DES100 - Develop Phase
- Daniella Lim-Yip
- May 18, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: May 23, 2022
How might we create a platform that motivates Andrew to cook more for himself so that he won't have to buy his meals all the time?
Case Study Research
I had already discovered the Algorithmic Chef, PROVEN Skincare and Sushi Singularity during my research process for my DES101 assignment, and I previously became aware of the Foodprint app. These existing ideas and products relate to my client's problem, and their aspects are reflected in my concepts. Midway through creating my concepts, I decided to research what motivates people in general and what motivates people to cook for themselves.
This app connects a wide range of food places to customers so they can order meals that would've been wasted at a discounted price.
Although the established company PROVEN Skincare is not relevant to cooking, it operates with the aid of its database, the Skin Genome Project, which contains a vast amount of ingredients, products, reviews and studies revolving around skincare.
This conceptual app uses artificial intelligence to generate an infinite amount of fully crafted recipes. Addressing the food waste issue, the app uses object detection to identify specific ingredients a user readily has on them and ensures the recipes include them. The Algorithmic Chef opens up the possibilities when cooking and enables users to become more experimental with their meals.
Sushi Singularity aims to use health IDs by collecting samples from the body to create 3D printed sushi which will benefit the consumer's health.
I found out there were multiple types of motivation categorised into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic is when a person gets motivation from internal factors, and extrinsic is getting motivation from external factors. I asked my client what type of motivation resonates with him the most, and he chose achievement and affiliation.
The achievement type is an example of intrinsic motivation and is when a person is motivated solely by the thought of achieving their desired goal and the process of reaching it. The affiliation type demonstrates extrinsic motivation, which is the motivation that derives from social situations where people want to be accepted by others and feel a sense of belonging through making connections.
Several of my concepts are based on fear and incentive motivation. Fear, achievement and affiliation would possibly be the type of motivation to get him to start cooking for himself. Andrew would develop incentive motivation once he's past the initial stage of trying to cook for himself and would help make it a healthy habit.
Concepts Top 3 Concepts
#6. Event that hosts cooking classes for students (specifically those who live alone) so that Andrew can meet new people and learn to cook/meal prep at the same time
#18. An app where the amount of recipes he tries, equates to the number of points earned which can earn him a food/grocery shopping voucher
#11. App to show the comparison of how much money Andrew spends on bought food vs home-cooked meals
Prototypes
All three of these ideas were chosen based on the type of motivation that they revolved around. The prototypes and user feedback were conducted both at home and in class.
I explored the idea of a cooking class through this storyboard. It addresses students who don't have much money or time before classes, so they're not bothered to cook. A cooking/meal prep club aims to create a fun environment for students (especially those who live alone) to meet new people and
simultaneously learn to cook. Classes would be at the start of the week, and as many students go to club events, hopefully, students would want to join this club and have spare time to attend. I chose this idea as it uses affiliation and achievement motivation, and it would be in a physical environment, compared to the others, which aren't socially interactive.
When obtaining feedback, my peers raised an issue regarding if the club provided food or if students had to bring it themselves (students can't be bothered). A better idea is to have a club trip to buy cheap ingredients or bulk. Students would join to save money from buying meals, but it's dependent on timetables and availability. Another issue is that running this club would be expensive, and many students have tight budgets. However, they could get sponsors, and my classmate suggested doing a 2-for-1 deal so people could bring a friend for less money resulting in club expansion. Non-members could pay a small fee each time or have a monthly membership. Another suggestion was to have cooking classes/meal prep based on different cuisines, so students could fill a poll on what food they want to cook.
https://www.recipes.co.nz/ (recipes pictured in prototype)
This prototype is an app where the number of recipes tried, equates to the number of points earned which can earn the user a grocery shopping, UberEats or restaurant voucher. I chose this idea as it uses incentive motivation and was a way to gamify the cooking experience so it's more exciting for the user. It would also build the habit of making home-cooked meals and it's a way of measuring progress.
Before stating what the concept of the app was, I asked what my peers thought. The first person thought the app allowed users to find out the nutritional details of their food and that the cooking times in each of the recipes were an indicator of how much time is required for exercising to digest the food which I found was an unexpected approach to my concept. However, once I explained it, they said that the app seems very effective due to clear incentives that could also improve diets. The second person thought it was a social media platform for people to share their own recipes and people would have to purchase them. This relates to my client's desire to make connections and not feel as lonely when cooking.
A digital food wallet was explored as a way for Andrew to be more aware of his spending habits because he gives himself a high budget of $60 per day, and if he goes over, he'll eat less the next day. It will make him want to cook more as he'll realise he's not getting enough out of his money, especially as he has no job, so he needs to save as much money as possible. I chose this idea because it uses fear motivation, letting the user know what their set budget was and comparing how many more home-cooked meals can be made from the same amount of money spent on bought meals.
Upon feedback, it was found to be not only useful for comparing how much is spent buying and cooking but also aids users in saving money. However, an issue arose revolving around how the app will know which purchases are for cooking vs buying meals, finding it an invasion of privacy for the app to access the bank details. At first glance, my peer thought this app would help control users to reduce their degree of eating unhealthy food by reminding them that they eat junk food a lot. A suggestion was made to compare spending habits through a poster or video approach.
Conclusion
The final concept that I decided on is the MotivEATe app as I believe it has the potential to incorporate most of my client's needs and solve my "How Might We" statement. One of the problems I faced was Andrew's attitude towards my concepts as he said "Why would I start it? It might motivate me during the process but I don't find a reason to start it in the first place". As one of my ideas was to create a digital wallet which motivates users through fear, I plan to incorporate this idea into my final design but instead of an app, it will be in ad format to promote the MotivEATe app (used in an app store or social media post). Instead of adding the entire digital wallet concept, I hope to raise awareness of the harmful effects of food spending habits without the bank account aspect. This would instil fear in the user and motivate them to cook for themselves more by downloading the app.
By presenting my three final concepts to different users through rapid prototyping, it was interesting to see how each person perceived my ideas and I was able to gain feedback about what could be improved to help effectively solve my client's problem. I plan to implement some of their perceptions which will help build my final solution based on their comments.
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