This is a working page about the experiences & features I’ve built at Traeger Grills, where I joined in mid 2023. It was the first time I’ve been a part of something bigger than a company. Bigger than a company you ask? Yeah, almost like a neighborhood where everyone has a smokin’ grill on their porch. A neighborhood called the Traegerhood.
A Search for Smoke • Revamped Recipe Search
Having inherited legacy projects in the past, one of the most daunting realizations is that everything will be rebuilt at some point in some capacity. In 2025, that moment arrived for Recipe Search.
The existing search had some real friction points:
- Getting between browsing and searching felt disorienting — like the app couldn’t decide what it wanted to be
- Results showed up one at a time, making it hard to scan and compare
- Executing a search felt like more work than it should
With those pain points in mind, here’s how we designed a better experience.
- One-tap activation of the search bar, complete with a satisfying shrink-and-expand animation that makes room for an exit button
- Dropping into search mode surfaces a list of recent searches right away
- Chips for commonly searched foods keep the most-used shortcuts within easy reach
- Results display in a grid — easier to scan, easier to browse, easier to find what you’re actually looking for
A large focus of mine during the rebuild was integrating small pops of feeling throughout the experience; making the mundane a little more saucy. A haptic here, an animation there. I particularly like the back arrow animation that shifts in and out of view as the search context changes.