The given task and the challenge
Busy families don’t have a lot of time for meal planning
View shopping and healthy meals as an act of love (Author: Dan Miller)
Dual income families need help!
Design a Meal Planning System
Help prepare healthy meals at the right time
New challenge: the what vs. the how
Bodystorming
First and foremost, our team performed bodystorming to point out the fact that we get up and move, trying things out with our own body, rather than just sitting around a meeting table. This methodology gave us a good sense of the actual family even before an extensive user research was performed.
The setup we used:
User Needs Identification
The 9 main categories:
Grocery
Aware of what is in the fridge
Coordination
Personal preference
Aware of what I have consumed
Special occations
Food pyramid
Food constraints
Dietary goals
Concept Validation
Scenario 1: The salad dressing is sabotaging my diet!
Scenario 2: Gimme my steak!
Scenario 3: Honey, I will not be home
Scenario 4: Grocery planning
Speed dating matrix
1. Grocery planning
Context:
Kitchen, in front of fridge and pantry area
Consideration:
Food pyramid, family preferences, awareness of what is already in the kitchen
Storyline:
Throughout the week, mom and family add items to the grocery list and meals to the menu list. Mom is ready to go grocery shopping… (see variations)
High proactive:
Mom gives her menu and grocery list to the system; system knows what is in the kitchen and automatically adds items to the ingredients list based on nutrional requirements/goals and personal preferences; total expenditures with mom's and new coupons, plus a suggested route of which store(s) to visit
Medium proactive:
Mom gives her menu and grocery list to the system; system aggregates ingredients in menus; system knows what is in the kitchen and suggests that mom buys ingredients that satisfy missing nutrional requirements; total expenditure with mom's coupons, plus suggested new coupons
Low proactive:
Mom gives her menu and grocery list to the system; system is aware of what is in the kitchen; mom receives an ingredient list and the system subtly tells her what is missing nutritionally; total expenditure with mom's coupons and knowledge of new coupons
2. Honey, I will not be home
Context:
Kitchen, in front of the fridge and pantry area
Coordination:
Leftovers in the fridge, personal preferences
Storyline:
Mom has to stay late at work and asks Dad to make dinner. Dad goes into the system, enters who will be attending the meal, and how much time he has... (see variations)... Once Dad makes his choice, the system tells Dad where the ingredients are and how to cook the meal.
High proactive:
System makes inferences with regard to personal preferences, dietary constraints, and recently consumed meals, and makes a decision for Dad.
Medium proactive:
System takes dad's input and makes inferences with regard to personal preferences, dietary constraints, and recently consumed meals. System gives Dad a number of relevant options (with the information below).
Low proactive:
Dad browses through recipes based on what is in the fridge/kitchen. The system provides nutritional information, time to prepare, and which family members would enjoy a particular recipe. Dad can sort by any of the above criteria.
Evaluation of Speed Dating
Read Paper: Scott Davidoff, Min Kyung Lee, John Zimmerman, Anind Dey (2007) Rapidly Exploring Application Design through Speed Dating, Ubicomp 2007
Leverage opportunity between ideation and iteration phases
Fast iterative prototyping technique
Observe action vs. listening to participants
On the boundary of the system’s proactivity
Pro: Good for creating structure
Con: Inflexible
Consolidated Findings from Direct Observation
The only option may be the perfect choice
Time crunch: “It would be nice to have someone think for you”
Disregard rational
Nutritional information
Best presented during grocery planning
Most families know which foods to eat
Kitchen ingredient locator
System shouldn’t interrupt conversation
Require users to initiate interaction
Some users didn’t like the smart home voice
Allow for customization
Augment the action
Fridge is the hub of the kitchen
Panel not helpful for locating ingredients
Video Sketch
Our project team proudly presents Kitchen Maestro , Smart meal planning for busy families.
Kitchen Maestro feature highlights:
Voice activated
Automatic meal suggestions
Nutritional information based on consumption trends
Ingredient locator
Support for grocery planning
Customization and personalization
(Click to download the video)
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