Brief
Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) is a producer-owned company, working in partnership with industry and government to achieve a profitable and sustainable red meat and livestock industry in Australia.
MLA wanted to help consumers cook better beef, every time. They identified a gap between beef products and cooking knowledge among its customers- particularly the younger, tech savvy generation and they wanted to bridge the gap using technology the audience uses at their fingertips.
The brief was to develop a simple and easy to use iPhone app to cooking beef. Reactive’s solution is the Beef Essentials iPhone app, a guide that contains well tested information for proven beef cooking expertise in the kitchen.
Design & Strategy
When designing any content related to food, it’s imperative that the imagery and style is of the highest quality. Nothing turns off an appetite faster than bad food imagery. To appease the foodies, we focused on large, finely crafted visuals and minimised copy whenever possible.
The design of the app includes:
• High-quality photography of cuts of meat
• Step-by-step processes and delicious meals to ensure following the instructions is as simple and easy as possible
• An approachable user interface that’s simple and icon-driven
• Textured and tactile to encourage touch navigation
• A drawing of a cow that shows where the different beef cuts are found.
The Beef Essentials app starts by asking users to asking users to pinpoint their cut of meat on a cow diagram, offering the option to learn more about the cut if they wish.
The app helps you choose a cooking method for the selected cut, whether it be BBQ, pan fry (gas and electric), grill, slow-cook, roast or stir-fry. For the perfect grilled steak, the app asks users how thick the cut is, with an interactive ruler displayed, and provides instructions on when to rest and turn the beef. A fun cooking timer is then set with an alarm to precisely count down cooking time.
Cooking for a crowd is easy with this app as users can save and name their beef choices as favourites for future reference. Beef Essentials also features a queue system, handy for cooking several cuts of meat at the same time, and ensures that everyone gets a perfectly cooked piece of beef and according to their preferred doneness.
Solution
The app has been designed for maximum ease of use, knowing that it will be used as a reference when shopping for meat, as well as when preparing it at BBQs and in the kitchen. All functions are easily manageable, with clear icons and visual cues for navigation.
The Information Architecture of the app has been kept deliberately simple to ensure it is easy to understand and simple to use. Extensive testing with stakeholders and staff, family and friends was undertaken to ensure a wide range of consumers could use the app effectively.
Results
Hailed as the "Internet's highest honour", the Beef Essentials app won the 2012 Webby Award for Lifestyle Mobile Apps. The Webby Awards are the leading international honour for the world's best Web sites and digital projects.
Beef Essentials iPhone app was launched in October 2011 (before the start of the Aussie BBQ season) and has received over 6,852 downloads.
Judging by the results and promotion achieved, MLA has done a great job of penetrating the market of younger foodies who are open to using technology to discover new cooking methods.
The free app is available for download here.