PROJECT INTRO & OUTCOME

We designed a smart kitchen system KiKo which can ease the everyday kitchen tasks for users who don't have time or effort to cook. KiKo creates a smooth cooking experience by connecting the refrigerator, stove, oven and cellphone together. The project outcome is a video showing how Kate, our persona, interacts with KiKo for her weekend party.

Time  Nov - Dec 2016

Role  UI Design, Sketching storyboarding, Photo shooting, Final documenting

the video

The problem

We want to tackle problems in the kitchen space. The kitchen is the heart of a house. Many activities are happening in the kitchen space. There is a wide variety of opportunities to optimize kitchen experience with foreseeable technology. We aimed to design a “smart” kitchen companion integrating various smart appliances in the kitchen to ease everyday kitchen tasks.

KiKo's target users are the single homeowners who struggle to fit cooking meals regularly into a busy schedule. Kate is our persona.

The persona

The process

Initial storyboard sketch

Slides for each scene

We wrote a script of several user scenarios. Photos of Kate were taken based on the script. We put all photos together, and prepared a Google slides containing organized photos and the script. The slides were edited for 3 rounds based on the feedback we got during  class presentations. Thus, we tried to ensure the story was solid and the user flow was smooth.

UI Design

I designed the interface of KiKo and its mobile app interface. The challenge was to determine how "smart" should the KiKo be so that we could scope the interface.

CRITICAL DESIGN DECISIONS

The "connected" smart kitchen system

KiKo should be able to connect all the appliances in the kitchen including the refrigerator, the counter, and the stove. Thus, KiKo could help with the whole process from ordering ingredients, preparing food to cooking meals. It should also connect with cell phones so that users can control the kitchen remotely. 

Guests’ food preferences and allergies

KiKo should be able to access and store guests' food preferences and allergy information. It will solve users' pain points while selecting recipes. This is especially useful for users who love to have their friends over for parties.

Big screen for interaction

We decided to have a screen on the counter near the stove. It is for users to search recipes, order ingredients and view cooking instructions. However, we got the feedback that it was dangerous to have the screen near stoves. People might accidentally touch the stove while interacting with the screen. We decided to change the location of screen to another side of the kitchen.

Separate the KiKo screen and the stove

According to our original design, KiKo's screen was right beside the stove. Since it might hurt users, we moved the screen to the other side of the kitchen. When users interact with KiKo, the stove is on their back, which prevents dangerous situations.

Simplified the auto-cooking process

We refined the remote auto cooking process. In our previous design, users could control the stove by mobile phone outside of their house. Yet, we thought it would be easier for users to just set the time they want the cooking to be done. The system will calculate the pre-set time and total cooking time. The stove will start cooking automatically and ensure the meal is ready before the pre-set time. Users will get notifications when cooking starts and ends. There won’t be any tasks for users while they are outside. We still kept the feature of changing pre-set time through mobile phones, in case users changed their mind.

Enable voice control

When users are preparing food or cooking, it’s hard to free their hands and interact with touch screens. Thus, we decided to integrate voice control into KiKo. Users can activate KiKo by saying “Hi KiKo” and interact with KiKo by voice commands. 

Thanks for reading!

Qin

Members and Roles

Jenny Jiang: UI Design, Sketching storyboarding, Photo shooting, Final documenting

Nam Sangwoo: Sketching storyboarding, UI Design, Photo editing

Sabbir Amin: Photo shooting, Photo editing, Sketching storyboarding

TJ Koines: Writing, Audio Recording, Sketching storyboarding, Final documenting

Vishwas Shetty: Sketching Scenarios, Storyboarding, Script Editing

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