Monkey Business

Prototype link (Please submit a link to a playable prototype, not a link to your design file) Link
Describe your project (max 150 words) Our project is a social cooking application that allows users to find recipes and fosters a community of individuals who want to progress their cooking skills, show off their skills, or make friends. The entire purpose of the application is to allow students to become more proactive in cooking by encouraging social interaction among undergraduate students. Undergraduate students suffer from inconsistent eating schedules, the inability to cook, and lack of time. We wanted to help reinforce good eating habits for students by gamifying it and incentivizing it by providing checkpoints and challenges that students can overcome whether it be solo or with a group of people. We wanted to help bridge the gap between physical needs such as hunger and facilitating a social experience, which is something that undergraduate students tend to struggle with, especially when first coming into college.
Describe your research process and findings. If you conducted any surveys or interviews, please include the survey form and/or interview questions here. If you conducted secondary research by pulling from online sources, please include a link to your sources. (Max 500 words)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mODCbU0Ift3tREssTks5TgYxTAaV4h-_pXsN8vas6S0/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.vv1vo8uti2g5 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9yqxUWsFsBEskS-W5fDJXia7pCi4z5WI41bTVRrQLJhR2FQ/viewform?usp=sf_link Our research process consisted of conducting market research, while also surveying students currently enrolled in undergrad through implementing a Google Form survey to help conduct need finding. Our research process consisted of first: identifying apps on the current market that already have similar characteristics to our idea. We wanted to identify what each application did well or did poorly. Secondly, we sent out our survey to our peers to gain a better understanding of the general problem, so we then could compare what issues people had versus what the market is currently offering as solutions to see where we could create something that could bridge the gap. We were able to gain 30 responses to our survey, then reviewed our data and gathered insights into the issue. The main challenge students faced when trying to cook was the lack of time, experience, and material, which had 63% of responses. This was followed by not having enough groceries or money, which consisted of 16.6% of respondents. The latter consisted of lack of space, energy, and knowledge. The next questions were to gauge the social aspect of our app. We wanted to see how often people cooked with their friends. 55.6% of people responded with 1’s and 2’s signifying that it was not often, 20% consisted of 3’s as neutral, and 23.4% responded with 4’s and 5’s signifying often. We also wanted to see how likely people were to invite their friends to cook with them– surprisingly a combined 73.3% of people responded with 3 or greater, which did display a decent or extreme likelihood of inviting friends. Then we tested the option of finding new people to cook with, and it was well received. 60% of people replied with a 4 or greater, which signifies that people are willing to branch out and meet new people to cook with. Lastly, we wanted to see if people view cooking as a way to bond with others. 76.7% replied with yes. With the majority of people responding with yes– that helped push the development of our idea in creating a social food application. We realized that many people are open to the idea of cooking more with their friends and new people, so we wanted to create a platform where people could do that.

Describe your most important design decisions. What research findings and/or user testing results led you to make these decisions? (Max 500 words) Our most important design decisions were integrating community building features, such as the chat and group options. We tried to understand the success between various social applications, despite the limited rewards that they may offer. Through competitive analysis, we realized that many social applications entail a sense of urgency or fitting in, which garners a greater desire to participate. And through user research, we learned that many undergraduates experience limited cooking abilities, which often goes overlooked and accepted, as the way things are. We incentivized users by giving them challenges, and prestige levels to gain a sense of satisfaction, while they gain new experiences that will allow them to develop long-lasting skills and connections.