UMOMI

"How might we rekindle the sharing of cultures for users around the world?"

Role

Product Designer

Timeline

March 2023

Team

2 UX Researchers

2 Product Designers

Tools & Skills

Figma

ProCreate

Product Thinking

User Research

Interaction Design

Cooking can bridge cultural gaps, but how can we make it engaging?

My team wanted to provide a platform for individuals to experience new cultures—and, most importantly— an opportunity to come together. Existing recipe platforms often overlook the cultural stories and fail to provide an inclusive, engaging user experience, which we were determined to change.

Cooking can bridge cultural gaps, but how can we make it engaging?

My team wanted to provide a platform for individuals to experience new cultures—and, most importantly— an opportunity to come together. Existing recipe platforms often overlook the cultural stories and fail to provide an inclusive, engaging user experience, which we were determined to change.

We set out to create a platform that respects and celebrates cultural diversity through food.

Our goal was to solve disconnection across cultures and communities through the love of food. We aimed to incentivize home-cooking and culture appreciation by reimagining the recipe discovery process.

How do we promote cultural sensitivity?

Conducting surveys and interviews with college students, we uncovered a strong desire for an inclusive platform that caters to regional variations and dietary needs. Techniques, ingredient accessibility, and cooking methods were crucial for our users, driving us to design a truly inclusive experience.

We delved deep to understand our users’ needs and desires.

What’s missing in the current market?

Existing platforms lack the depth and respect for cultural heritage that we envisioned. They fail to honor the cultural significance of dishes, lack disability-friendly features, and offer limited user engagement. Umomi is designed to fill these gaps by celebrating dish origins, incorporating accessibility tools, and fostering a vibrant community.

For example, we visited mainstream cooking websites such as Tasty.com for a Xiaolongbao recipe. We found that the traditional name and nothing about the recipe’s origins were not mentioned anywhere throughout the site. We concluded that the language used is unenthused and plain. Additionally, no where does it discuss traditional practices.

Research

From this research, we took away three areas of focus to design a fostering and communal recipe app:

Q: What are some challenges you think you will face when trying to make cultural dishes?

We sent out a google form to identify key outlooks in terms of approaching cultural food representation on a global aspect. We had a total of 18 participants who completed our survey, along with 5 user interviews, many of whom were college students.

From our findings, it became evident that a significant number of participants were not comfortable cooking cuisines outside of their own culture. Additionally, there was a compelling interest in reconnecting with their cultural roots, as many expressed feelings of disconnection from their heritage. These insights raise an important question for us: how can we cater to their needs through regional variations, provide guidance on unfamiliar cooking technology, and facilitate the sharing of cultural experiences?

Ideation: User Flow

We explored various concepts to make our platform engaging and educational. We thought of including interactive cultural stories, community engagement features, and collectible recipe postcards to celebrate cultural significance.

Developing our low-fidelity wireframes

We explored various concepts to make our platform engaging and educational. We thought of including interactive cultural stories, community engagement features, and collectible recipe postcards to celebrate cultural significance.

Iterations: Recipe Storytelling


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Final Product


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Encouraging culture sharing through creative mediums.


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Conclusion & Key Takeaways

Designing Umomi has been an incredibly rewarding experience. We plan to expand our user research and partner with cultural grocery chains for ingredient access. This journey underscored the profound impact of empathetic design in creating meaningful and inclusive digital experiences.

We would like the chance to talk with long time home cooks and cultural anthropologists to further gauge how successful our app would be to remedying issues of cultural insensitivity & promoting home-cooking new recipes.

let's connect!

feel free to read my resume and/or contact me ✿

made with love ♡

from vivian nguyen

let's connect!

feel free to read my resume and/or contact me ✿

made with love ♡

from vivian nguyen