Vallabh Vinnakota | Product and UX Designer

WA2COOK

A Smart Recipe Search & Nutrition Platform

A B2C mobile app, that enables users search for recipes by emphasizing nutrition, affordability, and convenience. The platform was designed to empower users to make informed food choices using a recipe search engine that factors in chefs, ingredients, cuisine, calories, and nutrition value.

UX Design

Product Strategy

Marketing

Client

WA2DO

Role

Founding Product Designer

Success goals

Smart

Recipe suggestions

Effortless

Meal planning

Quick

Cooking guidance

Personalized

Recommendations

Intuitive

Search flow

Nutritious

Meal planning

Challenges

Indecisiveness

With countless meal choices, users often felt stuck, spending too much time deciding what to cook. The absence of personalized recommendations made browsing overwhelming.

Overplanning

Users struggled to plan meals efficiently, often forgetting key ingredients, mismanaging portions, or underestimating preparation and cooking time.

Nutritional uncertainty

Users aiming to follow specific diets (e.g., keto, vegan, or low-sodium) found it increasingly challenging to consistently align their recipe choices with their nutritional goals and cooking habits.

Impact and outcomes

Adoption

Achieved 100K+ downloads in the first year, generating $4M+ revenue through partnerships and premium features.

Engagement

Increased retention rates with the meal planner feature, boosting repeat visits and driving a 4.7/5 user rating.

Empowerment

Reduction in recipe discovery time empowered users to prepare balanced and nutritious meals.

Approach

Personalization

I designed an AI-driven recommendation system that curated recipe ideas based on user preferences, cooking habits, and dietary needs. This allowed users to discover fresh ideas while ensuring meals aligned with their lifestyle.

Planning

To simplify meal preparation, I introduced a weekly meal planner with interactive guidance. Users could easily drag-and-drop recipes into their schedule and generate organized shopping lists for the ingredients needed.

Nutrition

I incorporated a nutrition guide that highlighted calorie counts, macros, and portion control tips directly within recipes. This empowered users to make informed choices aligned with their wellness goals.

Work