THE MICRO KITCHEN BIG IDEAS FOR SMALL SPACES
Professor Chris Quinn Visualizing the Human Experience LC4D @ Lindsey Wilson College
Russell Dow M.A. Interactive Design
TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS
2
FINAL WIREFRAMES 14
PROJECT BRIEF 3
PROTOTYPE-MAIN SCREEN
15
PROJECT BRIEF
PROTOTYPE-COFFEE SCREEN
16
RESEARCH 5
PROTOTYPE-COOKING SCREEN
17
PERSONA 6
PROTOTYPE-COOKING SCREEN
18
USER-TESTING 7
PROTOTYPE-COOKING SCREEN
19
USER-TESTING 8
PROTOTYPE-MICROWAVE SCREEN
20
EXPLORATION 9
PROTOTYPE-REFRIGERATOR SCREEN
21
KITCHEN SCHEMATICS
PROTOTYPE-CLEANING SCREEN
22
4
10
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT 11
CONCLUSION 23
LOW-FI CONCEPTS
12
CONCLUSION 24
LOW-FI CONCEPTS
13
TABLE OF CONTENTS / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
PROJECT BRIEF
PROJECT BRIEF
Kitchen mission:
the impact:
Design a functional micro-kitchen. Assume you are given a 7ft x 25in space. What would your design look like? What features? What clever and creative solutions can you come up with?
New York City—it offers everything at your fingertips. But like many metropolitan areas across the globe, those opportunities are also making our world smaller. Increasing urbanization and population growth are bringing us closer together—literally. The home size is decreasing while rent and mortgages are increasing. Even so, that modest space shouldn’t equate to a reduction in functionality, living standards or a reflection of personal style.
All appliances should connect to a main “counter screen” that will be located on the counter top (embedded and recessed)
The Impact: Making the best of a small space isn’t a problem unique to NYC. A micro-kitchen gives urban dwellers an opportunity to optimize space in a savvy way. In partnership, we want to take your designs from mind to market—meaning your design could end up in homes across the globe!
The design should be able to fit with any kitchen appearance (interior design)
project must include: cooking surface microwave or an oven or both sink fridge / freezer screen guidelines dishwasher* garbage disposal*
Ideally create a micro-kitchen that could fit in a NYC elevator, stairwell, or through a window. This kitchen should include electrical and water hookups, located at your discretion.
PROJECT BRIEF / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
RESEARCH
RESEARCH
Primary goals meal preparation cook | bake | microwave | small appliances | kitchen utensils
storage refrigeration | freezer | pantry | cabinets | drawers | dining
cleaning | waste disposal
Persona
ALEX D AGE OCCUPATION STATUS LOCATION
MOTIVATIONS
34
Art Director
Incentive Fear Acheivement Growth Power Social
Single St. Louis, MO
TIER Enthusiast ARCHETYPE The Creative Ambitious
Admired
PROJECT B - RUSSELL DOW
Focused
Extrovert
Introvert
Sensing
Intuition
Thinking
Feeling
Judging
Perceiving
GOALS To cook more To be more efficient with time
sink | dishwasher | recycle | garbage | crusher | range hood
PERSONALITY
To keep track of everything
FRUSTRATIONS
TECHNOLOGY IT and Internet Software
Small inefficient kitchens
Mobile Apps
Wasting time
Social Networks
Non-existant counter space
BIO
“If I had a way to be more effienient in the kitchen, that would make my time so much easier to manage.”
Alex has a day job at an ad agency, but on the side he creates digital music. His busy life doesn’t lend itself to having much time for cooking. Alex lives in a 400sq ft apartment in a high rise in downtown St. Louis’s hip loft district. Being a tech savy creative Alex never shys from new technology or how technology may help him. Alex’s goal would be to gain control through technology of his time in the kitchen. He would like to streamline not only his cooking experience but also his shopping experience, so shopping and recipe lists and apps are key.
PERSONA / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
User Testing Tasks
Sampling of user responses
Comments and Feedback
Tested UX/UI in two ways, first paper test and second through a survey monkey digital test. I came up with a series of tasks for my users to experiment with. This was done with more of a hands off approach presenting the screens in it’s wireframe digital format and in a paper presentation. Task 1: Experiment with the paper prototype and digital wireframes and give first impressions based on the questions asked.
APP
HUB
BOTH
Would you use a program hub or app to help sync your kitchen appliances and organization?
In addition to the above tasks I asked an additional group of 20 people to answer the survey monkey questions
Easy
Medium
Hard
Too much work
How easy was the screen navigation on the built-in Screen device?
user profiles UX/UI Professional: 2 Design Professional: 8 Non-Design Professional: 8 Stay at home or retired: 3 Student: 3
User 2: “I was super intrigued with having the recipes and inventory so readily available.” Liked how everything worked together but would like to have the information screen at more eye level for easy readability. User 3: Voice activation feature is a must, liked the idea of the voice command being more like Amazon Echo. Liked the idea of being hands free, moving about easily in the kitchen.
Task 2: Take a second look at the UI and critically think about how they would or wouldn’t use the features. Task 3: Take the survey created on surveymonkey. com and add addition comments where needed.
User 1: Liked the navigation, controls but would like to see it interface with a smart device or have the screen located in an area that’s more central or eye level.
YES
NO
MAYBE*
How likely would you be to use this product or a like product in the future for simplifying your experience?
User 4: Thought that the recipe access/advice should is a great feature and liked the way it can expand beyond the kitchen to family devices, shopping and more. Favorite part was the ease of a simplified screen for easy navigation and usability. User 5: Liked the navigation bar at the bottom thought it was great and segmented the types of services you would perform very well. When you dive into each is where they thought some work will be needed to minimize the UI and simplify to a more consistent approach.
* ONLY IF IT CAME WITH THE HOUSE/APARTMENT USER-TESTING / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
2
1
THE CREATIVE
• liked interface • ease of use • would add music • change orientation
THE PRO
• liked recipe feature • ease of UI • simplify functions • change orientation
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4
5
THE PRACTICAL
THE UX DESIGNER
THE EMPTY NESTER
• liked voice activation • hands free a must • sync app with devices • liked orientation
• liked recipe feature • UI needs to expand • simplify features • change orientation
• liked the basics • too complicated • remove inventory • orientation (NA)
USER-TESTING / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
EXPLORATION
EXPLORATION
Kitchen schematics
micro kitchen inventory
• Integrated screen into surface • Slim profile oven - cooktop • Slim profile dishwasher • Slim profile stackable freezer • Slim profile stackable fridge • Synced coffee maker • Built-in Microwave
KITCHEN SCHEMATICS / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
SKETCHES
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
low-fi wireframes concept planning
LOW-FI CONCEPTS / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
low-fi wireframes concept planning
LOW-FI CONCEPTS / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
FINAL WIREFRAMES
FINAL WIREFRAMES
1
micro kitchen prototype - home screen • Screen location - subsurface countertop • Can be accessed by touch or voice • Simple use of icons to launch each section • Synced clock and date at header of screen
PROTOTYPE-MAIN SCREEN / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
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3 4
micro kitchen prototype - coffee
• Standard mode press and brew or grind uses preprogrammed amount unless changed in the “change pot size” window.
• User can brew or grind any where from 2 cups to 12 cups of coffee
PROTOTYPE-COFFEE SCREEN / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
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3
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micro kitchen prototype - cooking • Oven has multiple features including Bake and Broil • Users can choose the temperature and cook time after clicking the Bake or Broil buttons.
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PROTOTYPE-COOKING SCREEN / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
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micro kitchen prototype - cooking • Cooktop features standard high to low temps and choice of 4 burners
PROTOTYPE-COOKING SCREEN / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
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1
micro kitchen prototype - cooking • Users can utilize the inventory and recipe features clicking the Prep/Planning button on the footer of the page. • Inventory has items that were either purchased from the last shopping list or manually put into the database on a shopping app of the users choice.* • Recipes can easily be looked up through a number of web and app sources and will launch a window within the screen area.
3
2
* Additional programming can integrate RFID tags to
know if that item is still in the inventory or not
PROTOTYPE-COOKING SCREEN / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
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micro kitchen prototype - microwave
• Choose either thaw or cook from the main screen • User can select from a number of choices and including preset times or timed cook or defrost
• User can also choose to bypass all and use the clock button from the page footer for program the length of cook time.
PROTOTYPE-MICROWAVE SCREEN / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
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1
micro kitchen prototype - refrigerator
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• Choose fridge or freezer from the main screen • User can adjust the temp, check the filter and energy consumption and use from these screens
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• User can also choose to click the inventory button from the screen footer which will bring them through the same steps as in cooking
PROTOTYPE-REFRIGERATOR SCREEN / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
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micro kitchen prototype - cleaning • Users can choose to run the dishes or set the self cleaning for the dish washer and stove in this window. • After clicking to the dish screen the user can choose from a number of items and then start.
1
2
Items revert the manufacturers time per item.
• Users can select and date and time to have the stove launch a self clean
PROTOTYPE-CLEANING SCREEN / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
process conclusion
After a full exploration and process I believe that I reached an effective and simple solution for the user experience for this project. I reached this through UX Interactive Design Process which included initial research in the micro kitchen movement, ideation, exploration in the achievable, function, wireframe mock ups, prototype development and user testing. The product could be rolled out through a built-in screen or app or both and can help to make time in the micro kitchen efficient, comfortable and enjoyable.
concepting | low-fi wireframes
low to mid fidelity wireframes
cleaned up mid to high-fi wireframes
high-fi wireframe | prototype launch CONCLUSION / THE MICRO-KITCHEN / LC4D @ LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE