Chef-E: smart cutting board

UX design project

Role: UX & UI Researcher, Designer

Collaborators: Jeremy Rook, Linke Zhang, Yilang Zhao

Duration: 1 month

Tool:

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Problem

Cooking is a part of our daily life. However, many people don’t want to cook because they are worried about safety. It is also annoying to look for recipe. Cooking also takes lots of time, especially for young people, who just live alone and don’t know how to cook.

Solution

Chef-E is a smart cutting board used for assisting cooking. Users are able to get ingredients weighed, discover recipes according to ingredients, search for recipes by name, get the health facts of food and most importantly, cook with the vocal instructions from Chef-E.

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Research methods

Interview & card sorting

5 interviews and user observations have been conducted and card sorting method has been used to help reorganize the interview results.

Results

  • Users worried about safety
  • Interest in Recipe discovery
  • Cooking and socialization
  • Cooking is a chore to some, a joy to others

Design process

Narrative storyboard

Brainstorming

Early sketch

Paper prototyping

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Screen prototype  iterations

Physical prototyping

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User testing

Iterations

  • Background (simplified)
  • Sleep page added
  • Improved navigation/ error handling
  • Changed fixed buttons to E-Ink buttons (buttons change based on screen you are on)
  • Scales moved inside of the cutting board

Outcome

It was a pure design practice, so that we did not need to consider about the possibility of implementing. We could have wild ideas and use daily materials to build a prototype according to those ideas. We do believe our design is able to go to market since Chef-E would be a really useful and popular product. College students need it. Housewives need it. Even professional cooks need it. People who have difficulty cooking or want to cook better need Chef-E.