Maternity
Chef
An application that mediates between new mothers and volunteers who want to cook for them in the postpartum period
The application was made as part of a final project for the UX/UI Course at Netcraft Academy, November 2020.
How things
work
Today?
When I thought about creating the "Maternity Chef" app, I first tried to figure out how things work today.
I realized that the coordination process between the new moms and the volunteers is done by a group manager of each city or neighborhood.
The manager edits and updates a list of expectant mothers and potential volunteers and publishes a post calling for action at the moment of truth. Whoever can help: cooks a meal for the new mothers according to their preferences - vegetarian, vegan, kosher, or sensitive to certain ingredients.
The volunteers bring the package all the way to the new mom's home.
The group's manager coordinates between the volunteers and the new moms, hoping that each one of them will receive three meals a week after returning from the hospital with the baby.
I continued my research clearly on which apps and sites to coordinate meals exist in the market.
I found several products that deal with meal coordination; the main one is the "Meal train" site.
The main idea of all those sites is the same - creating a support group for individuals, groups, or communities, and coordinate between them and the volunteers.
All products used calendar, form filling, gift card options, financial contributions, social media sharing options, ability to list preferences for a particular food and allergies, reminders, and re-editing options.
In "Maternity Chef," I focus on a specific community of postpartum women and volunteers and their needs. Starting with the practical needs for meal coordination and later on in creating a private social media for the community.
The
Market
Personas
From this point in the process, I set myself the main goals of the app:
1
Streamlining of current conduct
2
Consolidating all community activities into one platform.
Goals
3
Creating a greenhouse for the community, a private place for their activities.
Methods
Then I defined courses of action to realize the goals I had set
Then I defined courses of action to realize the goals I had set
Giving the volunteer the option to add a cooking event to the calendar
1
The scenario as a volunteer
Enters app
Sign in
Enters to moms feed
Filters preferences
Enters a new mom's tab
Adds a cooking day to the calendar
The scenario as a new mom
Clicks on user icon
Switches to "Mom" role
Fills out a questionnaire
Enters to community feed
Continues to post feed
Writes a comment to a post
Checks messages
Prototype
Prototype
Visual language
#5ba2ca
#f9e27a
Colors
#024e4c
#428d88
#f02235
#fc9891
Icons
Buttons
Fields
&
Fonts
Illustrations
Sample posts from the "Sirey Leida" group on Facebook
1
Tal Berkovich, 40
Human resources manager
Married+2
Lives in Raanana
I've been looking for a place to volunteer for some time. Last Thursday, I met Daphne in my son's soccer class. She told me about her plan to cook for a new mom in the neighborhood. I fell in love with the idea of helping a new mom by providing a homemade cooking package.
Daphne told me about the Maternity Chef community, and at the moment, I decided that I want to be a part of this beautiful project."
2
Yael Sharvit, 34
Social Worker
Married+2
Lives in Tel-Aviv
"I gave birth to my second daughter about two weeks ago and I'm still recovering from the cesarean section. My husband is a doctor who works around the clock during this crazy period of the corona, and my parents live abroad.
I wish I had more time and energy to cook healthy food for my family and me. Sometimes I just want a supportive environment that will make me feel part of a big family."
Audience
Target
Next, I defined the target audience and personas of the app. The persona can be a mother and/or a volunteer:
-
Women aged 25-45
-
Mothers
-
Married or single status
-
Abroad spectrum of pursuits
-
Any economic status
"Maternity Chef" is based on the "Sirey Leida" project, which is a community and neighborhood project to support postpartum women, primarily in cooking fresh food, but also socially and emotionally.
Today, the project takes place on Facebook and Whatsapp platforms. In Israel, almost every city has an active group of "Sirey Leida."
Scenario
User
The user scenario focuses on persona No. 1, Tal Berkovich, a volunteer user. In the future, the same persona will become a new mom herself.
Conclusions
I'm glad I had the chance to create an app for an existing project. Taking the needs of the "Sirey Leida" community and building one platform for all their activities was a challenging and fascinating process for me.
If I had more time for the project, I would have created more illustrations at the UI level and would have done usability tests at the UX level.
The experience of providing a technological solution to a voluntary organization has inspired me to create or integrate more such projects in the future.