Project Details

Back Story

Problem Discovery

Solution

Reflection & Next Steps

Mise

Where better meals begin.

—————————— Project Details ——————————

Timeline: September - Present

Project type: Personal

Tools used: Figma, FigJam, Adobe Fresco, Notion, Pen & Paper

My role: UX Research, UX/UI Design, Interaction Design, Prototyping

——————————— Back Story ———————————

Cooking has always been a personal form of expression for me. As someone who cooks often, especially for friends, I began noticing how difficult it is to actually manage a full meal: juggling dietary restrictions, coordinating preparation and timing, and ensuring dishes finish together.

Even though I use many food and cooking apps, I realized that most focus on teaching beginners how to cook or helping people discover recipes, but very few support the experience of preparing and hosting a meal. The real work happens behind the scenes: planning, organising, and bringing people together through food.

Mise (short for "Mise en Place") was born from that gap: a personal exploration into how a digital tool could support the invisible but essential parts of cooking for others, while celebrating the joy and identity we express through shared meals.

————————— Problem Discovery —————————

User research, pain point analysis and technical feasibility

  1. User Research

Primary Research

I interviewed several individuals who cook for themselves and others. Key insights included:

  • Difficulty coordinating multiple dishes at once.

  • Stress around timing: "Will everything finish at the same time?"

  • Pressure around accommodating dietary restrictions.

  • Desire for tools that reduce mental load rather than teach basics.

Secondary Research

Common pain points found on Reddit & online communities:

  • Decision fatigue — choosing what to cook is exhausting.

  • Dietary juggling — restrictions, preferences, allergies.

  • Multiple dish coordination — managing oven space, timing, prepping.

  • Frustration with recipes — long intros, unclear steps.

  • Forgetting to prep/defrost.

  1. Pain Points

Pain Point 1

Menu planning overload: Choosing dishes that fit everyone’s dietary needs and kitchen constraints is overwhelming.

Pain Point 2

Multi-dish coordination: Timing dishes across stove, oven, chopping, marinating, etc., is difficult.

Pain Point 3

Dietary & ingredient filtering: Hard to find recipes that align with restrictions and equipment.

  1. User Personas

I chose to focus on intermediate home cooks and above. Most existing apps target beginners, but intermediate cooks have underserved needs around planning, timing, and orchestration.

Steve

Experienced home cook who hosts friends. Needs help coordinating dietary needs.

The Confident Home Cook

Priya

Intermediate home cook who hosts regularly. Loves cooking but struggles with managing timing and restrictions.

Organized Food Enthusiast

Priya

Advanced cook with lots of equipment. Wants efficient, organized workflows.

The Culinary Professional

  1. Problem Definition

Cooking for others is rewarding but mentally demanding. Intermediate and advanced home cooks lack tools that support:

Menu planning

Multi-dish timing

Group dietary management

How might we help home cooks plan, prepare, and execute multi-course meals with confidence?

  1. User Journey

Priya

Intermediate home cook who hosts regularly. Loves cooking but struggles with managing timing and restrictions.

Organized Food Enthusiast

1. Profile Setup
Kitchen equipment, dietary identity, cooking skill.

2. Meal Event Creation
Invite friends → gather dietary profiles → app builds unified filter.

3. Plan / Decision Phase
Choose menu theme → swap dishes → adjust ingredients.

4. Prepare / Pre-Cook Setup
See combined ingredient list + prep timeline.

5. Cook / Execution Phase
Synchronized steps, notifications, timers.

6. Completion / Post-Meal
Save, rate, share menu → auto-learning system.

——————————— Solution ———————————

  1. Key Features to Include

Dietary Sync Engine

Aggregates restrictions from all invited guests and filters recipe suggestions automatically.

Equipment-Aware Menu Planning

Understands what tools the user has (ovens, burners, pans) to avoid conflicts.

Multi-Dish Timing Assistant

Synchronizes cook times so all dishes finish together.

  1. Wireframes & UI Decisions

  1. Home Page

    • Welcome message

    • "What do you want to cook today?"

    • Upcoming events

    • Featured recipes

    • Navigation with quick + button to start a new event.

  2. Menu Planning Pages

    • Select courses

    • Choose menu themes

    • Swap recipes

  3. Ingredients Page

    • Toggle: "All Ingredients" vs. "By Dish"

    • Grouped by produce, pantry, dairy.

  4. Cooking Mode

    • Clean, minimal interface

    • Timers synced across dishes

    • Voice-friendly navigation

  1. Prototype

——————— Reflections & Next Steps ———————

  1. What I Found Challenging

  • Narrowing down the scope of the project — the problem space was broad.

  • Determining the target audience. Initially, I wondered whether to include beginners, but focusing on intermediate cooks clarified the direction.

  • Synthesizing diverse research sources into a clear problem statement.


  1. What I Learned

This project taught me the importance of defining a clear, focused problem space. Early on, I struggled with narrowing the scope and identifying who I was truly designing for. Through research and iteration, I learned how to refine my direction without losing the heart of the idea.

I also deepened my understanding of accessibility and visual clarity. Paying attention to margins, consistent styles, and maintaining a minimum 16px font size helped me design with inclusivity in mind. It reinforced a key lesson: accessibility isn’t an add-on — it’s essential to creating a thoughtful, usable product.


  1. Next Steps

Moving forward, I plan to refine the design to ensure full accessibility, polish incomplete components, and strengthen the overall system for consistency. Once the design is fully matured, my goal is to bring this concept to life — either by collaborating with engineers as a product manager or by learning the technical skills myself to begin building a working prototype.