Designing CoChefyBot: Crafting a Friendly Face for the Easiest Recipe Generator

Lucas Cogliolo
Design Director

When we set out to build CoChefy, we knew we didn’t want the typical emotionless AI avatar. Cooking is emotional, it’s personal, sensory, and often vulnerable. So instead of a floating icon or abstract assistant, we wanted a companion. A mascot. A character that made the entire cooking experience feel more human.

And thus, CoChefyBot was born.

Where the Inspiration Started

Two major influences shaped the early vision:

Duolingo, proof that a character can be a product’s soul. You should check their blog about designing their characters.

Image from: Duolingo

WALL-E–style robots, expressive machines with warmth and charm, especially EVE, I mean, how do you fit so much personality into a character with only two shapes for eyes?

Image from: Character Design References

Luckily, we already had a base character for the product, and CoChefyBot naturally evolved from that starting point.

Defining His Personality

Before we ever drew a line, we decided what CoChefyBot needed to be:

  • friendly
  • quick to help
  • comprehensive
  • diligent
  • fast
  • confident

These traits guided every design choice, from his face shape to his posture.

Choosing the Visual Style

We knew from day one that the style had to be:

  • vector-based
  • clean and simple
  • easy to animate

That meant rounded elements, simple geometry, and subtle gradients that would translate well into motion.

Building His Signature Look

A few elements define CoChefyBot instantly:

1. Round, approachable shapes

To keep him friendly and easily readable.

2. The chef toque

The subtle detail that instantly makes him a chef. Small, but iconic.

3. Minimal, expressive facial features

The neutral-happy expression was priority #1 — it’s the face users will see most.

4. A green palette

Chosen simply because it tied directly into the CoChefy brand.

5. Simplified anatomy

Five fingers, no legs, modular pieces, all decisions chosen to support future animation.

Designing for Emotion

Even with simple shapes, we wanted range: thinking, listening, reacting, guiding. There was a moment when the round, soft shapes combined with the toque and that gentle confident smile, and the whole team felt it:

This is CoChefyBot.
A friendly face for the easiest recipe generator.