Dishly — Minh-Anh Nguyen

Dishly

UI/UX
2025

An app to simplify your meal planning process, tailored to your preferences.

Many college students, including me, struggle with planning meals that fit their budget and available ingredients. This is even more difficult for people with dietary restrictions. So, how can I design a meal planning app that makes the process more enjoyable, that makes our overall experience more considered?

I decided to design an app called Dishly. This is an app that recommends new recipes based on your preferences, time, or ingredients. It also creates a grocery list based on your dietary restrictions and directly links to grocery deals.

The first step I did in this project was to gathering data. It helped me identify key challenges around cooking, from managing food allergies to finding time to prepare meals. It also showed me that people have different needs and barriers, which helped shape my personas and identify opportunities for design.

Based on these insights, I identified two types of users who need extra support with meal planning. This led to two personas: Nina, a busy senior student who struggles to find time to cook, and Maya, who has strict dietary restrictions and needs help finding suitable meals.

The sitemap was developed based on the card-sorting activity in class. The app starts with onboarding, followed by the homepage, which connects to other sections organized by function and user goals

I began by organizing the content and layout before adding interactions, focusing on structure, functionality, and a smooth user experience. I also gathered feedback from classmates to identify areas for improvement

Language and tone: Use clearer, more inclusive language to better communicate the design's purpose

Content organization: Reduce excessive scrolling and explain how the app supports users with medical conditions

Layout: The overall layout received positive feedback, so I kept its main structure

Survey flow: Split the survey into multiple pages instead of placing all questions on one screen, making it easier to complete

In my moodboard, the visual style is fresh and energetic, using teal and yellow as the primary colors. I also prioritized clean, structured typography to keep the interface easy to read. Moving forward, I deveoped the style guide, which includes colors, typography, components, and layout rules to maintain consistency across all pages.