Scenario
Kathy is a mother of three boys, Ricky, Bobby, and Joe. Her sons are pretty picky about food. Ricky is the oldest, and he doesn’t like certain vegetables but loves pasta. Joe is the youngest and does pretty much whatever Ricky does, except he also is minorly allergic to some nuts and doesn’t like tomatoes. Bobby is the parents’ delight when it comes to food - he just eats whatever is on his plate. As such, Kathy finds it difficult to make meals that all of her kids will enjoy.
One night, she sees that Shaws has a sale on pasta and decides she wants to make that for dinner. However, she can’t decide what to put on it because she knows her kids are picky about different things. Kathy has come up with a list of foods that her kids don’t like, and luckily has it with her. Right away she sees that Joe doesn’t like tomatoes and can’t eat nuts. With those restrictions in mind, she tries to think of what she can make with the pasta that will be somewhat nutritious. Kathy finds a recipe with pesto sauce and realizes that she has never made pesto for her kids. She thinks this would be a good time for them to try something new. With all the necessary ingredients, Kathy heads home.
Kathy finds a recipe to create a delicious pesto pasta for her kids. Her kids are a little skeptical about trying this new dish, because it’s really green. After dinner, Kathy asks her kids for feedback on the meal. Ricky and Bobby liked this meal, so Kathy considers making it again. Next time Kathy went to the supermarket, the new ingredients were on her list.
Analysis of scenario
This scenario identifies three main tasks:
- Picking ingredients
- Finding a recipe and preparing the meal
- Getting feedback from kids
Sketches
Sketch 1: Feedback/Recipe Finder
This sketch is designed to incorporate previous feedback from the kids to find new recipes. When a parent is deciding what to make, they can see how picky a kid is and what they like or are allergic to. They can then search with these preferences automatically placed as filters. When preparing the meal, caregivers have a list that lets them choose what they have and what they need as well as cooking directions. The feedback stage has a slider for the overall meal and binary (heart or broken heart) value for each major ingredient.
Sketch 2: Kid’s Decide
This design aims at letting the kids have feedback in choosing the meal. Each child can see their previous favorites and search for new dishes. They drag whatever they want for their caregiver to review. The caregiver can then see an aggregated result of what each kid chose and suggestions based on this. If they don’t like any of these options they can also search for dishes. During the prepare phase the caregiver can watch a video of how to prepare the meal and has a static shopping list for ingredients. The feedback system has a rating (0-5) for the overall meal and three buckets, “loved”, “liked”, “never again” for each major ingredient.
Sketch 3: Mobile Design
The mobile design was designed with efficiency as top priority. During the decide phase, caregivers either search or get a random choice by selecting “Get Ideas”. This system allows a choice to be quickly made, either by knowing what to search for or being inspired by the ideas. Any dish that is selected can be shared so that the dish, ingredients, and shopping list can be sent to others, for example, a wife can send it to her husband to pick up groceries. The feedback system is a single vote for the meal and each major ingredient. Each child can vote +/-1, or 0 for an item and the total score is aggregated for the caregiver.
Sketch 1: Basic design
This design was created to cover all of the basic points of ingredient selection, recipe finding, and feedback. From the main page, the parent can either look at/edit the food preferences of the children or search for a recipe based on the preferences of their children. The generated recipe list includes both new recipes and recipes that have been tried before (with their previous rating). After the parent makes the dish, the children can individually rate the recipe and the individual ingredients. The ingredient ratings will be pre-populated based on previous preferences, so the kids only have to rate the new ingredients.
Sketch 2: More ingredient control
In this design, the caregivers have a lot of control over which ingredients they want to include in their dish. They can select ingredients based on each of the kids’ preferences, and choose to add new ingredients. On the screen with the recipe, the kids can rate what they thought and the caregivers see how to make the dish. The kids don’t have to rate the ingredients, they will automatically be put in their “will eat” section. If they specifically don’t like something, it is easy to return to the preferences page and change anything.
Sketch 3: Design for illiterate users
This UI is designed for illiterate users, so must communicate the flow without words. The log in screen is a combination lock-- the user gets a random code if they click on the “???” button. The next screen has a tile for each of the children, and when they click on it it brings up symbols for the ingredients they like and don’t like. The parent can drag each ingredient into the “shopping cart” box, and from there create a recipe. After selecting ingredients, the parent is brought to the recipe screen where the UI takes them through symbolic representations of the steps. When they have completed this, they can give feedback, also symbolically.
Sketch 1 Tal:
This design is primarily a web interface that is geared towards caregivers. It has search functionality based on cuisine, with ratings for the dish from other users. Once the caregivers find a dish, they can see recommendations from other users, the ingredients and the recipe on how to make it. The feedback is basic, kids rate the dish from 1-5 scale using stars.
Sketch 2 Tal:
With this tablet interface the caregivers have an autocomplete search to search for specific dishes. They can also view recommended dishes and the favorite dishes of the entire family. Caregivers also have the ability to search by ingredient, and view the rating of each ingredient by person/total ranking for the entire family. By clicking on an ingredient they can see dishes with that ingredient, and by clicking on the dishes, they can see a list of ingredients and a recipe. The feedback system allows each child to provide feedback for each ingredient, and the overall rank is calculated based on the individual rankings.
Sketch 3 Tal:
This is a mobile interface, and provides a dish search feature with autocomplete. Once the caregivers select a dish, they can see a list of ingredients on a separate screen, so they can go shopping with a list. By clicking next, they can view the recipe for that dish. A child is able to rate the overall dish, and each ingredient in the dish, which happens automatically by rating the overall dish. In this design, the feedback is verbal rather than visual.
Sketch 1 Max: Stretch Design for Kids
This interface is a stretch to be used by children only. Pictures are primarily used to communicate to the users – there is little to no text on screens. The use of large circles throughout the design is meant to be a clear affordance for children so they know where they can click in the interface.
Sketch 2 Max: Gather Feedback Design
This design is focused on quickly giving feedback on a lot of dishes. The top menu bar has the name of each child to allow quick selection of child who is voting. To gather feedback a voting slider is used. Left and right arrows to allow continuous cycling through meal options.
Sketch 3 Max: Focus on Recipe and Ingredient Selection
This design is focused on ingredient selection. A caregiver adds ingredients and the app searches for dishes that include those ingredients. The caregiver then picks 2 dishes for the child to pick. The child also has the option of picking that they want neither of the dishes and parent will select two more. Finally, the child gives feedback not only on the dish as a whole, but individual ingredients. This feedback can then be incorporated into dish search from the beginning.