Menuvo was built as part of a one-week hack challenge with the goal of launching a 0-to-1 product. As the only designer on the team, I was responsible for end-to-end product design from an idea to engineer handoff.
Role
Product Designer Interaction Designer
Timeline
May 2026 (one week)
Skills
UX Research, Prototyping, Figma
Team
3 backend developer, 2 iOS developer, 1 designer
Our Objective
What inspired us?
As students (and food lovers), we wanted to focus on an aspect on our life that was overlooked once we moved to college: cooking. It was an opportunity for our craft to encourage cooking. Through this product, we explored how sharing, reviewing, and creating recipes with friends can encourage cooking.
Research
How do we encourage recipe tracking and cooking?
We conducted user interviews on 4 people who regularly cook.
"I save recipes constantly, but rarely revisit to cook them since they're spread across various platforms."
"I am more likely to follow a recipe when a friend shares something they've followed."
"Sometimes when following recipes, I make changes to how it is made but there's no way to note these details."
Exploring similar products.
1
Beli
Able to browse restaurant reviews from friends
Food discovery with a social aspect
Shared notes on specific dishes
2
Recipe Keeper
Not intuitive UI
For recipe storage rather than personal expression
All features are solitary
3
Pepper - Recipe Organizer
4
Rye: Recipes & Meal Planner
5
Pestle: Recipe Manager
A recurring pattern in Pestle, Pepper, and Rye is that essential features are hidden behind paywalls, making them inaccessible from the start. While we couldn't tackle monetization and accessibility in our one-week hackathon, this insight inspired us to create Menuvo as an open and accessible alternative.
Beli encourages food exploration with friends, something we wish to showcase in our app. With this in mind, we wanted to elevate a typical recipe tracking app with a social twist. After conducting user interviews and competitive analysis, we identified the main pain points and drew key insights.
Key Insights
Flexibility is key
People break rules, even in cooking
Trust accumulates through people
A friend's recommendation carries more weight
Saving recipes isn't cooking
Scattered recipes across various apps rarely make it to the kitchen
the solution
Menuvo: Where Recipes Meet Community
menuvo
A social app for sharing, creating, and reviewing recipes with friends.
Cooking just got more fun.
design process
What are the main parts of our solution?
01
DISCOVER
A feed allowing users to explore recipes from people they follow, adding a social dimension to recipe discovery. In each recipe card, reviews enables users to leave notes, ratings, and suggestions on recipes.
CREATE
A recipe creation flow designed for users who want to document their own cooking. It breaks the process into two steps: ingredients and steps.
02
03
COOKBOOKS
A system for organizing and saving recipes into collections or categories, making it easy to curate and revisit.
ONBOARDING + PROFILE
A personal space where users can connect with friends. It keeps track of the user's cooking experience.
04
Low fidelity sketches
Medium fidelity iterations
High fidelity prototyping
Final product
Menuvo
REFLECTION
If I had more time...
User Testing
I'd like to test whether Menuvo addresses the pain points — to confirm the design decisions solve the problem.
Branding
Curating a visual identity that centers warmth and distinctiveness
Gamifying the Experience
A trend in many growing products today — encouraging more users to cook
What I learned
1
Feasibility and Usability Pivots
I learned that is important to align designs with technical feasibility and implementation, and that making changes to designs and continuing to iterate builds the best products.
2
Building with Constraints
As a designer, I recognized that ideas that can be brought to life are the strongest.Limitations exudes the best products as it challenged my problem solving skills.
3
Team Collaboration
It was my first time as a designer working in a larger team where everyone had different tasks, expanding my technical skills. Creativity welcomes adaptation and challenges in new settings.
4
Understanding the User
Understanding our designs and code exist to help the community. Beyond the scope of deadlines, intentional design decisions flourish when focusing on what people genuinely need.
