Case Study: prepped
An end-to-end UX project transforming messy grocery lists into an intuitive, task-based meal prep ecosystem to reduce mental load
Overview
Services
UX Design, UI Design, UX Researcher
From concept to hi-fi prototype
Duration
Feb 2022 - May 2022
Responsibilities
Foundational research, user personas, paper and digital wireframes, low and high fidelity prototypes, and usability study research
Platform
Figma
Google Drive
How might we synchronize family communication to bridge the gap between intention and action, transforming meal planning into a collaborative, stress-free rhythm?
When meal planning is siloed, efficiency dies. I observed that in busy households, the transition from 'finding a recipe' to 'eating healthy' often fails due to lack of a cohesive system. Between lost recipes, fragmented grocery lists, and the mental load of task delegation, the process had collapsed into food waste and expensive takeout. I designed prepped to synchronize these moving parts into a single, shared ecosystem.
Discovery Research
“Question here” that will carousel to next research “question”
Through targeted user interviews, I identified two primary user groups: busy students seeking equitable task delegation to reduce waste, and professional families looking to balance weekday efficiency with culinary creativity."
01/ The Imbalance of Responsibility
Collaboration often collapsed into solo effort. Users felt the 'mental load' of managing everything themselves, and without clear roles, the friction of coordinating led straight to decision fatigue and takeout.
03/ The Mid-week Momentum Slump
Planning typically focused on only the first 48 hours. By mid-week, the lack of a sustainable system caused users to lose focus, leading to a cycle of fast food when exhaustion outweighed their initial intentions.
02/ The Personalization Gap
Generic recipe databases failed to meet diverse dietary and cultural needs. Users felt restricted by rigid platforms that didn't allow for adjustments or accommodate their unique, long-term eating habits.
04/ The Inventory Friction
Small omissions led to large-scale waste. Forgetting a single ingredient often acted as a barrier to follow-through, causing users to abandon their meal plans and leave fresh groceries to go to waste
Digital Wireframes
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From Personalization Gap to Customizable Recipes
Because research showed that rigid meal plans lead to mid-week boredom, I designed a discovery hub that surfaces personal favorites alongside community-driven suggestions. By integrating ‘Friend’s Favorites’ and trending recipes, the system proactively combats variety fatigue and keeps users engaged with their health goals
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From Mental Load to Task Delegation
To alleviate the 'mental load' identified in my interviews, I translated the abstract need for help into a concrete task-assignment interface. This feature provides role clarity by allowing users to distribute prep work and grocery runs, turning a solo burden into a shared, transparent rhythm
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From Decision Fatigue to Collaborative Selection
To solve the friction of 'decision paralysis' within households, I created a democratic selection tool. By allowing every member to vote on recipes from a shared pool, the design ensures collective buy-in, making family members more likely to participate in the cooking process when they feel their preferences are heard.
The picture below is the main user flow. Click here for Figma access.
Low Fidelity Prototype
“It has the ability to combine uses of multiple apps into one which streamlines my work. Also I like the ability to delegate work and see meal plan at a weekly glance”
-Feedback after usability study
Access to lo-fi prototype on figma here.
Usability Study
Unmoderated remote usability studies were conducted with 5 people between the age of 21-65. The results from the study showed a general understanding of the user flow but there was certain aspects that made it difficult for users to complete certain tasks.
Button Accessibility
Users found it difficult to click on the buttons or where to click. The buttons were either too small to be able to click, or navigation buttons were not clear enough to know how to continue.
Assigning Tasks
All users found assigning tasks to be difficult since it was not clear from the end of the user flow on how to access tasks.
Shopping List
Some users preferred to add directly to the pre-made labels instead of clicking the add button and having to click another label.
Mockups
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Tab Bar and Next Button
Users were confused on where to click to finish a task, so I redesigned the top bar to only include the next and back button for easy navigation. I also made the next button pink so it drew more attention to make it easier for users. I also redesigned the tab bar to include main navigation icons and kept it consistent with each screen.
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Notes Section
I included an icon to add notes to any recipe in order for users to have more customizability. This goes along with the internal rating system of solid or outlined stars for users to easily see they had tried out the recipe yet.
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Task Flow
I provided two ways to assign a task- either by clicking on the profile picture of friends or through the traditional route in the task page. This gave more options for the users so regardless of their method they are able to assign tasks.
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Shopping List
Since some users did not want to add labels I added the add button after adding in grocery item so users now have the choice if they want to add labels to their shopping list.
Takeaways
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Accessibility
I developed a color palette that passes the WCAG 2.1 Level AA to increase accessibility to those who are vision impaired and it passes contrast checker for color-blind users. I also provided alt-text to images to make it screen reader friendly. In the future, I hope to make the app available in multiple languages.
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Impact
“It has the ability to combine uses of multiple apps into one which streamlines my work. Also, I like the ability to delegate work and see meal plan at a weekly glance” -Feedback during usability study
Meal prepping is a great option for busy people who want to eat healthy, and prepped just helps make this task much easier and incorporates your family and friends into eating well.
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What I Learned
This process really showed me how important user feedback can be to create something incredible. From accessibility considerations to the direction to take the app, users are the key to develop a product worth using. With the first iteration of digital wireframes, it’s easy to think that what I created was the best option, but the feedback from usability studies are indispensable in how to take your designs from good to great. While I still have a lot to learn, I’m excited to see this app grow through feedbacks and iterations.
Next Steps
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Expand
To ensure user’s are just need this app to plan meals, adding a feature to include recipes from the web or from yourself would help increase variety of recipes. Users will be able to include family recipes or tried and true recipes that they’ve used for years to the app.
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Alarms
While assigning tasks is a great step towards taking responsibility, ensuring the task was done is the next step. Adding alarms to tasks such as defrosting, or overnight seasoning can help alleviate the stress that comes with meal prepping and make it easier on the user.
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Health Conscious
The goal of meal prepping is to be able to eat healthier, which to a lot of users include calorie counting. So, integrating an automatic calorie counting through ingredients and portion sizes would make it easier for users to be able to watch their weight while still enjoying food.