Users are compelled to try recipes from all over the world. “What do you want to eat?” becomes “Where do you want to go?”
Timeline
3 weeks (May 2021)
Disciplines
Product Design
Branding
Team
Sam de Vries (Visual)
Yassine van der Wal (UX)
Gijs Laarman (Front-end)
Peppe-Quint Boorgaard (Front-end)
Arimit Bhattacharya (Visual & UX)
During my internship at Dept, I worked with a team of fellow interns on an app concept which uses the Spoonacular API to create an alternate recipe app. It was a collaborative, high-pace exercise meant to introduce us to the working processes at Dept, and we got ourselves a fun, novel app out of it.
As the world was stuck at home, many of us had been eating the same old meals on loop. Often when we crave something different, we try new places…something which wasn’t quite safe at the time.
Food Nomad is an app concept which doesn’t just bring the world’s cuisines to a phone, but wraps it in an experience which pushes people towards exploration.
As they pick their destination, they receive a warm welcome based on the country they visit.
After picking their diet, they are presented 4 recipes at a time. If none of the dishes take their fancy, they can shuffle them to get 4 new choices. This adds a sense of commitment to the act of glazing over endless lists on traditional recipe blogs, almost mimicking a food stall setting.
The recipe selection takes into account the user’s dietary preferences, combined with a thorough filtering system which lets them pick the number of ingredients, go for healthier dishes, and include or exclude specific ingredients.
We dropped in some handy tools into the recipe summaries, such an ingredient checklist, as well as a heads-up on any special utensils that may be necessary.
The recipes themselves are broken up into steps in an Instagram-story-like pattern, making long recipes more approachable. This is another instance where we prioritised playfulness and engagement over reading efficiency.
Little tidbits of cultural identifiers are sprinkled throughout the country screen, contributing to an ambience. We also include a video section with a selection of tutorial-style videos, for people who prefer that format.
The colour palette supports the visual identity through a warm, inviting yellow—a common colour in a majority of dishes which also plays off globally recognisable travel signage.
Aaaand touchdown! Thank you for flying with Food Nomad ✈️