The Brief

In the current cooking landscape consumers are looking for a way to bring cooking back into the home. People are looking to make healthier meals and choices all while connecting with their family and friends without sacrificing all of their precious free-time. The desire for homemade nutritious meals over the last decade has increased but time spent at home has not, Whirlpool was looking to help fill that gap in the market and aid their consumers in providing a simple and convenient way to cook more regardless of their cooking experience, size of their kitchens, or time available to spend in the kitchen.

The Scope

I was tasked to design the IoT mobile application that accompanies the cook-processor with a team of 3 other designers. The user experience of the product was my primary focus. Collaborating teams responsibilities included the user experience and interface design on the appliance and the industrial design of the product.

The Research

Our team began by conducting domain research to give us a better idea of the current recipe application landscape. We then gathered interview research conducted on 8 of Whirlpool’s current consumers, 4 individuals who didn’t own Whirlpool appliances and 4 stakeholders. In addition we sent out a survey through various social media platforms and other outlets and received over 200 responses.

With the interviews and survey information we then affinity diagramed the content to help us synthesize our findings into some key insights.

25 food applications were analyzed during our research process

Broad Categories

User Activities

App Benchmarking

Winning Features

1. Detailed dietary preference options available for a customized experience including favorite cuisines, allergies, diet style, disliked ingredients etc.

2. Step-by-step recipe instructions with visual elements.

3. Excellent search function with plenty of filters to find the perfect recipe.

4. Smart shopping list

5. Scaled recipes

6. Tips & Tricks about thee recipe, ingredients, cooking in general.

7. Unit conversion

8. Notes, sharing, rating, commenting

Areas of opportunity/direction recommendations

A physical device with a great app that aids in cooking and makes it easy and joyful could be a differentiating factor in a market buzzing with food apps. Though the Curation category is the most crowded, it still remains the best be to enter the market. Carefully curated handpicked recipes served in a user-friendly app, offer more value to the user than an aggregator wherein you cannot control the way the recipes are displayed.

We wanted to focus on:

• A good database of recipes at least 1000 to start with.

• High quality content (with high resolution, beautiful food photography).

• Clever cooking and recipe tips and uses.

• Allowing users to learn more about the science of food, safety, proper storage and fun facts to make users more engaged..

• Voice computing interface, hands free and expanding the concept of always on (i.e. Amazon Echo, Google Home).

The Problem

We discovered that people are longing to cook more but find it challenging to be inspired to cook, have the time to cook, and feel frustrated or bored with their current meal routines. People are open and even desire to enhance their cooking skills and share meals they are proud of with loved ones but don’t know where to begin because of the overwhelming nature of their busy lives and current eating and cooking options available.

Ideation

The Solution

The KitchenAid Cook Processor Connect’s targeted platform based on research was the tablet. Secondary to the primary device were both iOS and Android mobile phones. We decided to focus on the tablet and make that our primary device after learning many users use their tablets in the kitchen to follow along with recipes (if they own one) over their mobile phones.

Guided cooking recipes were a necessary content style to provide users with the ability to alleviate cooking stress by providing step-by-step detailed cooking instructions which allowed them to learn and grow their cooking skillsets. Features such as substitutions, notes, remote control, meal planning, and grocery lists were features we felt pertinent to include in the design to aid in inspiring and creating product retention. We wanted to bring the joy of cooking back into the users’ lives.

In 2017, Whirlpool made a big decision and purchased the recipe startup Yummly this was an investment in the recipe content this product desperately needed to be successful. Now the product includes Yummly’s 2M+ recipe repository to inspire and enhance users cooking experience with the KitchenAid Cook Processor.

Testing & Feedback

Testing was conducted during the discovery phase to identify the biggest pain points in the current cooking workflows of users. During the design: Testing was done at every milestone of the project. Invision prototypes were shared with stakeholders to get early feedback.

Impact

At CES 2019 Whirlpool debuted the KitchenAid Cook Processor.

Project Learnings

Collaboration is Key

The more eyes on a design, the more it’s exposed to varying opinions, experience, and critique — and this can only ultimately improve it. Or at the very least, test it. This was a complex product in many ways technically and in orchestrating content. Cooking is very subjective and everyone does it differently. It takes a village to deliver.

Process is Essential

For a project that is vast, it gives you a roadmap to navigate through what can be a foggy route. This is especially useful when you’re starting out.

Content is King

Without the access to smartly curated recipes this product would have fell flat. Content production is difficult, everything from localization to adapting recipes in a step by step format would have taken months to years. I believe Whirlpool made a smart move in partnering with Yummly who focuses on the production of recipes, and already has this content available.