Design process
Design Rationale
Our concept derived from our goal to make tracking a diet, or maintaining a healthy lifestyle in nutrition more easily accessible to the people who would otherwise struggle a lot with keeping track of their intakes. In the common household, most people don’t have the luxury of a personal trainer/assistant to help them with their diet, or an affordable smart system to do it for them, until now. We wanted to therefore design a product-system-service that uses smart products to aid the user tracking their nutrition, with their personal goals in mind.
This led us to brainstorm on potential products that are usable in the kitchen, where your nutrition is the main focus. Since we wanted the user to feel secure while using the product, and have it become more approachable, we didn’t want to design a brand-new product concept, but instead make alterations to an already existing product to create an all new experience. This would give the user a bigger sense of familiarity and thus approachability. This choice led us to design the Smart Fridge, an innovative fridge that can recognize and register products with a built-in scanner, and then suggest recipes with certain ingredients and nutritional value suitable for achieving the goals of the user. There would be an app along with it, where the user could track their progress and store data.
We basically needed to include a scale inside the fridge for weighing the food, along with a scanner, and we quickly noticed that it was a very challenging task with our current knowledge on technology. On another note smart fridges were already a thing, as seen with for example the Samsung Smart Fridge, where you can also see what’s inside the fridge on a display screen. Companies that make these sorts of fridges are already established big companies, and competing with them would be impossible. All things considered, we decided to change the design into a more sustainable, and achievable product.
Smart fridge
New Concept
Keep reading to find out more about the ideation process and basic requirements.
As we tried to come up with a new concept, we tried to adhere to the list of requirements that had been made. It started with basic requirements like:
“The product should be able to fit into any common kitchen”
“The product should be able to recognize food items”
“The product should be able to measure weights”
Later on the requirements got more defined, which can be seen in this list.
In the end, what we did was take the two biggest characteristics of the Smart Fridge, which are the scanning and weighing aspects, and try to combine them into a single original product that was less sophisticated in proportion, along with an application used for storing data.
Thus, we wanted to design a digital food scale, with a built-in scanner, that can recognize products while weighing them, and that can send data to the app on your phone.
Ideation
Our ideation included multiple shape variations for the scale, as well as different ways to combine a scale with a scanner. We quickly established of course, the scanner had to be higher up than the food item, to get a clear view of it. We thought that the smartest way to achieve that would be with a foldable system, where you can fold the scanner outwards, in order to use it. The next issue was determining whether to create an interface on the scale or not. Since we wanted to make it as accessible and easy to use as possible, we did put a screen and buttons on it, where the user can select options or set settings, and read feedback from the scale. However we did not opt for a more sophisticated touch screen or full color display as we already established that “The product should be usable at any time” and as it is a kitchen product, the user would have dirty/wet hands that don’t work well with touchscreen devices. Moreover, we did not want the scale to distract from the cooking experience, so we figured we would keep it as simple and easy to use as possible.
After making a couple concepts and exploring the market for already existing scales, we mainly adhered to two of the most important requirements:
“The product should be able to fit into any common kitchen”
“The product should be easily accessible”
We did consider interesting scale shapes, with circular bodies or triangles that folded, etc. However after consideration we settled on a simple square shape. This allowed for a clean foldable system that would also be more durable than in other concepts but also meant that it would not need a special space in the kitchen. With it’s small size, the uscale can fit into any common drawer or kitchen shelf and would therefore be always close by and accessible for when it needs to be used. Making the scale as reachable as possible was of great importance as the whole system relies on its usage. We wanted the scale to be merely a tool that is commonly used with the new dynamic approach that the system brings to the kitchen and not be a liability or another overwhelming task in the kitchen. With that, the requirements dictate that the scale is highly durable and waterproof that makes it easier to maintain and clean, which ultimately benefits the idea of making the scale enjoyable and easy to use.
Uscale
Keep reading to find out more about the final design, its configurations, maintenance details, and app
With it’s small size, the uscale can fit into any common drawer or kitchen shelf and would therefore be always close by and accessible for when it needs to be used. Making the scale as reachable as possible was of great importance as the whole system relies on its usage. We wanted the scale to be merely a tool that is commonly used with the new dynamic approach that the system brings to the kitchen and not be a liability or another overwhelming task in the kitchen. With that, the requirements dictate that the scale is highly durable and waterproof that makes it easier to maintain and clean, which ultimately benefits the idea of making the scale enjoyable and easy to use.
Configurations
We came up with the idea to make the scale usable in two configurations. One is as a traditional scale with the screen on the ground, which doesn’t use the scanner, referring back to the fact that we wanted to make it familiar and more approachable. The other is, as the product is intended to be used most often, with the screen folded out and aimed at the user, and the scanner aimed towards the scale. This is why we designed the scanner to be in the same section as the interface.
Product Requirements
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The product should be waterproof
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The product should withstand rust
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The product should be usable at any time
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The product should withstand weights up to 5kg
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The product should be able to measure weights
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The product should have a built in scanner
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The product should be able to recognize food items
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The product should be able to scan barcodes
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The product should be able to tell weight to user
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The product should be able to tell food product type to user
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The product should be capable of bluetooth connections
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The product should be rechargeable
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The product withstand high usage rates
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The product should be constructed out of sturdy materials
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The product should be able to fit into any common kitchen
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The product should not contain sharp edges
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The product should be easily accessible
Maintenance
For maintenance purposes, we designed two hinges at the back of the scale that connect to the interface, as this divides the load from the interface onto two points, which avoids damage from excessive use when there is only one hinge. The buttons were designed to be touch-sensitive, like the home-buttons on modern smartphones. This was done to make them more
water-resistant, and easier to clean.
The shape of the given was designed to be safe for everyone in the family, so rounded edges and chamfers across the surfaces were used to avoid harmful accidents.
The materials were picked for aesthetic and sustainable purposes, as the shiny black plastic, combined with aluminum edges gives a high-end feel to the product. Aluminum also does not rust when touched by water, making the product more water-resistant.
App
As for the application, we designed it to be very user friendly, using round shapes and smooth transitions and colour gradients across the menus. We used a specific colour palette that ignites the feeling for health and nutrition, consisting of “fresh” and saturated colours that mix well together and give the user a sense of comfort at the same time.
Software Requirements
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The software should have a user interface (app)
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The software should be able to save data
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The software should be user friendly
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The software should be easily accessible
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The software should be modifiable
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The software should be consistent
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The software should be coherent
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The software should have traceable data
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The software should provide a bluetooth connection
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The software should be able to trace expiration dates
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The software should provide personal accounts
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The software should provide recipe suggestions
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The software should know ingredients