1
2
// INTRODUCTION 04 Raising the awareness of the problem 05 Understand the challenge: Thoughts, Constraints, Barriers. 06 Established projects 07 Target definition 07 Interview description, methodology, goals
09 Interview analysis and affinity diagram 10 Interview Map 12 Personas 16 Interview conclusion 17 Argumentation why we want to focus on the first part of chain 18 How might we questions, method explanation and presentation 19 Problem definition
21 Reword the problem 22 Idea generation, Methods 23 Workshop
30 First phase: Video Sketching 34 Second phase: Interface and tray prototype 40 Prototype conclusions
43 Conclusions
// REFERENCES // APPENDIX
3
INTRODUCTION The current project was developed by a group of Service Systems Design Master students for the spring semester project. The topic of this semester - Smart Cities and Open/ Big Data - covers a huge field regarding technology and new possibilities of user involvement. The definition of Open/Big Data arises some questions of: How can the data, that is already there or recently generated, be used efficiently to solve societal problems? How can the users, when providing the data - willing or unwilling - add value to their lives? When working with the data it is important to take into account that the data should be used responsibly without harming the providers of it. Another aspect is to find a way to handle the amount of gathered data. Many companies and other institutions have an enormous amount of data, but do not know how to make use of it. They need appropriate tools to coordinate the data and get valuable information. The special focus here is to separate the value from the noise. With the right service and appropriate programs the gathered data can be used to aid the design and development of Smart Cities. In this way make sure not only to collect data, but to be able to use it in the most efficient way. Domestic food waste is a global environmental problem and more projects are running in this perspective, warning people to make better decisions with domestic food management. The chance of Smart Cities is now to connect food waste with Open/Big Data. Not only to create awareness but to build smart sustainable solutions.
The project aims to provide an easy and convenient way to help avoiding food waste in everyday life without adding complexity to the daily routines by using generated data. This will be not only achieved by changing the food planning process, but also by controlling the home supplies in order to prevent buying the products that have already been purchased. Data will help in this process, as it assists users taking over “boring� activities involving planning and creating shopping lists. The service also aims to connect people for building a common shopping list for sharing it between family and friends. In this way the user will always know what products he have home, what is their status, or what is his grandmother missing from her daily products. This can be done by checking the application that is connected to the smart container in the kitchen which continuously provides data. The methodology that the team has chosen for working with, was the one developed by IDEO (IDEO & Riverdale, Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit, 2012) and consists of five steps: Discovery, Interpretation, Ideation, Experimentation and Evolution. The goal for using this methodology was to have a clear guidance that presents the lucent limitations of the project development and, at the same time, the diverse possibilities of the design thinking process.
Fig. 1 IDEO design thinking methodology (IDEO & Riverdale, Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit, 2012)
4
DISCOVERY
5
Raising the awareness of the problem
T h e r e p o r t o f FAO - Fo o d Wa s t a g e Fo ot p r i n t : Impacts on Natural Resources is the first study to analyze the impacts of global food wastage from an environmental perspective. It is looking specifically at its consequences for the climate, water and land use. The waste of around 1.3 billion tonnes of food per year is causing major economic losses and also causing significant harm on natural resources. The waste is responsible for adding 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the planet's atmosphere. (United Nations Environment Programme, 2013) The impor tance of having data about food is increasingly demanding, thus more and more projects are created to provide new useful data that can be applied for generating awareness of the waste problem. The amount of solutions proposed to the users is large, causing confusion and reducing the willingness of the people to be part of the process. The project should correlate to the user’s everyday life avoiding the increase of complexity preventing rejection of usage. “Better consumption habits are needed. In developed countries, a significant part of total food wastage occurs at the consumer level; in some places this is a trend that continues to rise.” (United Nations Environment Programme, 2013) According to this statement, since more food is wasted in households than in restaurants and supermarkets, the following challenge arises: How can we try to change the behavior in restaurants and supermarkets when our own fridge is a major contributor to waste?
food, while in a family with 5 members, an individual is wasting only 46.8. (Juul, 2011) In the following chart the amount of food purchased yearly by Denmark households and the wastage is visualized. The percentage of the bought food thrown away is 23% yearly. (Gjerris & Gaiani, 2014)
Household food Food bought waste (kg, year) (kg, year)
304
13202
Percentage of food bought which is thrown away
23
Figure 3. Household food waste in Denmark (Environmental Protection Agency, 2011)
A typical Danish single-family house has 304 kg food waste a year, this corresponds to a food waste for 9265 DKK per year. Food waste is therefore an expensive affair for Danish families. (Environmental Protection Agency, 2011) The reason for this huge amount of money wasted is, that “the later a food product is lost along the chain, the greater the environmental consequences”. “Since the environmental costs incurred during processing, transport, storage and cooking must be added to the initial production costs.” (United Nations Environment Programme, 2013) Having all this facts that emphasise the increasing problem of the domestic food waste, the first problem statement was conceived: “How can we use Data to contribute to the reduction of domestic food waste by adopting new practices and improve the performance of the cooked food?”
Fig. 2 The yearly food waste in Denmark per person.(Juul, 2011)
The “Stop madspild” campaign made some investigation in this area and they presented that in 2011 a single person wastes annually 98.8 kilos of 6
The problem statement that had been chosen gives the team the opportunity to combine different existent solutions for the food waste, raising the awareness and serving as a guidance on how the reduction of domestic food waste can be managed on different levels of involvement.
Understand the challenge The problem statement narrowed the scope and brought the designers to initiating the design process and begin the research. This starting points were defined taking into account thoughts, constraints and barriers concerning the key topics and references to the problem statement.
Thoughts - The thoughts were useful for understanding the feelings and perceptions around the food waste problem.
Constraints - Listing these constraints the team was able to measure the scope of the possible solution, understanding how far could go with this problem solution.
Barriers - Through the discussion the
team understood the problem limitations and the challenges that must overcome for the development of the project.
·Additional touchpoint: smart fridge - info about amount of food and the condition ·Diet: proper food according to training watch ·Supermarket can use data from application (waste analysis) ·Amount relevant? ·What data is used when and why? ·How can we get the data? ·Single people produce most waste?
·Time, number of team members and resources limitate reaching a considerable amount of people ·Too customized (many persons using one fridge) ·Focus: Domestic waste ·People do not want to be planned and controlled
·Workshop must awake motivation and interest in the users ·User interaction ·How to approach the right data? ·Is it enough or too much? ·Easy to buy
7
Established projects
“The Danish Ministry of Environment established the Initiative Group against Avoidable Food Waste in March 2010. The aim is to involve stakeholders in the food value chain to commit themselves to reduce food waste on a voluntary basis. In June 2011, the partners signed a charter in order to cooperate and take action. “ (Gjerris & Gaiani, 2014)
“The Ministry of Environment also supported preventive actions like the ‘Brugmerespildmindre’ (‘Use more waste less’) campaign, established in 2010, which provides advice to citizens on how to reduce food waste (Brugmerespildmindre 2012) “Stop Wasting Food movement Denmark (Stop Spild Af Mad) Stop Wasting Food is Denmark's largest non-profit consumer movement against food waste. Set up by consumers for consumers, Stop Wasting Food is an NGO that has constructively shaped public opinion in its drive to prevent food waste.” (Juul, 2008) “Among the tangible results, the Stop Wasting Food Movement has inspired the retail chain REMA 1000 to drop quantity discounts in the chain’s more than 200 Danish stores. Quantity discount is seen as one of the reasons behind the food waste originating from private households as it encourages buying more than actually needed.” (Gjerris & Gaiani, 2014) United Against Food Waste “Denmark's largest event against food waste, United Against Food Waste Last year's success by Stop Wasting Food movement Denmark (Stop Spild Af Mad), Denmark's largest event against food waste, United Against Food Waste, is back! On Thursday October 9th, we stand united against food waste - and Minister for the Environment, Mrs. Kirsten Brosbøl opens Denmark's largest event against food waste at Town Hall Square in Copenhagen.” (Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint, 2014)
Environmental Protection Agency's efforts "Less Food waste" “The website www.mindremadspild.dk is a forum where all can share ideas, activities, experiences and results in less food waste. The site was founded in connection with the establishment of the Charter of Minor Food waste in 2011. EPA wants that the website can continue to be a good tool for knowledge and inspiration for active efforts from all sides for less food waste.” (Environmental Protection Agency, 2011)
8
Target definition
The target group which the designers proposed to approach are singles or small families. The decision was made because the above statistics illustrated that this cathegory of people waste food more than big families.
Interview description, methodology, goals
The desk research provided an extensive amount of information about the problem, which aimed to help to address correctly the user centered approach. Below are the most important requirements listed that should be considered in a domestic food waste problem development: Usefulness of the advice: Priority. Why people are not using/knowing about the food management mobile applications. Principal reasons for food waste at home. What is most important for the user at the time to save food The method the team followed was the one presented by IDEO in the Human Centered Design toolkit (IDEO, 2009). The individual interview method was chosen for approaching to the specific users the team aimed to reach. The interview questionnaire (See appendix 1) was framed by open and more detailed questions for perceiving the relation with the food in the user’s daily lives. The principal objective from the interviewing process was to define the food waste in people’s kitchen. Through this the understanding of the user’s behaviour with food, taking into account different factors as money, time or other resources relevant for the user involved in the process of buying, cooking , storing and wasting was created. This facts are essential for designers, which will help better construct the challenge, giving the users the correct amount of responsibility in the solution and finding possible relations with their sense of compromise with the problem.
9
INTERPRETATION
10
Interview analysis and affinity diagram
During one week 25 people were interviewed with ages between 22 to 50 years, singles and couples.
Single Females Couples Single Males Figure 4. Category of interviewed people
The conclusion of the interview is that people know or have heard about food waste problem. 20 people answered as an affirmative response, and also 20 people confirmed that they do waste food in their kitchen and the most wasted are vegetables. The affinity diagram from the next page permitted the group to classify all the findings and important information gathered in the interviewing process. The team classified these insights into Thoughts about food, Motivations for avoiding food waste, Decisions that concerned food at home and Habits that they had with food management.
11
“I don’t improvise for saving what I have, that’s not interesting for me” “I check the sales when I arrive to the shop”
“I plan the food menues for 2-3 days ahead” “I don’t stick to the plan of the amout I cook”
“I trash everytime the “to-go” boxes I bring from restaurants”
“I follow a shopping list only when I keep a diet” “A lot of packed food contains sugar that stimulates you and makes you dependant of them and you tend to buy more and more”
Food waste = Money waste
Having a bad concience for not taking proper care of food Protect the environment
Feel sorry about the food Health care
12
No plan for the whole week: “I don’t think it would prevent wasting the food” “I trash the leftovers because they don’t have the same taste afterwards” Most people don’t see the value of food: They know that they can buy new one tomorrow
“I don’t think about food waste because I don’t waste any food” People are afraid of getting sick if they eat leftovers (expired food)
“I know food waste problem, I know there are starving people in poor countries, but I don’t know how to help”
We are disconnected from nature and food origins Consumers believe too much in expirations dates
“I don’t like to trash food but sometimes when I am busy it’s not my priority” People buy more products than they need, because of the way the products are sold “I forget the food in the fridge or I don’t like the taste of what I bought” People throw out food because of lack of awareness and don’t imagine the environmental impact “I don’t follow a shopping list, I manage it in my head”
People have a habit to go shopping without a list, picking up random stuff that they are not sure if they will eat 13
Personas
“Depending on how active my week was - which friends I was meeting or if I had some last minute job assignments - I have too much food in my fridge.” “Grocery-shopping is not my favourite activity.” “It’s hard for me to keep track of what is left in my fridge.”
descriptor
Single (living alone)/ rich social life/ 32-year-old/ working full time/ medium to higher wage
behavior
attitude
goals
aware and thoughtful/ not overly motivated
who
Ursula, 32
14
save time and money/ improve shopping (efficiency)
“helpers” for shopping should add value not difficulties/ interested in less waste with little effort
spontaneous: go shopping when there is time and buy what might lack night out so she cannot follow what was planned to be used or eaten that day go shopping on the way home, might buy what she already has
descriptor who goals
Don’t waste the resources, this are money and I work very hard for each krona.
attitude
Oscar is 32 years old, he is single, he is running his own company in Copenhagen for 3 years. Every weekdays after work he goes to gym for an hour. He is also a great cooker.
Purchase only how much you eat, I don’t get trapped in supermarkets offers.
behavior
Assertive/ goal oriented/ easy get bored
I have a booked schedule, I am going shop two times per week. I know what I need but sometimes i forget some items. I don’t like to make a shopping list. Sometimes I forget the expiration dates. I don’t think I would like some help to manage the kitchen.
“Don’t pay attention to each fly, I am focusing only on the important things that matter for me. ” “Time is important for me, I like technology.”
Oscar Andersen,32
15
descriptor who
Ben is 25 years old, he lives with his girlfriend. He has a regular salary, sometimes he has to help his parents with the groceries. He goes to supermarket when there is no food at home, he organizes with his girlfriend who is going to do the shopping. He is always trying to organize everything and he divides his free time taking care of his parents and his own house with Anna, his girlfriend.
behavior
attitude
goals
Caretaker of his family and his relationship
Ben would like to manage better his time with his parents and having things organized at home.
He gets angry with himself for not handling everything at the same time.
He likes cooking but he prefers when Anna cooks for him always new and delicious dishes, this due to he has to be attentive to his parent’s diet and groceries. Ben has to go often to his parents place to check what had expired and what he should buy again.
“Whenever I can be useful for you, I will be there.� Ben, 25 16
descriptor
Her principal goal is enjoy cooking healthy dishes for her and her boyfriend.
She knows she forgets so she tries to organize herself better, even though she not always succeeds.
behavior
goals
Anna is a 23 year old Master student, she works also in a cafe. She earns a student salary due to her Master require a lot of time. She always cook new recipes, but usually forgets to buy the right products for cooking. She relies on Ben for knowing what they have at home and who should go to do the shopping. She knows is stressing for Ben being attentive to their house things, so she tries to remember, but most of the times she buys the wrong items, or she over buys.
attitude
who
Masterchef at home
She doesn’t have any problem by taking care of the cooking almost everyday. She knows what to do with the leftovers, due to she studies she likes to take them with her to school. She has good care of the expiring dates due to she cooks most of the time she is checking constantly, she just can not retain what is it missing for buying again.
“Hmm… it will be nice if I try this today. Oh, but there are no ingredients left.” Anna, 23 17
Interview conclusion
Analyzing the interview responses, the design team summarized in a scenario the way people do the shopping. Most of the people are going to the grocery store having a shopping list in mind, but this doesn’t stop them from buying extra products or to forget to buy the ones that are actually needed. Some of the interviewees don’t have a list at all, they go to the shop browsing and “constructing“ their menu on the way.
Figure 5. User shopping habits representation
18
Argumentation why we want to focus on the first part of chain
Numbers from Retail Institute of Scandinavia (2008) back up the insights from the interviews presented above: “consumers do not plan their shopping as much as they did earlier, but act more on impulse. It is estimated that 75% of total purchases in the Nordic food shops are decided after the arrival at the shop.” (Retail Institute of Scandinavia, 2008) Given this reason the team decided to focus on the first part of the user journey - the planning of the grocery shopping, the shopping itself and therefore taking care of the bought products. Having a tool that helps planning, people would be more willing to go shopping with lists again. Making the process easier and food waste reduced. It is not only important to have a list, the emphasis is on having a portable one, self updating, shopping list. Since “The shopping culture in Denmark is characterized by high accessibility to shops, which results in smaller purchases each time. Forty-five per cent of the Danish consumers visit a grocery store more than four times a week.” (Gjerris & Gaiani, 2014) Therefore having a tool that can keep track of the food supply and makes the planning at home easier allows the users to change their shopping behavior, being at the same time spontaneous and on the way. Additionally people are more open for external influences on shopping and planning, the first part of the journey, than on second part, the cooking moment. Moreover it is more efficient to focus on the first part, since the beginning influences the end. People will not throw out food if they plan their shopping from the beginning.
19
How might we questions, method explanation and presentation
Taking into account the insights mentioned before the team constructed three “how might we…” (IDEO & Riverdale, Design Thinking for Educators Workbook, 2012) questions for redefining the problem statement from its most relevant elements. It were chosen the three most important insights from the ones showed before and used them for constructing the questions.
INSIGHT : Placing the planning under specific conditions don’t permit its execution. How might we … change the perception of planning for both common and specific feeding conditions? INSIGHT : Lack of compromise and prioritization of food care. How might we … give the right value to the food through a simple planning process? INSIGHT : “I don’t see how my actions of wasting food make a big impact on the environment” How might we … aware people of the bad consequences of their own food waste by transforming it into something they can measure in their daily life?
20
Problem definition
After the creation of those three “how might we…” questions the team created this second problem statement for refining the problem solving process.
“How can we reduce domestic food waste through awareness and a guidance to consumers for planning their food shopping?”
21
IDEATION
22
Reword the problem
Within the previous gained knowledge and inputs, thinking in a holistic way, designers tried to look at the issue from several angles by applying the method: “Reword the problem” and answering to 3 questions that should lead them to some new ideas of how to solve this problem or help to conclude the facts. (Mind Tools, 2015)
Why do we need to solve this problem?
It is necessary to solve this problem because people don’t see this issue as a big problem. Most of the people underestimate food value and they know that if today they are throwing away some food, tomorrow they’ll buy some new. People also can’t see the bad impact on the Planet that their little actions of wasting food make. Thus it’s important to bring the real value back to the food, and overcome the disconnection.
What’s the roadblock here?
People mindset, lifestyle, attitude and behavior to food, lack of awareness, lack of planning.
What will happen if we don’t solve the problem.
Food will lose the value even more, higher carbon footprint which will create more damage and most of it will be hard or impossible to fix.
23
Idea Generation Methods
On the way of producing new ideas, designers used the “Connect the Unconnected” tool (Mind Tools, 2015). First on the paper it was written a phrase, and then write whatever comes to mind. This tool was used to define some rough ideas for solving the problem. Each group member said a random word which was written on the board. Then three words were grouped together casually. With these words designers should think upon one solution. During this process 3 concepts were conceived:
Concept 1 Concert, Eat, Printer Concept: “With a printer you convert an idea into a visual, you create a new value.” When cooking, you convert food into a visual and new product, you create/increase the value. Develop an application, through it a picture of the food can be taken either in the store or at home, the application shows possibilities what to do with an egg and a fruit and additional ingredients for a certain menu. Maybe it can be connected with a shopping list or a smart fridge.
Concept 2 Break, Royals, Volcano Concept: “Less fast food as it is not valued, only used to fulfill temporary needs” Break - special time of day/week to do something special, increase value Royals Example - Ideal Volcano - “break out” - starting point / incident to change behavior Events/Dates to meet new people they can be an ideal as you might learn from them via a website or application. You cook together using what is there in the fridge use leftovers, be creative and cook together
Concept 3 Fridge, Cake, Brother Concept: “Smart Fridge visualizes the value of smart kitchen and changes the planning mode by creating a shopping list through application.”
24
Workshop To test the validity of the 3 rough concepts, and generate new ideas, a workshop was planned and organized. Objectives: Test the 3 existing concept through collaborative activities. Generate new ideas for solving the food waste problem. Define a new concepts.
25
The workshop was made with six people, three students and three middle age persons, two of them were a couple. The people were divided in two groups. For the workshop three different design games were prepared:
Icebreaker
For this activity the participants were asked to create a story with some cards each group receive by hazard. The groups had more or less three minutes for creating a story, inspired on the images of the cards given. When the time was expired the game master (or facilitator) gave to each of the groups two more cards for finishing the story. These cards were also handed out by hazard to the participants. The objective of this activity was to make the participants feel comfortable with their groups, the space and the research team. Through the use of the cards the participants got in touch with the topic of food and its relationship with their daily life activities, objects and routines.
Figure 6. Cards examples
Results: The group of adults created a story inspired on Sponge Bob as the principal character of the story, explaining how he and his family prepared their mindset and activities for buying and preparing some food for dinner. “Sponge went out with his family and searched data, printed a list for shopping, took metro to buy milk and other products. Then he cooked and ate. He realized the milk was damaged since the food tasted disgusting.” The young’s group created a story about a person that suffered of hunger when he was a child, making him conscious about food waste and impulsed him to create some solutions for saving the world from food waste and environmental problems.
26
“Jessy, a poor guy, had to eat from the streets when he was young. Eventually he invented the WiFi and got rich with his idea. Now he has a fridge full of food. However he is still worried about food waste and wants to use food sustainable. Therefore he invented an application to help solving this problem.”
Sensibilisation: Kahoot game
It’s an online game with 10 quizzes regarding food. The quizzes were displayed on the computer screen and set up with the help of the Kahoot website (Kahoot!, 2014). The participants had to log in through their phone and play the game by answering the questions.
Figure 7. Kahoot game
Results: “This activity was my favorite, because it was using gaming as a way of teaching, interacting differently with the game master and the knowledge!” The participants felt that besides all their experience on food care, the advices and new knowledge was widely useful for their future management of food at home. The timer running limited the time to answer, which advantaged designers to get an honest and spontaneous reflection of the players knowledge. There were some “aha” moments when the answer was not expected at all. Besides, the game was a funny and interesting way for helping them to remember what was more important about this caring process. The game wasn’t something for everyday activity for the young people, for them it was more about the competition, besides they were interested but it had more impact in the adult group. Most important, after the game all participants were interested in the topic of food waste and had further questions regarding food preserving. The game inspired them to have a reflective thought about their behavior in the kitchen.
27
The Nordvest game
The aim of this exploratory design game is to learn about peoples likes, dislikes and aspirations in order to improve the project. The adapted version of the Nordvest (Appendix 3) game consisted of nine images relating to the food waste topic and the possible solutions for it. On the backside of the picture cards were corresponding questions relating to the participants’ feelings and impressions from the workshop. The rules of the game were that the player should use the images as inspiration and help when answering the question. The aim of the game was to spark dialogue with the users and test the possible solutions found by the design team already. The possible solutions were the serious game about food waste, the smart fridge and cooking together. (Brandt, 2006) Results: Smart Fridge The smart fridge was interesting for the participants, due to it is a concept that they don’t really know much about. It called their attention into a new way of interacting with their products in the kitchen, taking a better care to them and receiving a better support process for avoiding food waste. Learn from Playing Learn to cook and preserve your food through a game. The participants were excited about the idea because it involves competitiveness and curiosity, besides it’s a funny way to learn about food. But they said that if they will play it often it might become boring. Cooking Together “Cooking together” was the concept, which the participants found less interesting, especially for the adult group because it implies a lot of coordination with the people to cook with. It required a lot of logistics on knowing what to buy, what to cook and how to do it properly for the commensals. The young group have a slightly different opinion from cooking together activity, due to for them, sharing the cooking activity was something from their everyday life.
Ideation and Concepts: Card game
The workshop members were divided into three groups. Each group got eight cards. With this cards they were asked to create a simple story. Afterwards they retold the story to the other group, then the facilitator shuffled the cards again, and the groups received new cards. The cards were shared randomly. With them the participants created another story of how to stop food waste. Then they presented the concept once more. By playing this game, the team gave the groups the necessarily environment for ideation, created by the previous activities and the cards. Extending the game, the team told the participants about the existing scenarios formulated during the design process, to have them available for their stories. This way additional feedback for the scenarios was triggered.
28
Results: Both groups selected the smart fridge idea. The first group: The smart fridge can report about the damaged food and help to prevent it. It can be connected to an smartphone and be able to see how much money they lose every time they throw away food. And this is an easy way to avoid the food loss. The second group: Because of a hectic lifestyle and full schedule, people are throwing away fine food because at some point it is not their priority and they just forget about it. But they want control of the products they have home and the expiration date. Why did they not choose the game? “Amazing and they learned a lot about manipulating and preserving food” “Good for showing the topic and the sensible points. “ They learned something new and the designers thought that this idea could be connected with the smart fridge. It is possible to use the data collected with the smart fridge to teach the users specifically how to preserve the food they waste the most. By this the game is adapted each time and highly relevant for the users. Why did they not choose the cook together? The overall opinion was, that the effort is too high to organize the schedules and diets. The idea is suitable for some occasional events but no solution for the food waste problem. Some of them have cooking events already and see no need for a service to carry them through. One participant stated he does not like the idea because of the conflict potential when trying to agree on likes and dislikes.
Workshop’s General Conclusions From the workshop it can be affirmed that for the participants it was an interesting way of learning relevant information about food through playing, competing and card playing games. Some of them saw the advices as a possible everyday activity that reminds the user about the topic of food waste, how to take care of the food and the impact of their actions. The last activity delimited the concepts for the possible solution, due to they were driven into the smart fridge concept for the scenario. In general it can be said, that the prioritisation of the possible solution is as follows: Smart Fridge Game Cook together Receiving the feedback from the workshop, the designers decided to develop further the “smart fridge” idea.
29
EXPERIMENTATION
30
Prototype The prototype phase was divided into two parts, where the designers iterated upon smart fridge service solution. The focus for the first part was on evaluating the service solution ideas and for the second section analyzing the service touchpoints and user interactions, which resulted with several video sketching and a final video sketching. This prototypes will provide the iterative process on the idea construction and the exploration on the diverse solving proposals.
31
First phase: Video Sketching
This sketching phase was developed during the week of workshop for the class “Designing the Experience”. The following process will present the creation and reflection upon the proposed ideas, which gave important inputs for the development of the final idea. The process is divided into three steps: Animatics, Video Sketches and a Final Video Sketch. The ideas that the team worked with referred to smart objects that are present in the user’s’ kitchen, such as the fridge and food containers. The methodology used for this sketching process was the design fiction method. According to the design fiction definition Bleecker gives “It is a way of materializing ideas and speculations” (Bleecker, 2009) giving the designers the possibility to build possible futures with the ideas visualizing them as possible solutions. The first tool approached was the fiction matrix were the team placed the different concepts searching for the best to be sketched. The use of this tool permitted to visualize the ideas and how they were related to the research done in previous stages of the design process and in that way its importance according to its relation to the user insights.
Figure 8. Fiction Matrix
32
After defining the ideas context with the user research, the team made some scenarios for presenting the ideas that were discussed. The chosen scenarios for the sketches tried to “explore the interior ‘felt-life’ aspects of user experience and the complex social and cultural issues raised by technological innovations.” (Blythe & Wright, 2006) Following this idea, for the team was relevant to explore the possible worlds of interaction with the proposal, due to the fact both of them were using a high level of technological approach to the solution, making it sound unrealizable, but with this method the exploration process opened the door to a multiple field of new solving opportunities: “pastiche scenarios are a useful complementary method for designers to reason about user experience as well as the broad social and cultural impacts of new technologies.” (Blythe & Wright, 2006) Figure 9 depict the way the sketching process was conducted related to the design process. The first videos called Animatics are storyboards filmed as a consecutive narrative line, with narration or explanation text. Followed by the video sketches that incremented in quality, concreting the sketch quality and the idea presented. This ones were the base for the Final Video sketching that will present the general concept idea and the way the interaction with the service will be conducted.
Figure 9. Sketching process map
33
Animatics
Animatic 1
The first animatic (Figure 10) created by the team showed the problem context, summing up some of the elements that were found during the research. The objective was to visualize how the lack of planning regarding food impacted the amount of waste produced, making emphasis on how the actions of each individual are making part of this global issue.
Figure 10. Problem Context Animatic. Group 1, 2015
Animatic 2
The idea of this animatic was to integrate the fridge as touchpoint serving as a scanner for the user and in that way he will have control of what he buys. All this information will be gathered in his fridge, which will inform him about the current products he has inside and which ones should he eat first. This aims to give the user a better control from what he is buying and how to prioritize the consumption of what he has at home.
Figure 11. Animatic 3 - Smart Fridge. Group 1, 2015
Animatic 3
The objective in Figure 12 was to present a voice recognition technology for generate a communication channel between the user and his fridge. The fridge has different sensors inside (pressure and smell sensor) and knows what kind of food it has inside. In this way, it can always advise the user what can he/she cook and when the food will expire.
Figure 12. Animatic 4 - Talking Fridge. Group 1, 2015
34
Video Sketching
Figure 13. Video Sketch - Smart Fridge. Group 1, 2015
Smart Fridge In the Figure 13, the team decided to recreate the interaction with the application that will accompany this service, and as Wendy Mackay affirms it is “used to refer to a variety of issues such as how to lay out a computer screen, the appropriate use of input and output devices, and deciding whether or not to provide menus, commands or icons.� (Mackay, 1988) For this case the designers wanted to explore what this application should provide to the user for reaching the goal of an adequate food management, having useful options and determining the specific interfaces that will give the user the correct feedback from the service. The video develops around the life of a business woman trying to keep track of her daily products. She uses the proposed service to improve her life by receiving recipes directly from her fridge and by the use of an application she will be able to keep track of expiring dates and which products should she buy. This sketch differs from the animatic, since the concept was improved its quality and new elements were added. The service is in a more specific presentation and fits the problem context better by involving a user scenario in the narrative.
Figure 14. Video Sketch - Smart Container. Group 1, 2015
Smart Container The idea of Figure 14 depicts interfaces and their utility for the food waste avoidance as a hidden element, not directly expressed to the user, but present in the service as an easy way for planning the food shopping and the supplies management at home; as well as diverse user scenarios that help the public to understand the different ways to approach the service offers. The user involvement arrived in a key moment of the process where the concepts were reflected enough for being discussed and analyzed from a user perspective. This gave the team the certainty of working with the Smart fridge, developing it into the Smart container as the touchpoint inside the fridge or pantry, where the user can place his products and measure their content from his mobile phone. 35
Final Video Sketching
Figure 15. Final Video Sketching. Group 1, 2015
This Final Video sketching was done taking as basis the previous sketches that permitted an exploration and iteration on the service that will solve the initial problem, on how to change consumers behavior regarding food management.
Figure 16. Final Video Sketching. Group 1, 2015
The video illustrates the problems that the users encounter with food planning, according to what the team learned from the user’s relation with food. It also presents the solution last prototype and the way it works for measuring the product’s weight and send this information through Thinkspeak (2015) to any device. This physical prototype will be better explained below, emphasizing how the iterations permitted to reach a functional low quality proposal.
Second phase: Interface and tray prototype This second phase of the prototype process made a focus on the physical touchpoints of the service. The team developed the code for the smart container using an Arduino board, processing and python for the code. The first prototypes were made on carton, and had different sizes for trying diverse amounts of the model product, for this case a milk box.
Figure 17. Prototype process pictures.
After prototyping the code and sensor with the carton, the team laser cut the tray in acrylic and a sticker that simulates the localization of the pressure sensor in the final product. (Figure 17). 36
Figure18: Acryl Prototype of the smart tray
The tray is used to gather the data of the home supply and it is called “iMeasure” (see Figure 18). Its measures can be appreciated in figure (xxx) and is suitable for an individual box of milk.
Figure 19: Smart Tray with Thingspeak and data visualisation on a phone
The “iMeasure” prototype is connected to a processing unit via an Arduino Pressure Sensor and Thingspeak (2015). As shown in Figure 19 Thingspeak (2015) is used to visualize the data from the pressure sensor on different devices and store it in a cloud.
Figure 20: Technical drawing of the sensor tray with the pressure sensor
The tray is called smart because it contains a weight sensor as well as a processing unit to calculate the measured data and sending it to the cloud for being available for the different users. The technical drawing is shown in Figure 20. There the dimensions are added for a better understanding of the sizes. The front view shows the logo “iMeasure” and the sides are 40mm high and 85mm width each side. On the bottom the pressure sensor is visible. Further trays need to be available for a complete service coverage. The tray should be available for the users in supermarkets and online stores. The materials used for the tray should be plastics of commercial use in the food industry. The iMeasure tray works with own intelligence, which means that the sensor has a WIFI data module that will be able to process the information gathered from the weight of the products placed inside. 37
Example interfaces: From Watchout to Lemonsays mobile application In the following the most important interfaces of the service are outlined and explained to better understanding of the interaction possibilities for the users. Since the service and its appearance changed over time, the interfaces were adapted. The first approach to the service was with “Watchout”. This service was tested in a video sketching and prototyping context. There the drawbacks of “Watchout” became evident as well as the chances. The tested valuable parts were transformed into the improved second version of the service “Lemonsays” New components were added and the final solution is presented in Figures 26 to 31. To present the complete design process, the interfaces of “Watchout” are presented below in Figures 21 to 25.
Watchout Interfaces:
Figure 21: “Watchout” products overview
The Interface in Figure 21 is showing the products overview the user is keeping track of.
38
Figure 22: “Watchout” products overview, milk alarm
When a product is about to expire or less than 25% of the content is remaining, in the “Watchout” product overview the image is notifying the user about this by changing its color.
It was defined that the functionalities from the application should be simpler so the icons of the inferior part were deleted and replaced for simple buttons that will guide the user into the interactions needed. It was also developed a brand work by giving the app a better name and logo. For this second attempt the team aimed to create interfaces that were related to the user’s context, as it can be perceived in the final sketch. So, interfaces as the notifications to other users were included, as well as interfaces for the creation of new trays in the same data base system, the registering and the ticking final shopping list.
Figure 23: “Watchout” Detailed View - 25%
The detailed view with all the information available from the milk. The status is: Only 25% of milk is remaining. Therefore it can be added to the shopping list.
Figure 24: “Watchout” editable shopping list
An editable shopping list is available to change the products listed as well as the amount.
Figure 25: “Watchout” shopping list
The final shopping list is created and saved when the users have applied all their changes.
39
LemonSays Interfaces:
Figure 26: Status of product, 25% remaining content
Status of 25% remaining content (Figure 26) in the product. Can be seen when selecting the item or after receiving a notification when this special product status is reached.
40
Figure 27: Notification for critical product
The Notification of an ending product (see Figure 27), will be shown on the start/idle screen of the phone. Can be either ignored or the status of the product can be viewed for more details as presented in Figure 9. Furthermore the product is automatically added to the shopping list.
Figure 28: Editable shopping list with option for selecting shopping decision
Figure 28 presents the editable shopping list with icons for each one of the users sharing the list in case of a friends list or the two buttons “I go” “You go” in case of a shared fridge.
The way the product details are presented and the logic of the service are in both versions the same. The sharing component was changed for Lemonsays. The users can notify each other about their intentions of doing the shopping. The other difference is the notification for expiring products. The final list can be ticked in Lemonsays, as an extension compared to Watchout. For the visualization of the interfaces it was used Invision (2015). It shows the phone screens which made easier to reach the service approach. It could also test some elements of user interaction: such us the capability of sharing the same shopping list and receiving notifications between users, deciding which one of them should go shopping.
Figure 29: Notification of shopping intentions
Figure 30: Adding trays
Figure 31: Editable shopping list for better overview while shopping and update of the items
Figure 29 shows the notification being sent in case the other user took over the shopping duty.
The main interface shows all products the users wants to keep track of. In case more kitchens are used it can be switched between the different views. This is also the case for adding new trays into the user’s data base. He can add the corresponding tray according to the fridge he had synchronized in his phone.
When the list is saved, the user will have access to this list visualization that will be usable while shopping. The bought items could be ticked (see Figure 31) and missing products will be automatically saved in a new shopping list.
41
Prototype conclusions
The process was in general a profitable experience for the team, permitting the discovery of the solution path in a dynamic and unexpected way. Each one of the videos contributed in different aspects, from technique to interaction experiences and narrative possibilities. The first animatic is in appearance not very rich in technique, but for the process was relevant opening a discussion about the possible solutions approach and focus. It was the detonator for an explorative process for imagining possible futures with no restrictions towards what it could be imagined. High levels of fidelity were useful, even though the concept still vague, giving space for discussion and reflection upon the design process. As Mackay affirms in her article it was also useful to have unsolved issues during the videos, or broad demonstrations generating new different solutions to the problem: “Iterative design is useful in situations where the authors have incomplete information, often the case in developing user interfaces.” (Mackay, 1988) Involving the user context in the videos permitted to analyse the utility and usability of the proposal, corresponding to what Olofsson & Sjölén’s present in their sketching phases (Figure 32), those two are the first two phases from which the design is reflected and explored.
Figure 32: Sketching phases. (Olofsson & Sjolén, 2005)
42
Reaching therefore to the desirability, which emerges from the next two phases (Figure 33), where the sketch suggests and persuades, reaching the level of desirability that will make the user want to use and take advantage of the service proposal.
Figure 33: Sketching phases. (Olofsson & SjolĂŠn, 2005)
The Kickstarter video can also be used to present the final product possible users and convince the stakeholders of the usability and completeness of the product. As a general conclusion from this exercise, the team was able to understand the importance of the Internet of things. As Ruttinmann affirms : “Sensors and networks of sensors will need to be able to communicate what their data are about, how they captured and calibrated them, who is allowed to see them, and how they should be presented differently to users with different needs� (2006) The process permitted an understanding on how the inanimate objects can give information to the human beings for a better interaction with their context and take improved decisions that can improve their lives, in this case avoiding food waste.
43
CONCLUSION
44
To realise the vision of a truly sustainable world, we need to transform the way we produce and consume our natural resources. We can all play a useful part to reduce food waste for the benefit of our community. To include the recent technological developments and use the available Big Data is a great opportunity to solve a problem that was created by modern society. The new lifestyles of people made it possible that food waste became such a huge issue. Using the available mobile devices to create a smart city, connecting people via Big Data and with this designing a service as solution for the food waste problem is the clear goal of the designers. In the different steps, elaborated in the above chapters, the initial idea of improving simple tasks like planning and keeping track was shaped. Resulting in a service around a smart tray accessible through different devices. With the mentioned workshop the concept of the designers was proven in a first step, yet to be evaluated further after the creation of the first prototype. With the workshop the designers guaranteed to design with the users and include them in the creation process. This user centered design promises a higher acceptance and need of the final service and product. With the final service the food supply planning is easier, including tracking of availability and sharing with people of interest. With this, an important first step towards a food waste reduction can be made.
45
46
References: Bleecker, Julian. (2009). Article title: Design Fiction A short essay on design, science, fact and fiction. Brandt, E. (2006). Designing Exploratory Design Games a framework for participation in participatory design? Proceedings Participatory Design Conference, (pp. 57-66). Denmark. Blythe, Mark A. & Wright, Peter C. (2006). Article title: Pastiche scenarios: Fiction as a resource for user centred design. Volume 18 (Issue 5). Page 1139-1164 Buchenau, Marion & Suri, Jane F. (2000). Article title: Experience prototype. Page 424 Buxton, Bill.(2007). Sketching user experience: Getting the design right and the right design. Environmental Protection Agency. (2011). Mindere Madspild. Retrieved from http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=da&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=da&tl=en&u=http://www.mindremadspild.dk/&usg=ALkJrhgSrTx_hAxIfwvJOPMpY20syu0TBw Gjerris, M., & Gaiani, S. (2014). Household food waste in Nordic countries: Estimations and ethical implications. Etikk i praksis - Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics. IDEO. (2009). Human Centered Design Toolkit. IDEO & Riverdale. (2012). Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit. New York City. IDEO & Riverdale. (2012). Design Thinking for Educators Workbook. New York City. Retail Institute of Scandinavia. (2008). Skandinavisk dagligvarehandel 2003–2008. Asnæs, Denmark: Retail Institute of Scandinavia. Invision. (2015, April 13). Retrieved from: https://projects.invisionapp.com/ Juul, S. (2008). Stop Wasting Food movement Denmark (Stop Spild Af Mad). Retrieved from http://www.stopspildafmad.dk/inenglish. html Juul, S. (2011). Stop Wasting Food movement Denmark (Stop Spild Af Mad). Retrieved from http://www.stopspildafmad.dk/inenglish. html Kahoot! (2014). Kahoot! Retrieved from https://getkahoot.com/ Mackay, Wendy E. (1988) Article title: Video Prototyping :A technique for developing hypermedia systems. Mind Tools. (2015). Generating New Ideas - Think Differently and Spark Creativity. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_88.htm Miljøministeriet. (2012). Brug Mere Spil Mindere. Retrieved from http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=da&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=da&tl=en&u=http://www.brugmerespildmindre.dk/&usg=ALkJrhhGiW23ltZmZvWp4LMlbNXOZtNLHA Olofsson, Erik & Sjölén’s, Klara. (2005). Design Sketching. Ruttinmann, Jacqueline. (2006). Article title: EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE: Tiny computers that constantly monitor ecosystems, buildings and even human bodies could turn science on its head. Declan Butlerinvestigates, 440. Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint. (2014). Retrieved from http://thinkeatsave.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=365 Thinkspeak. (2015, April 13). Retrieved from: https://thingspeak.com/ United Nations Environment Programme. (2013). Food waste harms climate, water, land and biodiversity. Retrieved from http:// www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2726&ArticleID=9611
Video sketches: Group 1 (2015). ‘Final Video Sketch – Lemonsays & IMeasure Food Management Service’. https://youtu.be/cFPnaYWwF-g . Service Systems Design. Aalborg University Group 1 (2015). ‘Animatic 1- ‘Problem Context’. https://youtu.be/O5LomdNji5E . Service Systems Design. Aalborg University Group 1 (2015). ‘Animatic 2 – ‘Smart Trash Bin’. https://youtu.be/amlVsEZ9A1g . Service Systems Design. Aalborg University Group 1 (2015). ‘Animatic 3 – ‘Smart Fridge’. https://youtu.be/_qLfreiodU0 . Service Systems Design. Aalborg University Group 1 (2015). ‘Animatic 4 – ‘Talking Fridge’. https://youtu.be/AJW1ihxUo7g . Service Systems Design. Aalborg University Group 1 (2015). ‘Video sketching – ‘Smart Container’. https://youtu.be/VgF5IBMlnSk . Service Systems Design. Aalborg University Group 1 (2015). ‘Video Sketching – ‘Smart Fridge’. https://youtu.be/sNV-kKTdXPI . Service Systems Design. Aalborg University Group 1 (2015). ‘Video sketching – ‘Smart Trash Bin’. https://youtu.be/wLbzCOlOW_M . Service Systems Design. Aalborg University
47
48
Appendix 1: Interview Questionnaire 1. Did you hear about the food waste problems in the world?(How do you think about food waste problems in the world?) 2. What is the main reason people throw away food? 3. Do you think you waste food in your kitchen? 4. Do you have methods to prevent wasting in your kitchen? 5. What is the food wasted the most? Why? 6. Have you heard about some organization (receiving food and help homeless people)? 7. Do you have a shopping list when you go to supermarket? 8. How often do you go shopping and when? 9. How do you cook normally? Just look at the food in the fridge or Do you follow a recipe? 10. Do you check the sale info(offers) before you go to supermarket ? Why and why not? 11. If we have some tips for saving food and money. In which way do you prefer to follow them? (app/website/physical stuff) 12. What do you do with left overs? And what do you think about them? 13. Do you track the money you spend on food? Why? 14. How do you decide about the amount you cook/buy (amount of rice etc?) Measure or just put some 15. What is your motivation to save food (save money, bad conscience, ‌)? 16. How do you feel about having a plan of what to eat for the whole week in advance? 17. What do you suggest to prevent wasting food? 18. Are you willing to be involved in some workshop to know some tips regarding food waste prevention?
49
Appendix 2: Kahoot Game
50
51
Appendix 3: The Nordvest Game
What is on the picture? How would you use it?
What functionalities might be of interest for you?
Can you see a problem?
What do you think about sharing the cooking experience?
Would you like to be creative with others?
How often would you participate?
52
Did you have fun playing the game?
What have you learned?
Do you think this game can help people change their behaviour?
Why is it a problem?
What do you waste?
What do you think is the fridge wastes more and why?
53