Heirlum
Where colorful recipes & memories are shared.
User Experience Design
Duration: June-August 2020
Role: UX design, Brand Design Lead
Heirlum is a digital/analog platform where you can easily reminisce, share, collaborate-on, and edit recipes.
The Problem
Finding recipes easily and get cooking
People are cooking more at home and are hungry for the flavors, memories, and connections made over a shared meal. Despite the plethora of recipe websites available, the frustration of repetitive and ugly recipe sites has become the norm.
Our Solution
A platform where you can easily reminisce, share, collaborate on, and edit recipes
Heirlum provides a user focused recipe experience that anyone can use. On our mobile app, users can easily upload a memory about a recipe, which helps friends and family remember why that recipe is special.
Our Process
2 month research and iteration
My team trio spent two months research, interviewing users, and testing iterations of our product.
I served my team as the lead brand/strategy designer and supported the UX design.
Defining the Problem Statement
How might we help families and friends connect through recipes and contribute to them so that they have connection to the past and the future and belonging?
Ideation
Concept Refinement
Jobs to be Done1. I want to cook the dishes I grew up eating so I can share them with my family.
2. I want to know what ingredients I have on hand and what I need to buy when I’m planning meals for the week
3. I want to save money and start cooking meals at home but don’t know what to/how to make things.
4. I want to make something quick for dinner with the ingredients I have on hand
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)To read the original detail OKRs click here
1. Create a platform to digitize/document recipes
2. Help people connect through food
3. Provide a printing service for recipe cards and cookbook
Research
People are finally cooking more
Heirlum will tap into the growing trend of people cooking more at home and sharing recipes digitally.
User Interviews
We conducted user interviews with a mix of male and female home cooks ranging in age from 24-60. Interview questions ranged from how often and when people cook to how they find/share recipes and how if they meal prep. We also asked about go to comfort foods and if when they alter recipes and why. The interviews informed our original OKRs into a smaller MVP list of function features.
Card Sorting
In addition to interviewing we asked each participant to complete a ranking of most important to least of related things.
Prototyping & Testing
Document, share, tweak
People want an easier way to organize, save, share, and collaborate on recipes.
Key Insights
MVP Features
1. Digitize / Upload Recipes
In order to use Heirlum, users are encourage to upload a recipe via the mobile app.
2. Edit Recipes / Add Memories
Tweaking a recipe to meet tastes & restrictions is a core feature. Adding a memory / history of a dish makes it part of your family recipes.
3. Share Recipes / Collaborate on Cookbooks
Sending and receiving dishes to friends and family helps users build cookbooks.
Upload a recipe
Add a memory
Cook a meal
Users can do the same tasks of the mobile app on desktop, however the desktop-focused website is built more for manual recipe input and an expanded viewing experience.
Business Case
Making that cheddar
Heirlum uses a freemium model for it’s primary revenue stream.
Peanut butter & jelly
Brands that we think would make great partners and would integrate well into our user flow make.
Instacart - Users can have groceries delivered straight to their door, with just a couple taps from a recipe’s detail page.
The Knot - Friends and family can submit recipes to a couples registry, the result is a beautiful printed cookbook ready for the big day.
Artifact Uprising - Users can and customize and print high-quality cookbooks that were created on the platform.
Branding
Looks good enough to eat
Heirlum was in spired by a carrot picked from a co-founder’s garden.
The multicolored gradient chosen, makes for an exciting and engaging brand and reflects being creative in the kitchen.
Main Takeaways
More than just recipes
Over the course of this project I learned a lot about the motivations of peoples cooking habits and the special recipes they go-to. It also shined a light on the flaws of the current recipe site ecosystem. Navigating a sea of ads and managing dozens of sites/logins only to find you don’t have the necessary ingredients or time to make the dish. As the pandemic has changed the way we eat it is a perfect time to make healthier changes, save money, and connect with those we care about.