Epicurious

Design lead for award-winning first-generation iPhone app and iPad that put 25,000 tested recipes in your pocket.

In April 2009, Epicurious launched its first mobile app for the iPhone. As lead designer on the project, the first goal was to focus all of the features of the Epicurious site down to the core, essential features needed for a mobile app: the recipes and a quick and easy shopping list feature to bring to the store. Secondary features included a robust touch-based recipe search by ingredient, dietary considerations, meal types, and the ability to save recipes. On the home screen, we created recipe “channels” curated by the editorial team that put the most sought-after recipes right at the forefront (Fast Dinners, Healthy Lunches, Delicious Desserts). A type-driven search was always put as the last resort to make it easy to find the best thing to make for dinner tonight or to plan your Thanksgiving feast. The app reached 7.5 million downloads in the first year and was featured in Apple commercials and was named a New York Times "App of the Week". It also won an ASME Ellie in 2010 and in early 2011 the app was named as one of Time's 50 Best Phone Apps.

At the behest of Steve Jobs, Epicurious was asked to be part of the iPad launch in April 2010. While we leveraged much of the features and functionality of the iPhone app, with the new form factor, the focus was the cooking experience in the kitchen. Once a recipe was selected from a browsing mode, decision point factors were put to the background. The emphasis was on side-by-side ingredients and instructions view with a type scale that can easily be seen from across the counter, complete with an interactive marker to keep your place at each step.

Versions of the app were created for Android, Windows Phones, Samsung Connected Refrigerators, the Amazon Kindle, and the Barnes & Noble Nook.