My Kitchen Assistant
“Reimagining the modern day sous-chef by integrating recipes and skills into an Amazon Echo Show application”
Overview
Problem Statement
Beginner cooks want a more intuitive and enjoyable way to prepare meals and enhance their cooking skills.
Process
The biggest challenge I faced with this project was attempting to seamlessly integrate voice and touch features in a way that would make it a gain for the busy home cooks and not a pain for users to understand. I began my brainstorming process by identifying key elements for a voice-based cooking and recipe app. This process involved contextual inquiry via observations, surveys, and interviews. From my contextual inquiry, I created an affinity map, which highlights the scope and features of my brainstorm.
Affinity Map
One important note I made during affinity mapping was that many of the participants in the initial inquiry said that they were too busy during the day to spend time cooking. I knew there was a way in my app to still appeal to these users, so I decided to implement a timer and a filter in my recipes so that people who just want to make a quick fix can do so. Also, I can consider creating a meal plan/prep section that includes multiple servings of a meal to allow for the busy persona to prepare in advance for the busy week.
Personas and Scenarios
Primary Persona and Scenario: Natalie
Secondary Personas and Scenarios: Charles and Amy
Wireframes
I began creating wireframes once I defined my personas and scenarios. I wanted to ensure users have the ability to filter ingredients and dietary restrictions because many of my contextual inquiry participants mentioned their dietary lifestyles (as seen in Amy’s persona and scenario). Here’s a snippet of my wireframes:
Final Mockup and Prototype
After I received feedback on my low fidelity wireframes, I needed to quickly create a functional prototype. I attempted to use some of the auto-animate features (such as the bookmark and timer) and therefore I created my designs and prototypes with only Adobe XD. Attached below is a video of the interaction, and I made sure to incorporate both voice and text UI for a more flexible and enjoyable experience.
Note: Long pauses in video represent voice commands that were not captured by a microphone. If video is not playing, click this link.
