Gather initial feedback from friends

[pcresswell]

Send out request for feedback on Becipe from friends.

[pcresswell]

Here is some feedback from my friends:

Peter, Thanks for sharing. I think it's great that you are looking for feedback, and who doesn't love sharing their opinion!

I looked at the site for a quick 30 seconds to get a fast, gut, impression.

Appealing - The Concept.
I love the idea and I would definitely consider making skin products at home primarily to save on cost. I think the idea of spending less and doing more is really taking shape right now and your timing is feels good in the marketplace. Frugality is in.

Unappealing - Design. I think your design needs to go to the next level, it feels amateur For a photo and recipe based site you want AMAZING photography. I would suggest that you want to be at the level of Smitten Kitchen or 101Cookbooks or The Minimalists even, otherwise I don't see how you can compete. I also think the layout, background texture, and fonts feel very template based and not very contemporary. I don't see a clear POV or brand identity.

Purpose - Unclear It's unclear to me if you plan to sell ingredients. What is the credibility behind the site? Unclear if this is for users to share (with advertising? yearly fee?) , or if this a beauty expert sharing secret tips.

---

[pcresswell]

Dear Friend,

Recently, I have started a website called Becipe which aims to be the new home for do-it-yourself skin care enthusiasts. At this point, it's extremely early stages and we are iterating and testing out ideas quickly to see if we can't identify a market fit.

Because I would like your honest opinion, I won't elaborate much more on the purpose/background. Here's what I would ask:

1. Please visit http://www.becipe.com
2. Spend as little or as much time as you like on the site.

3. Reply back with thoughts and answers to the following questions:

   --Could you explain the purpose of the site?

Recipes for making skin care stuff.

--What did you find appealing about the site?

Pretty pictures, laid out well.

--What did you find unappealing?

Hard to read recipe - the pictures were static on the page, text was small underneath it and hidden behind picture when you scroll (Firefox).

--Do you or anyone you know current make any skin care products at home?

Nope.

[pcresswell]

Hi Peter! Nice to hear from you. I'd heard from Katrin that you were back from travelling and working with her on her next project. Sounds exciting!

I was impressed by the quality of the photographs on the site and how easy it seems to be to create your own cosmetics. Why do the cosmetics seem to all contain sugar? You're not supposed to eat them are you?

The site itself seemed pretty snappy once the initial image load was done. I was a little distressed that the pictures on the recipes pages wouldn't scroll off the page so that I could view more of the instructions at a time. I liked how some of the recipes let you know what determined the expiration date. Not all recipes seemed to do this.

I have no idea who makes their own skin products and when i quizzed my wife about it, she doesn't think she'd have enough time for it.

How are you going to make this a commercial success? Are you thinking ad revenue?

Best of luck with it!

[pcresswell]

hey Peter,

here is my thought lol.

Sent from mio's iPad

On 2013年6月11日, at 2:18, Peter Cresswell pcresswell@gmail.com wrote:

Dear Friend,

Recently, I have started a website called Becipe which aims to be the new home for do-it-yourself skin care enthusiasts. At this point, it's extremely early stages and we are iterating and testing out ideas quickly to see if we can't identify a market fit.

Because I would like your honest opinion, I won't elaborate much more on the purpose/background. Here's what I would ask:

1. Please visit http://www.becipe.com
2. Spend as little or as much time as you like on the site.

3. Reply back with thoughts and answers to the following questions:

   --Could you explain the purpose of the site? Order ingredient from your website so I can make my skin care product for myself at home? (but how do u make sure the ingredient is really fresh by the time it reaches your customer? Also if I am lazy enough to shop for ingredient... I probably won't make it myself...?)

   --What did you find appealing about the site?

Very nice user interface. What framework you use?

--What did you find unappealing? Loading the site for the first time is kinda slow for me. Maybe because of my region?

Top right corner menu, click on g+, there is no pop up? For the other items on that list, there is tiny popup window but the pop up actually doesn't look good...

Magnifying glass, I am kinda confused..what am I searching for? Always bring me back to the main page? (also why not same mouse over effect like those icons for fb/g+/LinkedIn ...)

So after signed up, I thought I will have my own account, but looks like it is not? Might be nice if each person has his account to save his favorite recipe?
Also maybe section for user feedback or comment for each recipe? Just so that if the recipe doesn't work or cause allergy or no effect then other people will know....

--Do you or anyone you know current make any skin care products at home?

My friend makes soap herself. Seems lots of work...coz you cannot use the soap you made right away...

[pcresswell]

Hey Pete... Time is short, so my email will be brief. We can talk more over a beer....

As per your questions:

You are clear about what the site does, about what services are offered. I assume that in the actual (not a test) site, there would be a section for packages, kits, etc...

The aesthetic is nice, slick, and welcoming; it looks polished. As for anything "unappealing", well, I can't really point to anything. I think the "unappealing" factor would be the content as viewed by someone who has no interest in homemade cosmetics - but, why would such a person be viewing this site in the first place?

I think Jax has a friend who may be into this, or, if not, might be the type of gal to check it out.

In a bit... k

[pcresswell]

Hi Peter,

Looks interesting… Not quite the technical route you were on previously. I forward this to my wife to critique so you might get something from her.

Here are my opinions, do with them what you will. I hope they’re useful...

Val

--Could you explain the purpose of the site? It allows users to upload/create skincare recipes which can then be used by other users to create their own It also allows users to order recipe packs which can be delivered ot their homes

--What did you find appealing about the site? The homepage is quite appealing, like the social media links Recipe kits sound like a great idea. If it can be done for food why not this?

--What did you find unappealing? I'm not overly keen on the color scheme - the pinkish background looks kinda dirty (or at least not clean) When you're looking at a recipe the images stay at the top of the page while the recipe scrolls beneath... This is vusually appealing but there isn't much room to read the content - might be a bigger problem on tablets which I imagine users of the site using. The logo is a little pixelated. It looks much better on the facebook page

--Do you or anyone you know current make any skin care products at home? No, at least I don't think so.

[pcresswell]

Hi Peter!

Congrats on your new business venture!

Here is my feedback.

--Could you explain the purpose of the site?

• Upon first glance, it looks like a food site based on the posted images.

• There appears to be a lot of usable room reddish title bar to the right of "Becipe". Perhaps you can add your description there so it's more clear what the website is about (ie. Becipe - Natural Cosmetics Recipes)?

  --What did you find appealing about the site?

• I like the how the site is clean with good quality images...little clutter.
• I like animation of the circular, social media buttons at the top!

• The sharing buttons that appear when hovering over a picture are nice too.

  --What did you find unappealing?

• The "Sign Up" and "Person" icon in the top right appear to do the same thing. I was under the impression that the person icon would allow me to log into my account. Perhaps this is coming in the future? Also, the curves on the images look a bit rough as well.

• I think the look and feel of the Search screen could be dressed up a bit more. The search bar/field is a bit too wide.

  --Do you or anyone you know current make any skin care products at home?

• No...other than Peter Cresswell. :-)

  --Misc

• I think it would be good to have some standard footer at the bottom on all pages (ie. with Copyright, Contact Us and Privacy Policy links, ect.). The pages just seem to suddenly end when scrolling to the bottom.
• Perhaps bold the show all, beginner, average, master buttons links to make them stand out more?
• The Google Plus circular, social media button doesn't appear to work.
• I think it would be better if the buttons (Login, social media, search, person) were vertically centered to the reddish title bar.

I hope this helps! Most of my feedback is technical since that's what I do. I'm not so strong on the business side of things.

Let me know if you need more feedback with version 2.

Regards,

Andy

[pcresswell]

Hi Peter,

Sorry for the really slow response! I was waiting to find enough time to really explore the site. Finally happened tonight : )

Initial thoughts:

• I really like the layout - similar to pinterest which encourages exploring rather than scrolling through lists or separate pages
• The photos of the preparation for each recipe are good, but I think the quality of the photos and the background should appear either more luxurious or more natural (e.g. wooden table or counter?) There are a few close ups and ones that have been presented really nicely like the souffle so I think all of the photos, even the prep ones, should make you want it! Also, perhaps when you're on the recipe screen the photos can be all the finished product and application shots but then there is a play button or something that you press and it runs through each photo with the relevant step in the instructions.
• The purpose is very clear! Though the "kits" seem a bit out of place at the moment. It's early days, I know! Love the idea though, once the website is more developed. -Reading through some of the recipes, I was a bit intimidated by some of the ingredients (hence why the kits are appropriate) but it might be good idea to post a few super simple recipes, likes scrubs with oatmeal, milk and honey. I think you want the visitor to see they can whip something up with what they have in their kitchen right now. If it's too much of a mission, I worry that they won't even experiment. Once they've mastered a few simple recipes then perhaps they'll be willing to invest in products specifically for this purpose.
• The only person I know who makes skin care products at home is my mum

All in all, looks great and I'm really excited to see where this goes!

Marianne

[pcresswell]

Hey Pete,

Sorry for the delay. I do have feedback for the site, and I think I'll try to answer in bullet points. I do make products at home, whenever I'm inspired to. If I think something is too complicated to make at home, but I'm eager to try, I will buy it on etsy. I usually buy ingredients for DIY products either on etsy, well.ca, or a similar site, if it's not readily available at the supermarket. As far as I can tell, the purpose of the site is to provide recipes for DIY beauty products, with the option of buying the kits. One thing I like about the site is that the recipes come with pictures that seem to follow the step by step process, but that might not be true for all of the recipes, and it's hard to tell what I'm looking at sometimes. One of my favourite cooking blogs is www.budgetbytes.com, and what I love about it is how she breaks down the costs of the recipe, as well as the step by step pictures. What I find unappealing is that I don't know who these people are that are putting up the recipes and I don't know how effective or good these recipes are. As someone who does actually follow a few beauty bloggers/vloggers, there are plenty of sites out there where I can find DIY beauty products. So what will make this site my go to trusted source? Not the biggest fan of the layout. The pinterest like layout might be overwhelming once there are more recipes. Things that I want to see that would make it more appealing to me: One of the things that make me trust a blogger/vlogger that they know what they're talking about is that they put out content that draws me in and demonstrate enough knowledge to convince me. So these people who put up the recipes, they mean nothing to me except a name, so why would I trust this site rather than other dedicated beauty bloggers. It might help once videos and articles are finally up on the site. Reviews of the recipes, much like on www.makeupalley.com. I'd like feedback on whether or not these recipes work, or not, and for which skin type. It's one of the things I most dislike about purchasing DIY beauty products from etsy. There are no direct reviews of the product itself; and if there are, it's buried in the reviews of the vendor. A description of what the product is supposed to do. Some of them are obvious, but what is an ubtan? And what effects should I be expecting upon using this product? When and how should I use it? (I obviously figured it out after reading through the recipe, but if I didn't know what it was, why would I click on that recipe amongst hundreds of others when there are hundreds of others). That's it for now. Essentially, I'd love to see it as a blend of etsy, makeupalley, and a blog.

Cheers,

Pebble

[pcresswell]

I think this is done.