Kora brings skilled cooks to the homes of people who appreciate the flavors and benefits of a home cooked meal.

Context

Booking Domain, United States 🇺🇸, Timeline: Oct 2019 - 2020.

Role

Design Lead, User Research, Lo-fi & Hi-fi Prototyping, User Testing.

Tools

Miro, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator

Overview

Kora is a platform that connects skilled home cooks with people seeking homemade meals. Users can either book a cook or become one, with a focus on trust, convenience, and personalized food experiences. I led UX research and design to create a seamless, community-driven service from onboarding to booking.

Problem

There is a growing desire for homemade meals, but many people lack the time, energy, or skills to cook for themselves. Kora wanted to create a platform where passionate cooks could bring the joy of home cooking to others right in their own kitchens.

Approach

Understand

Gathered requirements from the client to understand the needs of hosts and cooks.

Define

Identified user goals and frustrations, and developed detailed personas.

Ideate

Conducted brainstorming sessions using whiteboards to explore ideas and define flows.

Design & test

Designed low- and high-fidelity prototypes and validated them through A/B testing.

Persona

Based on interviews and empathy mapping, we created detailed personas representing the platform’s primary users busy hosts and passionate home cooks. These guided our design decisions and ensured we addressed real user pain points.

White board session

We conducted collaborative whiteboard workshops with stakeholders to map the end-to-end user journey for both hosts and cooks. This helped align business goals with user needs and laid the foundation for the platform’s core features.

Final Product: Key Features

1. Host

Create a profile and specify cuisine preferences, dietary needs, allergies, and who they’re cooking for.
Browse nearby cooks, check their profiles and sample menus, then send a booking request.
After confirmation, the cook shares the ingredient list. The host ensures all items are ready for the cook’s visit.

2. Cooks

Build a detailed profile including food stories, specialties, favorite menus, and availability.
Review bookings (date, time, menu), accept within 24 hours, and update ingredients if needed.
Communicate with the host for kitchen notes and arrive prepared for a smooth session.

3. Booking

Hosts can select up to 5 dishes per booking (max 3 mains).
Each session lasts up to 3 hours and serves approx. 4 people for 3 meals.

Other screens

We designed additional screens including onboarding, profile setup, booking flow, and confirmation pages to test with both hosts and cooks. These prototypes helped us validate the usability of key interactions and gather feedback for iteration.

Branding & Styleguide

The visual identity, including typography, color palette, and UI components, was based on a branding and style guide provided by the client to ensure consistency across the platform.

Outcomes

🚀 Successful MVP Launch

The platform successfully launched in February 2020 following multiple rounds of user testing and design iteration. The final product offered a seamless experience for both hosts and cooks, validating the concept and addressing real user needs. The design built trust between users, streamlined the booking process, and established a strong foundation for community-driven growth.

Learning

🎓 Validate Early, Validate Often

Working on Kora taught me how to design for trust, flexibility, and clarity in service-based platforms. Balancing the needs of two user groups hosts and cooks helped me refine my approach to user-centered design. This project also highlighted the importance of early feedback, cross-functional collaboration, and storytelling in creating meaningful digital experiences.