Family Cookbook Organization & Design
Re-Structuring and consolidating an old handwritten cookbook into an easily usable and accessible digital and print version.
Personal Project
InDesign
Illustrator
Information Architecture
CONTEXT
Personal Project
ROLE
Lead Designer
TOOLS
InDesign
DURATION
January 2024-Present
This project is something that has been in the works for a long time, and is still not completely done. During this multi-year process, I have been on a journey of not only design, but also family history. Recipes are passed generation to generation, and if the next generation isn't taught, that recipe may be lost to time. That is why I am creating this cookbook, so that my siblings and I can cook the recipes of our family long gone, and that hopefully our families can use these recipes for years to come.
The Problem
Currently, my Mom's cookbook consists of a binder full of handwritten recipe pages, with assorted printed pages sticking out everywhere, and a collection of notecards and paper shoved in our cabinet. Additionally, many of the recipes only have ingredients and no instructions on how to actually make the dish. Or, the ingredients list is incorrect because things were changed for taste preferences.
This inconsistent organization and non-hierarchical structure makes recipes hard to find and sometimes even harder to understand. If my family and I want to use these recipes for generations to come, we need to compile them and write detailed instructions.
The Solution
a digital and print family cookbook with an easily understandable hierarchy and design
Information Architecture
In order to make the cookbook easier to understand, I decided to implement a new information architecture to categorize everything under. After many iterations, I decided on these 5 categories:
Desserts
Cookies
Cake
Pie
Other
Salads, Sides, & Starters
Salads
Sides
Starters
entrees
Soup
Meat & Fish
Pasta, Pizza, & More
breads & Breakfast
Breads
Breakfast
MISC
Misc Foods
Canning
