Reimagining Recipe Discovery
Setting the Scene
Cooking should be fun and creative—but for many home cooks, recipe apps make the process feel rigid and uninspiring. Step-by-step instructions leave little room for adaptation, and users often struggle to tweak recipes to fit their tastes, dietary needs, or what they have on hand."
For many, cooking is more than following instructions—it’s about experimenting, adding personal touches, and making a dish their own. But current recipe apps don’t support this flexibility, leaving users frustrated when they can’t easily adjust ingredients or explore different flavors.
That’s why I set out to rethink recipe discovery—designing a feature that empowers home cooks to start with a basic recipe and customize it on the fly.
About TOQUE
✔ TOQUE is a recipe-gathering and sharing app designed for novice home cooks.
✔ Their no-frills approach has made them popular among users looking for simple, accessible recipes.
✔ They aim to expand their features to improve customization, sharing, and user engagement.
The Business Challenge
✔ TOQUE struggles with user retention—many users try the app but don’t stick with it.
✔ Users want more than just basic recipes—they need flexibility, inspiration, and better sharing options.
✔ TOQUE is looking for innovative ways to improve engagement and make their app more personalized & interactive.
💡 Why This Matters?
✔ The challenge was not just about adding features but rethinking how users interact with recipes.
✔ This required UX research, ideation, and a fresh approach to customization.
UX Challenges - What Wasn't Working
❌ Sharing Was Clunky - Users couldn’t easily share full recipes with others. Most platforms only allowed sharing a homepage or a screenshot—missing key ingredients, steps, and context.
❌ Too Much Scrolling, Too Little Clarity - Long-winded intros buried the recipe, while vague or missing instructions (like prep time or marination) left users guessing. The experience felt bloated instead of helpful.
❌ No Ingredient Flexibility - Customizing recipes was far from intuitive. Users had to improvise ingredient swaps without guidance—frustrating when cooking with what’s on hand.
❌ Inspiration Was Missing - The experience was functional, but flat. Users wanted more than a recipe—they wanted ideas, cultural twists, and suggestions that sparked creativity in the kitchen.
The Approach
To design a more engaging and flexible recipe experience, I first needed to understand how users interact with cooking apps—what they love, what frustrates them, and what would keep them coming back. Through research and structured ideation, I explored opportunities to make recipe customization effortless while improving sharing and usability.
Understanding Users
What Home Cooks Wanted
📌 User Research Objective:
"To learn about users' likes and dislikes with digital apps related to cooking, recipes, and sharing—identifying motivations, frustrations, and opportunities for improvement."
📌 Key User Research Findings:
✔ Users wanted inspiration—they loved exploring new ideas but often struggled to apply them.
✔ Recipe customizations were common—but users had to figure them out on their own.
✔ Sharing was frustrating—users wanted an easier way to send recipes to friends without workarounds.
✔ Users valued structured content—they wanted clear directions without long-winded stories.
The UX Priorities
That Needed to Change
📌 Based on research insights, the redesign focused on:
✔ Making recipe customization intuitive – Users should be able to tweak dishes effortlessly.
✔ Providing structured yet flexible guidance – Recipes should be clear, but also encourage creativity.
✔ Improving recipe sharing – Users should easily send full recipe details, not just links.
From Problems to Solutions
With clear user frustrations identified, the next step was to define the core problem and explore innovative ways to solve it. My goal was to create a recipe experience that balanced structure with creativity—allowing users to start with a foundational recipe while effortlessly customizing it to fit their needs.
Defining the Problem
📌 Key UX Challenges to Solve:
✔ Users wanted customization options but lacked intuitive ways to modify recipes.
✔ Recipe sharing was frustrating—people relied on workarounds instead of built-in features.
✔ Users wanted inspiration but felt stuck in rigid step-by-step formats.
How Might We Unlock Innovation?
The aim wasn’t just to help users find recipes—it was to ignite creativity in the kitchen.
This section highlights the path from uninspired ingredients to playful meal customization to playful meal customization, where users have access to a feature called Flavor Flip. The experience encourages confident experimentation.
💭 Flip the Problem
What if the goal was to intentionally explore bad ideas? This thought exercise removed creative pressure and surfaced unexpected, fun ideas—including early prototypes of “Finish the Dish.”
➡️ Led to: early sketches of what became Flavor Flip.
🔍 Focus on What Works - Users already enjoy structure and discovery. Instead of reinventing the wheel, the solution leaned into known behaviors and made them interactive.
➡️ Led to: Flip buttons that let users tweak a recipe by vibe, flavor, or region.
🍴 Slice the Problem - Complex customization often overwhelms. The experience was broken into manageable moments: start with a base, then enhance it intuitively.
➡️ Led to: The two-step Flavor Flip: select → customize.
🔄 Challenge the Defaults - Traditional recipes are often rigid. This challenge inspired a more fluid approach—treating recipes as adaptable frameworks rather than static instructions.
➡️ Led to: Real-time recipe editing with flexibility built in.
🎵 Remix Thinking - Music creation apps inspired the experience. Thinking in terms of layering and remixing unlocked new ways to approach flavor.
➡️ Led to: “Mood” categories like Spicy 🌶, Herby 🌿, Tangy 🍋, or Global 🌍.
Delivering Impact
With a clear vision for a more flexible and engaging recipe experience, I brought the concept to life through UX design and prototyping. By prioritizing customization, intuitive sharing, and smart recommendations, the new approach transformed static recipes into a dynamic, personalized cooking experience.
Usability Testing & Learnings
📌 Participants & Methodology
🧪 Evaluated how quickly users could find, customize, and share recipes using the prototype.
📌 Key Insights & User Feedback
🧑🍳 Loved the customization feature but wanted more control over ingredient swaps.
📤 Sharing was significantly improved, making it easier to send full recipe details.
💾 Users wanted an option to save modified recipes for future use.
Key Takeaways
📌 Bringing Structure to Creativity
✔ This project reinforced the balance between structure & user freedom—guiding users while letting them experiment.
📌 Leveraging Ideation for Innovation
✔ Thinking beyond traditional UX unlocked new ways to engage users in cooking apps.
📌 Validating Concepts Through Testing
✔ Usability testing helped refine & strengthen the feature before finalizing the design.
