Now that I’ve decided to pursue the cooking challenge , I need to further develop the concept to design an app product that will stand out from the crowd.
Time prevents me from delving into the much deeper market research exercise that I would undertake, if this were a product that I intended to actually launch. Without this constraint, I would have spent a lot more time analysing the market for the existence of cooking challenge apps, and gaining a more thorough understanding of what the market wants and needs, and what it doesn’t. However, the research that I have done indicates a gap in the market, and so I aim to exploit that gap with a concept that encapsulates the following elements:
- Government agencies are pushing for people to reduce their consumption of takeaway and convenience meals
- There is a general upward trend toward wanting to adopt and maintain a healthier diet
- The most popular reasons for not cooking at home include:
- people are busy and don’t have the (perceived?) time to cook at home as frequently as they should (and could)
- a perception that convenience foods are much cheaper than fresh foods
- People like recipe apps and “food porn”
- People enjoy communal food judgement
So I came up with the concept of “The Quick Cook Challenge” – The only app where you can find or share the recipes that suit your lifestyle, and celebrate your culinary successes, and disasters, with the community.
The app will provide a double hook, encouraging users to the platform who:
- want to share their recipes and try new recipes posted by other community members
- seek the entertainment value of judging the efforts of the community.
Next, I will look at the flow of the app, and design screen layout prototypes to deliver the features of the concept…
My Journey to App Success 