App Redesign + Personalization
When I took on this project, the app had seen very minimal designer input — and users felt it. A 2.6 App Store rating, significant churn, and stagnant subscriber growth at just ~2% YOY told us the experience wasn't working. The product had potential, but the gap between what we were offering and what users expected was costing us.
CLIENT: America’s Test Kitchen
ROLE: Lead Designer - owning strategy, research, UX/UI design, personalization, testing, and vision from discovery through delivery.
DELIVERABLES: End-to-end product design
YEAR: 2023
__ Problem
The app was built without design input; we were losing customers we'd already acquired, failing to attract new ones, and had no clear design foundation to build from.
__ Audit
Usability Audit
Audited the existing app to identify friction points. experience gaps, and areas of opportunity.
__ Goals
Consumer insights according to the 2022 Quarter 3 survey of America’s Test Kitchen app users, and overall product goals from the Digital Design team.
__ HMW
I reframed the core user needs identified through research into design opportunities. The questions explored how to personalize the experience in a way that builds a genuine brand relationship, how to structure content so that discovery feels intuitive and rewarding, and how to craft an experience compelling enough that users return not out of habit, but because it consistently delivers value.
__ Research
Competitive Analysis
Competitive research was framed around a central question: how effectively are existing platforms organizing large volumes of content in a way that is clear, usable, and personalized to the user?
__ Personalization
HMW #1: Personalize the user’s experience
Conceived as the home base of the redesign, My Stuff was built to give users a sense of ownership and control over their experience.
These designs probe a bigger question: how do we connect with users beyond the recipe? Milestones and achievements became our answer—small recognitions of progress that give people a reason to return.
Wireframes:
__ Discovery
HMW #2: Content accessibility and discoverability
Discover came straight out of user feedback. The app's search had always surfaced recipes and little else—leaving ATK's deep library of reviews and articles buried behind a single path.
For the redesign, I borrowed from the logic of food delivery apps to build a richer, more playful way to explore. The guiding question: what does fulfilling exploration feel like, and how do we design for it?
Wireframes:
__ Design System
__ High Fidelity
HMW #1: Personalization
HMW #2: Discoverability
__ Results
To pressure-test the high-fidelity designs, I ran a round of unmoderated user testing via Playbook UX, which offered a proof of concept that both validated the direction and pointed to next steps.
The redesign set out to deepen how users connect with ATK's content. The results show it did that—and moved the metrics the business cares about in the process.
Business Impact:
User Impact:
__ Reflection
The Good
Streamlined content discovery pathways, empowering users to self-direct toward high-value, relevant experiences.
The response was overwhelmingly positive, validating the approach with strong user sentiment across the board.
The Bad
The project timeline was compressed, limiting the depth of UX research and validation.
Deeper discovery around My Stuff, achievements, and milestones would elevate the experience and create stronger personal resonance for users.
Embedding UX research earlier in the process would significantly strengthen output and reduce downstream risk.
The Takeaways
For an MVP, user response validated the overall direction and quality of the experience.
Despite significant complexity and scale, the team delivered a strong foundational product that met user needs.
The design is intentionally flexible, built to scale alongside evolving user needs and product ambitions.
A major first step toward a premium app experience — and a strong platform to build from.
Additional Case Studies
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Onboarding + Acquisition Strategy
Define and drive the product vision and experience strategy for free trial and onboarding flows, establishing tone and design principles that minimize friction and accelerate new user activation.