Making a weekly subscription easier to use
CookUnity connects customers with meals prepared by independent chefs. As the founding product designer, I worked across onboarding, weekly menu discovery, meal preferences, subscription controls and the design system. My focus was reducing friction across the recurring experience, from choosing meals to managing a delivery.
CookUnity® connects people with meals made by real chefs. My job was to make the weekly experience simple and easy to come back to.
The problem to solve
The product was growing, but key moments in the weekly cycle created unnecessary effort. People had to commit before exploring the menu, filter a large selection with limited help, and contact support for routine subscription changes. I focused on three connected problems: let people understand the offer earlier, make meal selection easier and give members more control after subscribing.
What got in the way
Three problems shaped the work.
Too many steps to value
The flow asked for plan and payment commitment before customers could explore the meals that made the service appealing.
Menu paralysis
A menu of 100+ meals created choice overload. Without useful filters and remembered preferences, members had to scan too many options every week.
No control, so people left
Routine changes such as skipping a week, pausing or rescheduling were harder than they needed to be and could require support.
The decisions
Value before commitment
I helped reshape onboarding so customers could browse meals and set preferences before choosing a plan or entering payment details. The tradeoff was deliberate: show the product’s value earlier instead of demanding commitment first.
A menu that knows you
I worked on filters and preferences based on diet, protein and past orders. The menu count updated as people filtered, making the available choice set easier to understand.
Full self-serve control
I designed self-service paths for skipping, pausing, rescheduling and swapping meals, making deadlines and billing implications visible before members confirmed a change.
Meal Cards
The meal card had to support quick comparison without making every meal feel like a wall of metadata. I prioritized the details that help people decide: photography, rating, calories, dietary information, chef and price.
Set your preferences
I designed preferences as a reusable part of the weekly routine, not a one-off setup step. As filters changed, the meal count updated so members could see how each preference narrowed the selection.
Design system
I built and maintained the design system across typography, color, components, navigation and documentation. It gave the growing team a shared foundation and reduced the need to solve the same interface decisions repeatedly.
What changed
During my time there, the product and team grew substantially. I went from being the sole designer to leading a design team, while continuing to shape core flows and maintain the design foundation. The metrics below are the reported outcomes associated with this work.
Onboarding and retention figures reflect changes measured against pre-redesign baselines. Member count reflects platform scale during the engagement period.
Thank you for viewing!
