in a real kitchen. Before extending the feature set, I would test ingredient updates and meal selection together, including partially used items and missing ingredients.