Making everyday meal planning
a little easier

To translate the research into a concrete design direction, I developed personas and user journeys representing different caregiving contexts and routines.

Mapping the experience helped reveal that the main problem was not simply finding recipes. It was connecting several decisions that were already happening around the meal: who I am cooking for, what I have available and what I need to do next.

This became the foundation for the concept.

I used card sorting to explore how the different pieces of information could be organised from the user’s perspective, then defined an information architecture around five main areas:

The structure created the foundation for a more connected experience, where information about the person being cared for and ingredients available at home could directly influence what the user could do.

The concept grew around two familiar metaphors: the recipe book and the pantry.

Instead of asking users to begin with an empty search, Foodist could start from what they already had at home. Available ingredients could lead to relevant recipes, while the assisted person’s profile could help filter out unsuitable ingredients and account for personal preferences.

I explored the experience through sketching and wireframing, progressively defining the main interactions and flows.

The interface brought together personalised recipe suggestions, pantry management, shopping lists, nutritional information, reminders and a Zero Waste area.

I then developed the UI, design system and high-fidelity prototype, paying particular attention to accessibility, including legibility, colour contrast and interaction clarity.

The aim was to make the experience feel supportive rather than demanding — helping users make decisions without asking them to manage more information.

Testing accompanied the design process across three rounds, moving from early low-fidelity interactions towards the final high-fidelity prototype.

The first round involved three participants completing 14 tasks through think-aloud testing. It revealed issues in terminology, navigation and several core interactions.

I then used a cognitive walkthrough to examine how easily users could understand and anticipate key actions within the experience.

The final high-fidelity prototype was tested with four participants across 14 tasks. The sessions helped refine the pantry interaction, profile management, feedback and other details that were not immediately visible during the initial design.

Each round informed the next, allowing the experience to become progressively clearer and more intuitive.

Foodist became a high-fidelity interactive Figma prototype designed around the everyday reality of informal caregivers.

The final experience connects recipes, pantry, shopping and personalisation, allowing information to move between different parts of the system instead of requiring users to manage each task separately.

The result is a food experience designed not only to help people decide what to cook, but to reduce the cognitive effort surrounding that decision.

I worked across the entire design process — from research and problem definition to information architecture, interaction design, UI, prototyping and usability testing.

Foodist reinforced the idea that good interaction design is not necessarily about adding more functionality.

Sometimes the most valuable intervention is to connect information that people are already managing and make the next step feel obvious.

The project pushed me to think about how research can directly shape interaction decisions — not as a separate phase before design, but as something that continues to inform the experience throughout the process.