Peek & Pick

Project Overview

I often find that when I’m hungry, I can’t think of what to eat, until I see something that sparks my appetite. Peek & Pick is a product of this struggle. It’s a visual, swipe-based food app that lets users explore dishes by mood and craving, whether they’re from nearby restaurants, other home cooks, or users' personal recipes. The goal is to make choosing what to eat feel light, intuitive, and emotionally driven.

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The Problem

When feeling hungry, many users experience "appetite paradox", a low appetite combined with decision fatigue regarding what to eat. The mental effort required to search recipes, check feasibility, and select a meal often results in delaying eating or settling for sub-optimal, uninspired choices.

Design Process

The Solution

I Designed a highly visual, gesture-based mobile application that minimizes cognitive load during the meal selection process. Peek & Pick utilizes full-screen food photography to instantly spark inspiration, providing quick contextual filters and streamlined actions that convert visual desire into a practical meal plan, whether through cooking or ordering.

Target Users: Individuals who:

Struggle with low appetite or decision fatigue when hungry.

Prefer visual inspiration over long, text-based searches.

Need quick, context-aware suggestions (e.g., "fast meal" or "gentle food").

Design Goals

Overcome Cognitive Load: Make the primary interaction effortless and intuitive.

Prioritize Visuals: Leverage high-resolution photography to immediately trigger appetite.

Provide Context: Allow users to instantly filter by feasibility (source, time, ingredients).

Connect Inspiration to Action: Offer clear next steps (Cook/Order/Save) directly from the visual feed.

Key Features

Source Filter Tabs

• Description: Four pill options—Restaurants, Community, My Recipes, Mixed. Instantly filters the deck.

• Rationale (Instant Feasibility Check): The single biggest block to meal selection is feasibility. By filtering the source upfront, the user only sees options relevant to their current goal (e.g., ordering delivery vs. cooking a personal favorite), eliminating immediate option paralysis.

Mood & Filter

• Description: Multi-select chips like Warm, Gentle, Quick, Low-Effort, High-Protein, Vegetarian. Refine the feed.

• Rationale (Dynamic Personalization): Allows users to quickly define their current mood or physical state (especially important when appetite is low) without typing or navigating complex menus, directly combating the need for mental energy.

Pantry Toggle

• Description: "Use My Pantry" switch to boost dishes based on the uers's available ingredients.

• Rationale (Smart Contextual Awareness): Links the user's inspiration to the reality of their kitchen. By increasing the likelihood of a successful meal choice, the app reduces the mental friction of checking lengthy ingredient lists.

Core Interactions

Swipe Deck

• Description: Full-screen food photos. Right = Cook/Order, Left = Skip, Up = Save. Includes a Card Overlay with title/tags and the next card peeking behind.

• Rationale (Effortless Interaction): Swiping is a low-effort, high-speed input method that minimizes mental drag compared to scrolling or searching text. The full-screen visuals maximize the appetite-sparking effect, making the decision process feel intuitive and rapid.

Dish Detail Modal(on Tap)

• Description: Shows large photos, Ingredients, 3-5 short Instructions, Action Buttons (Cook Now, Order It, Find Similar or save to favourites).

• Rationale (Structured Revelation): Prevents overwhelming the user. Key details are hidden until the initial inspiration (the photo) is confirmed, allowing the user to transition from passive viewing to active planning gradually, rather than being hit with a full recipe instantly.

Resume