Overview
Especially during and after the pandemic, interest in baking homemade bread has significantly increased, particularly among millennials. This surge is part of a broader trend where individuals seek self-sufficiency and healthier eating habits. Many millennials are drawn to the art of bread-making as a way to develop new skills and enjoy wholesome, homemade products. This generation is already accustomed to technology and enjoys having everything in one place, like a mobile app, while at the same time valuing tradition and high-quality, authentic bread. Baking bread requires performing various tasks at specific time intervals, making it easy to get lost in the process.
Team
Individual
My role
Product Design, Research
Duration
Tools
Figma, ChatGPT
100h
Skills
User Research, Ideation, Interation, Design, Design System, Wireframing, Prototyping, Testing
The problem
Home bakers, especially beginners, often feel overwhelmed by scattered and complex baking instructions.
People who bake bread at home as a hobby or are just starting their journey with baking often get confused by instructions and recipes spread across different sources. They can easily get lost in managing all the dough resting times, and when trying to broaden their knowledge, they’re often met with materials that are too complex and overwhelming.
The Goals & Objective
Core Product Objectives for an Optimized Baking Experience:
Provide clear, step-by-step guidance with timers and visuals to reduce confusion.
Offer accessible tips, explanations, and tools like a baker’s percentage calculator.
Design a calm, intuitive interface to help users stay focused and organized.
The solution
Introducing “Loafly”, a mobile app designed for home bakers that guides users through the entire bread-making process.
Find the recipe that suits you best.
Finding the right recipe can be challenging and time-consuming. In Loafly, users can search for recipes in two ways: by browsing through categories or by using the search bar. The search bar offers suggestions based on the first few letters typed, helping users quickly find relevant recipes.
A clear and easy-to-use Baking Mode for use during the baking process.
Baking Mode breaks down each recipe into clear, manageable steps. Every step includes a photo, a timer, and a helpful tip to guide the user through the process. This makes it easy to follow along while baking, even with messy hands or limited time.
Calculator for more advanced bakers.
The app includes a calculator for working with baker’s percentages, designed for more advanced users who like to experiment with their own recipes. It helps calculate the exact amount of flour, water, and other ingredients based on the desired dough weight.
Let’s see how I got to the solution
Comparative Analysis
The Insights
Overcomplicated for Beginners
– Many features and instructions are overwhelming or unclear for novice bakers.
– There's often a lack of onboarding or simplified baking guidance.Too Much Text, Not Enough Visuals
– Instructions are text-heavy, making it hard to follow while baking.
– Missing step-by-step visuals or images to guide users through the process.Lack of Integrated Tools
– No or poor integration of helpful tools like timers, baker’s percentage calculators, or timeline planners.
– Users have to switch to other apps or do manual calculations.Poor Personalization & Search Experience
– Search functions are limited and not intuitive (e.g., no smart suggestions, filters by flour type, or image-based search).No Learning Support
– No clear way to learn more about baking techniques or ingredients within the app.
– Lacking beginner-friendly explanations or educational content linked directly to recipes.
Qualitative Research
Getting inside the user's perspective
Key objectives
Identify the biggest challenges home bakers face when making bread
Understand how beginners and experienced bakers approach the bread-making process.
Explore what tools or methods home bakers currently use to track recipes and baking steps and how they improve their baking skills
Identify the key features users would find most valuable in a bread-baking app
Details:
5 intervied
Age: 30-57
Diffrent levels of experience
Affinity Mapping
Key insights from the interviews
1. 80% Bake for Control & Enjoyment
Most interviewees started baking to control ingredients, avoid store-bought bread, and enjoy the satisfaction of homemade baking.
2. 100% Use Multiple, Uncentralized Sources
All interviewees mentioned using scattered sources like YouTube, books, or friends—none relied on one centralized app or platform.
3. 60% Struggle with Time & Scheduling
The majority mentioned missing steps, difficulty fitting baking into their routines, or trying to align baking with cheaper electricity hours.
4. 50% Identify as Beginners
Half of the interviewees consider themselves beginner bakers, even if they've baked for years—highlighting a lack of confidence and clarity.
The Discovery
"Sometimes I give up on baking because searching for a good recipe and fitting it into my daily schedule feels overwhelming."
Many home bakers feel overwhelmed by inconsistent recipes and struggle to fit the complex baking process into daily life—highlighting the need for a simple, guided tool that supports them every step of the way.
User Persona
Who am I designing for?
Based on all the insights gathered from the interviews, I created a user persona — a home bread baker and hobbyist.
Needs
Tom needs a clear, structured baking process with reminders, easy-to-follow recipes, and simple explanations that fit into his daily routine and support learning without extra effort.
Customer Journey Map
Understanding the User’s Experience Step by Step
The customer journey map helped me visualize the process a home bread baker goes through, clearly highlighting the moments of irritation and frustration—especially when searching for the right recipe and trying to follow each step while keeping to the correct timing. It also shows what brings them joy—learning interesting facts along the way and achieving a successful, fresh bake at the end.
Defining the scope
Home bread bakers often face fragmented, overly complex resources and struggle to adapt baking processes to fit their daily routines. Many miss key steps due to poor timing guidance, while more advanced bakers lack tools to easily customize their recipes and enrich their knowledge in a way that feels friendly, not overwhelming.
“How might we make bread-baking knowledge more accessible and less overwhelming for everyone?”
Brainstorming
Based on the How Might We...? question I created, I conducted a brainstorming session with ideas for features in the app.
Feature decision
Features that make bread baking easier
I chose features that organize the baking process and guide the user through it without unnecessary information overload. They can easily find a recipe, quickly assess whether it fits into their daily schedule, and smoothly follow each step one by one.
Information Architecture
User Flow Overview
While creating the task flows, I faced uncertainty about whether the calculator should be treated as a separate task flow or integrated into the baking path. After conducting additional research and asking follow-up questions to my interviewees, it became clear that the calculator should function as a standalone tool, separate from the recipe flow.
Low-Fi Wireframes
Translating Concepts into Screens
Take a minute to write an introduction that is short, sweet, and to the point. If you sell something, use this space to describe it in detail and tell us why we should make a purchase. Tap into your creativity. You’ve got this.
