Samsung recently launched a first-of-its-kind smart refrigerator, which includes a touchpad digital screen, and many food, cooking and family related apps.
We designed a companion mobile app to support the refrigerator’s novel capabilities.
Overview
In 2017 Samsung released the Family Hub 2.0, a smartfridge with a touch screen and many proprietary apps. We were challenged to create a companion mobile app that would bring the greatest added value to owners of the fridge.
After a thorough investigation of the Family Hub's features, we began our design process by researching human behaviors and habits around grocery shopping, cooking, and food storage. Our research led to 4 main features for the app.
After completing an initial design, we conducted usability testing, then revised the app before creating a final prototype.
Goals
Early in our research, we found some key problem areas in the human relationship with food shopping and meal preparation where our app could have a positive impact. Further research supported these user needs, which led to two main goals for our app.
Reduce food waste and overspending on ingredients.
Help users cook a wider range of meals their family will enjoy.
Research
Our strategy was to gain insights into universal human habits around grocery shopping and cooking, then build into those habits. After discovering common problems, we could use the features of the Samsung Smartfridge to solve pain points and elevate these experiences.
We set out to build an app that people would use and benefit from immediately and effortlessly.
I surveyed over 130 people, and interviewed 7.
Say that at least 1/4 of the food in their fridge has gone bad.
Said they throw away food every month.
Use a recipe to cook often.
Use a recipe every time they cook.
Through our research process, I uncovered 3 main insights into human habits.
Not tailored to the users preferences or diet
not connected with shopping experience
no connection with weekly meal plan
no reusing ingredients
It’s a physical object that can be left behind
It's often incomplete
Disconnected from recipes and food at home
Difficult to find new recipes that the family will like
The tendency to NOT reuse yesterdays ingredients leads to food waste
Makes it difficult to be an efficient grocery shopper
Persona
From our research I created a typical user for our app. While our Persona came out of interviews, surveys, and researching Korean blogs, we also had to craft a real Samsung Smartfridge customer. This created some restrictions on age, income level, location, and family status.
Working Mother of two kids under 10
Primary grocery shopper and cook of the family
Cook healthy food her family will love
Enjoy cooking without stress
Throw out less food
Build
The major insight from our research was that the more recipe driven a person is, the less problems they have with food waste, shopping, meal planning, and cooking. Thus our job became:
We compared our research insights with the capabilities of the SmartFridge, and came up with four areas of focus for our app.
We expanded on Yujin’s existing habit of browsing facebook and youtube for recipes by creating a recipe discovery feature that could be tailored to user cooking preferences, and is integrated into shopping and meal planning.
Recipes can be added to a calendar so Yujin can coordinate meals with her family, and shopping and eating can be planned together.
With a grocery list in her phone, Yujin never shops without one. It’s easy to add ingredients from the recipes she finds, or to move items to her online shopping app if her plans change and she needs delivery.
When browsing recipes or shopping, Yujin will want to know what’s already in her fridge. Now she can check no matter where she is.
We did card sorting, and went through a process of design studios, user flows, task analysis, and wire-framing to explore the four features of the app and build out a prototype.
Testing
Early Wireframes
Usability testing revealed two main weaknesses.
We went back to our design and made 3 major revisions.
With our second iteration, testers were able to complete all tasks with ease, and no tester struggled to find the appropriate icons for the instructed action.
The App
+ curated recipe feed based on user preferences, available ingredients, planned meals
+ filter by meal time, types of cuisine, etc
+ favorite recipes to save in your library
+ add recipes to meal plan calendar, shopping list, or online groceries
+ one click integration with recipe feature
+ connected to family calendar on fridge
+ scroll through favorite recipes on bottom
+ drag to add recipes to calendar
+ automatically created from recipes and meal calendar
+ connected to online grocery service
+ allows manual editing
+ see what's in your fridge from your phone
+ set and manage expiration reminders on food.
+ control fridge and freezer temperatures
The Team
This project was a collaboration between me, John Quartana, and Hara Ku, while we were attending General Assembly in 2017. The three of us were involved in all stages of the design process, but we each owned one particular area.