The Recipe Team Helper

Services
User Research, Personas, Sketching, Prototyping
Summary
Optimizing the recipe flow to organize chefs with a proxemic display and Microsoft Kinect.
A project in December 2015.
The Problem
The challenge was creating a display that reacted to people’s proximity (distance) and gestures.
Working with multiple people in the kitchen can be a disorganized and difficult task. The Recipe Team Helper provides a hands-free display to help chefs complete a recipe.
Skip to prototype explanation and click here
Skip to the outcomes and click here
The Journey
Gaining insights from users
To understand people’s cooking and baking habits, I created a survey. Most respondents were full-time University students responded.
Responders enjoy cooking for fun, saving money, and learning new skills. People also enjoy baking but also give baked goods as gifts. When following recipes, people often read then prepare ingredients, mise en place style. When preparing many meals, people make meals at the same time, but also one after another.
Most people cooked with their friends, but mentioned they would cook with a partner. Often only two people were in kitchen making baked goods and meals for special occasions. Responders cook with others because they get to bond, learn, and teach with others. They also find it fun and motivating to create something.
People often delegate tasks such as preparation, combining, assembling, and cooking. Cooking with others is a fun activity where people converse and learn from Yether. Yet, it’s a disorganized process as people have different cooking methods, opinions, and expertise.
A user who identifies as a leader reads steps, informs where they are, and what needs to get accomplished. Preparation requires task delegation, but team members often refer to the recipe.
Creating personas from data
After analyzing survey responses, I created two personas with different needs. My primary persona is Saad Saini, who needs to organize recipe tasks with his best friend. He wants a simple way to do this so he can focus on bonding with his friends instead of organizing tasks.

I also created a second persona, Francine Faye, who needs to instruct recipe tasks to her boyfriend. She also wants a new way to do this so she can complete the recipe by completing her task or teach her boyfriend.

Considering the context of use
Before designing a system, I needed to understand what it was going to look like. Individuals often cook with one other person in the kitchen. They need a large screen within view that’s placed away from the kitchen counter. The personas’ needs are different, but they share a main goal to work with others and complete a recipe.

Considering the interactions and layouts
People were very receptive to the idea of a solution for cooking with a group of people. The recipe format was well received, and adding proxemics made it easier to use The Recipe Helper. Although, working with people and following directions requires different screen responses and layouts.


Rethinking proximity and interacting with people
Feedback recommended thinking outside of proximity between a person and screen. Consider when two people work in a kitchen, who have proximity between them. They will have different motivations if they are close or far apart.

Refining the proxemics for people and screens
Proxemics between people are useful when working in parallel to complete a recipe. When people are close to each other, one person is teaching the other. For ideal screen context, it displays instructions for the current step.
When people are far apart, they work on their own and read separate instructions.

People can also interact with the screen when they are close in its personal or intimate space. To assign steps to individuals, they tap the screen. To navigate between steps, they stick their arm out. To see equivalent measurements and ingredient substitutions, they raise their arms.

The Solution
The beginning of The Recipe Helper reveals instructions to read and use the system. This includes details about the recipe, ingredients, tools, and individuals responsible for a step.

The first four screens are the same as The Recipe Helper. An additional screen was added to assign instructions to individuals.


The Outcomes
The Learnings
I enjoyed bringing The Recipe Helper back in a new context. Technology can enhance chefs’ cooking experience as an individual or in groups. It would be ideal to conduct a realistic usability test and verify if this helps novice chefs.
The Tools
For the prototype: Adobe Illustrator, Visual Studio (WPF), Microsoft Blend, Microsoft Kinect
Thanks to David Ledo for suggestions & Sara Williamson for providing code for Kinect gestures.
Have any suggestions or constructive criticism? Please comment below! I am always looking for ways to do better.
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