Daily Pick: A healthy recipe app informed by user research
Product Design
May - August 2025
User Research, User Flows, Wireframing, Prototyping, Visual Design
Overview
Daily Pick is a recipe app designed to take the friction out of healthy cooking. User insights revealed that the main barriers to home cooking and healthy eating are limited time and uncertainty about which meals are healthy for each user.
To address this, I designed a personalized onboarding flow that guides users to meals matching their dietary needs, allergies, and health goals. The home screen features a time-based hero recipe as an instant starting point. Recipe cards show key information (calories, cooking time, difficulty) to support quick decisions, while time filters help users find recipes that fit their schedule.
Who Are Daily Pick Users?
The app is designed for people who want to cook healthier meals at home. It can be used by people of all ages and genders, regardless of their cooking experience. The main focus is on those who want to make a change in their eating habits by preparing healthy meals.
Qualitative Research
I conducted interviews with 4 individuals to better understand people’s cooking habits and challenges. The goal was to learn about their daily routines, motivations, and pain points when it comes to cooking and eating healthy at home.
Sample Questions
What makes it hard for you to cook healthy meals at home?
What usually motivates you to cook instead of ordering food?
When you want to try a new recipe, where do you usually find it?
If you could design your perfect cooking app, what feature would it have?
Key Insights
Time
Many participants struggle to find enough time to cook, especially during the week.
Health
Most participants want to eat healthier, but find it difficult to understand what’s truly “healthy” for them.
Simplicity
Users want an app that’s easy to use, with a clean layout, clear steps, and minimal effort to navigate.
Features
Users want smarter tools, such as being able to add ingredients they already have to get recipe ideas.
Quantitative Research
I created and shared a survey in online forums, gathering responses from 41 individuals through a mix of open-ended and close-ended questions. The goal was to gain broader insights into cooking habits, motivations, and challenges to identify patterns among potential users.
Sample Questions
How often do you cook at home?
How confident are you in your cooking skills?
How do you prefer to learn new recipes?
How important is “healthiness” when choosing what to cook?
Describe one thing that would make cooking easier or more enjoyable for you.
Key Insights
60%
Cook at home almost every day.
50%
Feel confident in their cooking skills.
58%
Prefer learning through written recipes.
73%
Said healthiness is important when it comes to cooking.
Problem Statement
While users are motivated to eat healthier, limited time and a lack of nutritional clarity prevent them from expanding their cooking habits or staying consistent.
Strategic Solutions
To address limited time and unclear nutrition, I focused on four design strategies.
Personalized Onboarding
By filtering for dietary needs, allergies, and health goals, onboarding ensures every recommendation is safe and fits their needs.
Featured Recipe
By highlighting a time-based featured recipe, the home screen gives users a clear starting point and encourages them to commit to a recipe.
Recipe Cards with Key Information
By showing calories, cooking time, and difficulty upfront, recipe cards help users make quick decisions without digging through pages.
Cooking Time Filter
By including a cooking time filter, the search lets users find recipes that fit their schedule.
User Flows
I created user flows to visualize the steps users might take within the app, focusing on the three main flows to ensure the navigation is simple and intuitive.
Wireframes & Iterations
I developed mid-fidelity wireframes to iterate on layouts, address challenges like vertical bloat, and ensure users can scan the interface efficiently.
High-Fidelity Prototypes
Onboarding & Personalization
To provide nutritional clarity, onboarding captures dietary needs and goals upfront. By doing this, the app removes the extra effort of manual filtering, ensuring every recommendation is relevant from the very first screen.
Home Screen
The home screen is designed for quick decisions. A featured recipe surfaces immediately, giving users a clear place to start, while personalized carousels adapt to dietary preferences and goals, offering curated selections.
Recipe Detail Page
The Recipe Detail page helps users understand everything about a recipe. Users can add ingredients directly to their grocery list, making meal prep simple, while social cues (such as how many others are cooking the dish) provide extra motivation for healthy eating.
Cooking Mode
Survey respondents wanted an integrated timer to better manage multiple tasks while cooking. Cooking Mode delivers this through clear, step-by-step instructions with images, required ingredients, and built-in timers.
Searching & Filtering
Based on user research, users wanted to find recipes using ingredients they already have at home. Search addresses this with a search-by-ingredient feature, supported by detailed filters that help users find recipes that fit their time constraints, alongside dietary needs and other preferences.
Next Steps
Usability Testing
I plan to test the prototype with real users to identify friction points and usability issues, then iterate. The focus will be on how quickly users can commit to a recipe, validating whether the app effectively addresses their limited time. Cooking Mode will be evaluated in real kitchen environments to ensure the experience remains efficient and stress-free during meal preparation.
Store integration
Once the core experience is validated, I will explore grocery store integrations that allow users to have ingredients delivered directly, as this was highlighted as a valuable feature during user research.