Objective: Create an innovative marketplace app that enhances daily routines by elevating small brands and authentic personal experiences, focusing on designing for good. Develop the mobile user experience, user interface, information architecture, and brand components.
The problem?
Young adults interested in cooking often face barriers such as limited time, lack of knowledge or cooking experience, and overwhelming ingredient research.
Meanwhile, small restaurants struggle to reach new audiences through traditional marketing means, but still want an easy avenue to advertise and share out their passed-down traditions and cuisines.
The solution? It's Crateful!
Crateful is a mobile app focused on helping novice cooks explore new cultures through recipe kits uploaded by small businesses and curated in collaboration with Crateful.
User Personas
Both of my user personas, Sasha and Mateo, were inherently crafted to fit into two target audiences; Novice cooks and Small restaurant owners. Framing design decisions around both persona's goals allowed me to effectively address a typical user's task flow within Crateful's interface.
Novice Cook Persona: Sasha R.
Small Restaurant Owner Persona: Mateo G.
Novice Cook Persona: Sasha R.
Small Restaurant Owner Persona: Mateo G.
User Task Flows
To align to Sasha and Mateo’s goals, I built two distinct user pathways—Shoppers and Partners. Shoppers explore global cuisines and purchase crates, while Partners collaborate with Crateful to feature their recipes on the marketplace.
User Navigation (Information Architecture)
To create a navigation system where users can locate content naturally and confidently, I designed an information architecture that merges the Nested Doll and Hierarchy IA patterns with color-coded tabs, resulting in a visually intuitive UI and navigation experience for all users.
Sketches (Paper prototypes & Crazy 8's)
My Crazy 8 sketches and paper prototypes were evaluated through A/B testing, and insights from user feedback informed subsequent iterations of the design process.
Paper Prototypes (Final chosen direction)
Lo-fi Wireframes
Mid-fi Wireframes
Style Guide
In my visual exploration, I designed a welcoming, nostalgic UI that sparks playful curiosity and aligns with Crateful’s core persona goals. The final style tile reflects this essence through its cohesive color palette, buttons, icons, and logomark seen within the final design.
Final Deliverables: Screens
Designed with both user personas and target audiences in mind, my UI interface was crafted to ensure clear hierarchy, smooth navigation, and simple task flows that help people reach their goals with ease.
The onboarding flow (shown to the left) guides both user groups through personalized paths, setting them up for success and reflecting Crateful’s playful, explorative spirit.
The shopper task flow (bottom left) captures the app's main experience, leading users to explore global flavors and seamlessly move them toward creating and purchasing a crate.
The partner task flow (bottom right) helps restaurant owners initiate collaboration with Crateful mainly through the Profile section.
Shopper task flow: for novice cooks
Partner task flow: for small restaurant owners
Final Deliverables: Prototype Demo
This final video demo showcases how intuitive design choices—like auto-generated crates and guided checklists—make Crateful’s interface cohesive and effortless for all users.
Shopper Task Flow
Partner Task Flow
Final Deliverables: Clickable Prototype
Feel free to interact with the final prototype below! All prototyping was done in Figma.
