Cravings and Craft

Cravings and Craft is a personalized food ordering platform designed to move beyond traditional delivery apps by tailoring meals to individual preferences, dietary needs, and lifestyle goals.

The platform includes: A customer-facing mobile, an admin dashboard, transactional email systems and a marketing website to position and onboard users

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Client

Cravings and Craft

Service Provided

Web Design, Web Development, Mobile App, Framer Development

The Problem

Most food delivery platforms are transactional and overwhelming:

Users scroll through long menus without guidance
There is little support for dietary needs or allergies
Decision fatigue leads to poor choices or abandoned sessions
Platforms are optimized for choice, not clarity

At the same time, there is a growing need for:

Personalized nutrition
Convenient daily meal planning
Reliable ordering for families, schools, and organizations

The opportunity was to design a system that reduces friction by making food selection intent-driven rather than option-driven.

Business Goals

The product was designed to support both short-term MVP validation and long-term scalability.

Primary Goals

Validate demand for personalized food ordering
Enable fast onboarding and first-order conversion
Support repeat usage through personalization and subscriptions
Establish a foundation for B2B partnerships (schools, gyms, corporate)

Secondary Goals

Build a system that can scale across:
- Individual users
- Families (beneficiaries)
- Institutional clients
Create a consistent brand experience across all touchpoints

My Role & Scope

I was the sole Product Designer, responsible for:

Product Design

Customer app (mobile)
Admin dashboard (web)

Experience Systems

Transactional email templates
Notifications and feedback states

Marketing & Growth

Marketing website (designed and developed by me using Framer)

Cross-functional Collaboration

Worked closely with engineers on:
- Feature scoping
- UX feasibility
- Technical constraints
- Iteration during development

This required me to operate not just as a designer, but as a product thinker balancing UX, business, and engineering realities.

Constraints & MVP Strategy

We operated under real-world constraints:

Limited budget
Small team
Tight timelines
Evolving product direction
Technical limitations on first build

MVP Philosophy

Instead of building a fully-featured system, I focused on:

Reducing complexity while preserving the core value proposition

The MVP was defined around one key experience:

Helping users quickly discover and order meals that match their preferences

What We Prioritized

Preference onboarding (taste, allergies, diet)
Meal discovery and ordering flow
Basic admin operations
Essential system feedback (emails, toasts)

What We Deliberately Deferred

Advanced recommendation algorithms
Deep analytics dashboards
Complex subscription logic
Overly granular customization

This approach ensured we could launch faster without diluting the product’s core promise.

Research & Key Insights

Given time constraints, research was lean and iterative, combining:

Competitive analysis of existing delivery platforms
Observations of user behavior patterns
Internal stakeholder insights

Key Insights

1. Decision fatigue is a primary pain point

Users don’t want more options — they want relevant options.

2. Personalization must feel effortless

Users are willing to share preferences, but only if the process is simple and rewarding.

3. Trust is critical in food experiences

Allergy handling and dietary alignment require clarity and reassurance.

4. Food is emotional, not just functional

The experience needed to feel warm, familiar, and human, not clinical.

Core Features & Functional Scope

The core design challenge was to translate personal data into actionable experiences.

1. Preference-Driven Onboarding

Instead of generic sign-up flows, we introduced a guided preference system:

Taste profile
Allergies
Dietary goals

Decision:
Keep inputs simple and progressive to avoid drop-off.

2. Beneficiary System

Users can order for others (family members, children, etc.)

Why it matters:

Expands use cases beyond individual ordering
Enables family and institutional scenarios

3. Simplified Discovery

Rather than overwhelming users with full menus:

Meals are filtered and prioritized
Recommendations are context-aware

Goal: Reduce cognitive load and speed up decisions.

4. Feedback & System Clarity

We designed clear system responses:

Toasts (e.g., item added to cart)
Success states (e.g., preference completion)
Transactional emails

This ensured users always knew:

What just happened? What should I do next?

5. Admin Dashboard Design

The dashboard was designed for operational clarity, not visual complexity.

Key considerations:

Clear data hierarchy
Simple workflows
Scalable structure for future features

6. Consistent Design Language

Across app, dashboard, emails, and website:

Unified color system (burgundy & gold)
Consistent typography and spacing
Predictable interaction patterns

This helped create a cohesive product ecosystem, not disconnected interfaces.

Key Trade-offs & Why We Made Them

A significant part of the process involved intentional compromises.

1. Personalization vs Speed

Trade-off:
Advanced personalization engine vs rule-based filtering

Decision:
Start with simple logic to enable faster delivery

2. Feature Depth vs Usability

Trade-off:
Highly customizable flows vs streamlined UX

Decision:
Prioritize simplicity to reduce friction and drop-off

3. Admin Complexity vs Efficiency

Trade-off:
Comprehensive dashboard vs lightweight MVP

Decision:
Focus on essential workflows first

4. Design Perfection vs Delivery Timeline

Trade-off:
Polished visuals vs shipping on time

Decision:
Prioritize functional clarity over visual perfection in early stages

Collaboration with Engineering

I worked closely with the engineering team throughout the project.

Key Responsibilities

Translating product ideas into clear, buildable designs
Aligning on technical feasibility
Making real-time adjustments during development

Approach

Shared context early, not just final designs
Discussed trade-offs openly
Adjusted flows based on technical constraints

Example

In some flows, we simplified interactions due to backend limitations.
Rather than forcing complex solutions, we redesigned experiences to fit the system while maintaining clarity.

This collaboration ensured that:

Design decisions were not isolated — they were grounded in reality.

Website & Framer Development Process

I independently designed and developed the marketing website using Framer.

Goals

Communicate the product clearly
Position the brand as modern and premium
Support onboarding and partnerships

Approach

Structured content for clarity and flow
Focused on informational storytelling, not aggressive conversion
Built responsive layouts directly in Framer

Impact

Reduced dependency on engineering
Enabled faster iteration
Maintained design consistency across product and marketing

Outcome

While still evolving, the design approach enabled:

1. Clear User Flows

Users can move from onboarding to ordering with minimal friction.

2. Reduced Cognitive Load

Simplified interfaces improved usability and decision-making.

3. Scalable Foundation

The system supports future expansion into:

Subscriptions
Institutional partnerships
Advanced personalization

4. Consistent Brand Experience

Across app, dashboard, emails, and website.

What I Learned as a Product Designer

This project reinforced that product design is not about creating perfect screens — it is about making informed decisions under constraints.

Key Takeaways

Clarity beats complexity
Simple, well-structured experiences outperform feature-heavy designs.
Constraints drive better decisions
Limitations helped prioritize what truly matters.
Collaboration is critical
Good design happens through alignment with engineering and business.
Consistency builds trust
A unified system creates a more reliable experience.
MVP is about learning, not completeness
Shipping the right core experience matters more than building everything.