HomePlates
Category:
UX/ UI
Role:
Team Lead
Duration:
6 Weeks
Client:
Personal Project
How can we connect local home cooks with tourists?
Create a platform that connects travelers with local home chefs, offering authentic, home-cooked meals for a richer cultural experience, while enabling chefs to monetize their skills.
Leading the Team
My role as the team leader was to supervise over the team while also being an active member in the entire process of designing this app. I created questionnaires, final designs and also contributed in the wireframes. I also did the branding for this app.
The Process
Breaking Down the Problem
Before diving into wireframes and visual design, I took a step back to truly understand what I was designing and why it needed to exist.
I began by asking fundamental questions:
What is the core purpose of this app?
How does it compare to existing platforms like Airbnb?
What are those platforms doing right and what gaps might still exist?
If this concept seems so natural, why hasn't it already been widely adopted?
Do people actually seek out hyper-local, home-cooked food experiences and what motivates a host to invite someone into their home?
These questions weren’t just hypothetical, they became the foundation of my research. They helped me challenge assumptions and uncover deeper insights about user behavior, trust, cultural openness, and the emotional value of shared meals.
To ground the concept in real-world behavior, I spoke with several Airbnb hosts to understand their motivations, challenges, and openness to extending hospitality beyond just lodging. Their responses shed light on both the potential and friction points of a food-based peer-to-peer platform.
Converging on the Problem
People want the Supplementary income and 90% of the Air BnB users are individuals and not professionals. They are hosting for the connection and because they are comfortable around people. Some say that they "I won't be doing it if I didn't get the opportunity to talk to them and learn about their culture, I don't want to host if they'll just be staying in a different cottage and the only talking we do is handing over the keys"
Hosts want to connect and travelers want that local feel as well as true cultural experience. The income is just the cherry on top. Travelers feel the lack of an authentic and memorable experience while dining at just restaurants and cafe's.
How do I ensure the safety?
When you're inviting strangers into your home or stepping into someone else's, trust isn't a feature, it's a foundation.
I approached safety not just as a checklist, but as a design challenge:
How might we create a space that feels welcoming, yet secure? Personal, yet protected?
To build that balance, I focused on:
Verified identities and background checks to establish trust from the start
In-app messaging to keep conversations contained and private
Secure, traceable payments to protect both sides of the table
Minimum hosting standards from food safety certifications to clear photos
A vetting process to ensure every experience meets quality expectations
By layering these systems into the product flow, safety becomes invisible but ever-present, supporting spontaneity without compromising peace of mind.
Service Blueprint
To understand how HomePlates works beyond the interface, I created a service blueprint that maps out the complete user journey for both guests and hosts. It outlines what users see and do (frontstage) and what happens behind the scenes to support those interactions (backstage).
The blueprint captures key user actions, touchpoints, internal processes like verification and customer support, and system components such as payments, notifications, and in-app messaging. This helped me identify friction points, streamline the flow of information, and ensure the overall experience is consistent, secure, and scalable.
Meet the Users
We were given the topic of food and were asked to understand the people and truly know what they want in order to come up with an entirely new concept of a food app.
Value Proposition
Our app offers tourists like Sara a unique opportunity to experience authentic regional cuisines by connecting them with local home chefs who provide fresh, home-cooked meals made with quality ingredients. By offering flexible scheduling and the warmth of a homely dining environment, our platform ensures that tourists can enjoy delicious meals, learn about local cultures, and make meaningful connections all while keeping their experience economical and enriching.
Hypothesis Statement
If tourists use our app to connect with local home chefs
Then they will be able to enjoy authentic, home-cooked regional dishes while learning about the local culture, resulting in a more enriching and personalized travel experience.
Branding
Information Architecture
User Flow - (1) Guest (2) Host
Wireframes
Application
Conclusion
Designing this app was a fun journey of blending food, culture, and connection! I learned how to create a seamless experience for travelers and home chefs, making it easy to book home-cooked meals and share stories over dinner. Balancing simplicity with the warmth of local cuisine was key, and the project showed me how design can bring people together in unique ways around the world.
