ID498

Final Presentation

2007-03-30T16:25:00.002-05:00

[final slides presented to class including notes; reposted March 30]

Good evening. I'm James. I'm going to be presenting work we've done designing a mini-fridge for your new private label brand.

Meet your target user: college students. When you're in college compact and stylish products are important. You understand this - this was a theme at your stores during back-to-school season this year. But college students are smart and they're attracted to smart products.

Products like laptops. So tell me what are some of things you can do on your laptop?

Yes... Actually, your laptop works with a wide variety of products to form a system.

Visit any college dorm and you'll see that the compact fridge has become a dorm room necessity. But it's really just a dumb box you cram food into.

Visit any college dorm and you'll see that students are trying to extract as much functionality as they can out this box... and they're only moderately successful.

When you go to Best Buy, or any store to buy mini-fridge, it basically comes down to selecting which size box you want.

You see, mini-fridges don't have a lot of features. This isn't a bad thing, necessarily.... but notice that compact fridges don't have any unique features. This is surprising since mini-fridges are use differently than full-size fridges.

There aren't any winners in this market. Everyone is making virtually the same, identical product and competing on price, even the handful of name brands in this market.

Sub-Zero own the high-end refrigerator market. Customers know that Sub-Zero fridges have a unique identity. Customers know that Suz-Zero fridge are made with the finest materials and that they will blend in with their home kitchen.

Nobody owns mini-fridges. The question you need to be asking is how can create a mini-fridge with a unique identity, a student-centered mini-fridge that owns this market.

Well... we've outlined 3 opportunity areas.

The first opportunity is fridge space.

This is Raquib. Raquib has a small kitchen in his dorm room where he prepares many of his meals for himself.

Raquib's biggest challenge is with his fridge: it's a mini-fridge. Raquib tells us it feels "my life revolves around the mini-fridge... I'm constantly going through and reorganizing things."

The point here is simply that it's difficult to organize a mini-fridge.

The majority of college students don't have kitchens in their room like Raquib... but they're still making meals. Like Matt. Matt makes almost all of his meals himself, but doesn't have a kitchen.

In Matt's words: "my kitchen area is really crappy". Matt's challenge is that his kitchen is incomplete. Everything is spread out and he doesn't even have convenient space to prepare meals.

The point here is that most college students have incomplete and disorganized kitchens, making it extremely difficult to prepare meals.

But students aren't just preparing meals by themselves.

This is Eri. Eri loves to cook. Part of Eri's kitchen is here in her room, including her mini-fridge.

The other part of Er's kitchen is down the hall, where the community kitchen for her floor is. This is a real hassle, because Eri ends up making lots of trips back and forth between her room and the community kitchen to prepare meals.

Eri doesn't just love to cook, she loves to share, too. The students on Eri's floor are always borrowing cooking equipment and food from each other. And on weekends, they all meet in the lounge to eat food someone made and watch a movie together.

What Eri's situations highlights is that when it comes to food, college students are moving around and interacting with each other.

After seeing what college students are really up to, we organized our insights into design criteria. The first opportunity area we outlined was fridge space.

We saw that organization is important. In particular, mini-fridges need easy access and visibility to all parts of the fridge. And they need flexible and dynamic organization features so students can easily reconfigure their fridges to accomodate different items. And of course, it needs to be space efficient.

The second opportunity area, mini-meals, is a much larger area that's richer in problems. Afterall, students don't buy mini-fridges for fridge space, they buy it so they can make meals and snacks.

Looking at mini-meals, we saw that students really need help creating unified kitchen areas in their room.

The last area is sharing. Sharing supports mini-meals, like when Eri's floormates lend each other pots and pans. Sharing is also a reason students by mini-fridges, so they can share food and drink with friends and create sociable rooms.

From sharing, we learned that mini-fridge features should be mobile and support social interaction around preparing and eating food.

Taking this map of design criteria, we some design ideas quickly come to mind...

Things like removable containers...

...stackable storage units...

...and extendable worktops. Taking these ideas, we designed a modular fridge system. It works like this...

Inside the fridge, we have rails that support removable containers, like trays, half-sized trays, shelves and bins which hook onto the rails.

Outside the fridge we also have rails for attaching countertops, bins or hanging your own items. Platforms units stack on top or underneath the fridge.

What this system allows you to do is to create your own kitchen area in your dorm room.

It helps you organize the precious space within the mini-fridge. With the half-trays, now you can easily make room for tall items, like drinks.

You also have a unified, organized kitchen area with work and storage space.

The removable containers allow you to move food around more easily, like trays of pop or cooking ingredients. Having a more complete and open kitchen area makes the room a much more sociable place.

This product is going to be one the first products from a new private label brand you're creating. So why mini-fridges.

Well, in 2004 America spent $75 million on mini-fridges.

And the majority of the users are college students. But this is still only part of the story.

Last year college students spent $10 billion furnishing their dorm rooms and this number is expected to grow. A student-centered mini-fridge is the way to go, for several reason.

We've outlined some ideas on where to go from this design concept.

The first area is barnding. It's crucial to connect with college students and tell the story of how this is more than just a mini-fridge, it's a mini-kitchen. Set different configurations in throughout the store during back to school season. And mix this product in with other products... like putting microwaves, TVs and sandwich makers on the platforms.

But what about after back to shool seasons over. Well, by grouping different features of this system you can easily compete in other markets like apartment and office. In fact, small apartment owners and office workers share many of the same problems that college students have with their fridges.

You may want to extend this concept beyond fridges. Hotplates, microwaves and coffee makers are all extremely popular with college students. You could offer a entire product line of appliances that work together with the mini-fridge system.

And it doesn't just need to be appliances. Taking inspiration from brands like Elfa and Tupperware, you could sell accessories for your mini-fridge, like special containers that fit inside the fridge. In fact, it may be better to partner with some of the brands. It could be as simple as just agreeing on some dimensions so that Tupperware's containers are compatible with your fridge and your fridge is compatible with their containers (everyone benefits).

Either way, college students are spending a lot of money on their dorm rooms and having a lot of problems making meals. Similar problems are experienced in many other environments like small apartments and offices. There's a huge opportunity here. Mini-fridges are a great place to start...

Presentation Feedback (Including Visual Design Tips)

2007-03-09T15:45:00.000-06:00

James,

Thanks for getting your work in on time. Once again, I sound like a broken record, but amazing work. Keep pushing ahead. Some feedback:

INTRODUCTION

Do I think I want to enter the mini-fridge arena? First of all, who am I? Who are you? This is a weird introduction. Think of 3-4 different ways you can start the presentation. I think it's fine to say there's a lot of money in mini-fridges and college dorms, but you're really jumping into this point. You need to build up to it.

If you are addressing Best Buy, warm them up on who they are, what they sell, who their target customer is.

If spending by college students is on the rise, what are the figures? You just have a line here. It would be good to know the data.

Great transition into student living. I'm really digging this introduction. You start big and quickly focus on the student. I just think you need to do it a little less abrupt and with a bit more consideration for your audience, the client.

CATEGORY OVERVIEW

I'm a bit confused. Now we are back at looking at mini-fridges overall, not just for students. So now, you started big, focused on a user, and are now addressing the category overall. The manner in which you are addressing mini fridges overall and those for students is awkward. There's probably 2-3 ways to do this differently. Work on a high level (outline, and what each slide is about, forget the slide itself and the visuals), put them on post it notes and work through the narrative of how to focus your client's attention on mini-fridges (1) and the college student market (2).

OPPORTUNITIES

NICE FRAMEWORK! Great way to organize your thoughts and the presentation.

USE CONTEXTS

Wait... what happened to the framework? i thought this was going to organize things. hm. i'm not sure why you introduced the opportunities and then didn't explain them.

Ah. Okay, I get it. There is a common thread with opportunities and common environments. You are basically slicing it two different ways. You should somehow combine these into one. I like the idea of using opportunities, it's more to the point for your client. You need to combine these two organizing principle better. Perhaps the common environment is just an aspect of your research, another way to look at the opportunities. as such, it needs to be a subset of the opportunities (if this makes sense).

Overall, great organization to your research, nice stories, crisp and concise.

DESIGN CRITERIA

I like how you use the framework again. JAMES! You’re a natural.

CONCEPT

Great transition into your concept. This flow works really well.

I think you can combine all the features into 1 or 2 slides with callouts. Just pick the big points and highlight those.

STRATEGY

I think this is amazing, very compelling work. I would like to see you develop this, but again, I think we can condense this into 1-2 slides. I think you should think about a roadmap. Draw a diagram that has your concept as the starting point, and where the company should take that. What ideas build on each other? What are new concepts that branch off of that? Add time as a dimension to this diagram.

VISUAL DESIGN

This is probably the most undeveloped area of your presentation, and where you should focus most of your efforts for next Wednesday. Tricks to use:

+ big images that span the whole slide

+ don't be afraid to use colors to break up the whiteness

+ use shapes to organize text

+ big fonts (18pt as the minimum size, bigger for more salient points)

+ consistent layout for headlines, text

+ give the audience a sense of where they are in the presentation (research, concept, etc)

+ use visuals where possible (like features slide)

Okay, that’s a lot of feedback, huh? Keep plugging away and if you need more feedback before next week, let me know.

You should have a version of your final presentation for next Wednesday, incorporating all this feedback and as complete as possible. You should be wrapping up your concept work in the next week. Jon and I will give you 15 minutes to present, and 15 minutes of feedback.

Thanks,

Lucas

Hey James,

Thanks for posting up your work. It’s really, really looking great. I would say you are 97% there. Here is some feedback:

Intro

Just say Best Buy, don’t say you. Even though the audience is supposed to be Best Buy, you always just want to refer to the company name.

The transition to “meet your target users” is a bit terse, how about:

“Today we would like to focus on a very large and substantial, but often overlooked segment of electronic appliance buyers: college students.”

Again, not “you understand this”, make it “Best Buy understands this.” Make this change presentation-wide.

Reserach

This is a great quote: “"my life revolves around the mini-fridge... I'm constantly going through and reorganizing things." Put this on the slide with a talk balloon. You don’t have to have a picture of raquib on the slide (the inside fridge picture).

Mini-meals walk through. I love it. Great use of your research. Again, good quote, put it on one of the slides.

Business context

Private label slide. Introduce the notion that Best Buy is familiar with private label brands. Something like:

“This product is going to be one the first products from a new private label brand Best Buy will create. Best Buy is no stranger to private label brands in many product categories. So why mini fridges?”

I LOVE the end of the presentation. Great roadmap, visual, compelling. This is amazing work, and will be a very powerful portfolio piece for you.

Good luck!

Lucas

Design Criteria Advice

2007-03-09T15:41:00.001-06:00

Hey jon,

I tried calling your phone but I think it's off. I was just goinng to ask about how specific our design criteria should be for this presentation. Reviewing what I've written, my criteria seem fairly general. For example, I wrote:

The inside of the mini-fridge should support organization

+ quick and easy access
+ flexible organization
+ efficient use of space

Which sort of seems like "duh". In my blog, I allude to some more specific criteria, such as:

Should support different uses e.g. food fridge, drink fridge, bulk storage fridge

The food fridge should support:

+ easy access spots (usually the front of shelves and top door bins)
+ places/containers for loose and unstackable items e.g. vegetables, opened packages of food (should be usable outside the fridge as well)
+ places for short lifetime items (should be visible and near cold areas of fridge)
+ dynamic reconfiguration for large or other akward items ,e.g. tall bottles

Personally, I should be going through and thinking about formalizing more specific design criteria, yes? What do you do? Do you think of very specific design criteria and design from there? Or do you think of general criteria and allow more specific criteria to emerge as you design?

For the presentation, should I try and include these specific criteria more formally , or is it fine to allude to them through stories, examples, etc?

Also, if you have any suggestions, I'm always curious how I might improve my story.

Thanks.

Hey James,

Jon is swamped in a client workshop today, so I’ll answer this best I can.

I think the first set of design criteria you have are at a good level. The second set is more starting to point at specific design concepts.

When laying out design criteria, it is good to have one or two manifestations (concepts) of those criteria to illustrate what you are getting at. It’s a starting point to begin to solve the problem.

“Quick and easy access” is a good way to define what the product should do, but you should perhaps add some user behavior in there.

For example:

“The inside of the mini fridge should support quick and easy access so users can see the full contents of their fridge.”

In this example, I’m talking about what the product should be, but also why, and what problem that is solving.

It’s good to keep criteria about what the product should be general, while the user problem should be specific. That way, when you are designing, you can think of several different ways that you could solve the problem.

As for your last question, YES, stories and examples make this come to life. Design criteria work best when you have a user and their story in mind. They become an iconic representation of the problem and you design to them. That is the ideal. GREAT QUESTION.

James, you should really consider Design as a career option. This all comes very natural to you.

Lucas

Presentation Advice

2007-03-09T15:37:00.000-06:00

Hi all,

I hope the final push to Wednesday evening is going well.

We will have a couple of guests at the presentation. Just a few words of
advice:

1. Look the part: dress well, don't chew gum, be professional.

2. Practice, practice, practice. Don't try and memorize a script.
Practicing your deck will make you intimately familiar with it. Know the
2-3 things you want to say for each slide and remember these top level
points. This will prevent you from drawing a blank.

3. Believe in your work. You have all done amazing work. You have come a
long way from the beginning of the semester. Be confident in what you
are presenting and your audience will trust you.

4. Have fun with it. This is meant to be entertaining as well as
informative.

We will have a projector set up and a dedicated computer on it, as we
did last week.

Jon and I will order pizza for everyone, so don't worry about food /
dinner.

As for your final grade:

Please bring a CD with your presentation on it to hand in to Jon and I.
And that's it.

Good luck,
Lucas & Jon

2006-12-05T05:38:00.000-06:00

Good evening. I'm James. I'm going to be presenting work we've done designing a mini-fridge for your new private label brand.

Meet your target user: college students. When you're in college compact and stylish products are important. You understand this - this was a theme at your stores during back-to-school season this year. But college students are smart and they're attracted to smart products.

Products like laptops. So tell me what are some of things you can do on your laptop?

Yes... Actually, your laptop works with a wide variety of products to form a system.

Visit any college dorm and you'll see that the compact fridge has become a dorm room necessity. But it's really just a dumb box you cram food into.

Visit any college dorm and you'll see that students are trying to extract as much functionality as they can out this box... and they're only moderately successful.

When you go to Best Buy, or any store to buy mini-fridge, it basically comes down to selecting which size box you want.

You see, mini-fridges don't have a lot of features. This isn't a bad thing, necessarily.... but notice that compact fridges don't have any unique features. This is surprising since mini-fridges are use differently than full-size fridges.

There aren't any winners in this market. Everyone is making virtually the same, identical product and competing on price, even the handful of name brands in this market.

Sub-Zero own the high-end refrigerator market. Customers know that Sub-Zero fridges have a unique identity. Customers know that Suz-Zero fridge are made with the finest materials and that they will blend in with their home kitchen.

Nobody owns mini-fridges. The question you need to be asking is how can create a mini-fridge with a unique identity, a student-centered mini-fridge that owns this market.

Well... we've outlined 3 opportunity areas.

The first opportunity is fridge space.

This is Raquib. Raquib has a small kitchen in his dorm room where he prepares many of his meals for himself.

Raquib's biggest challenge is with his fridge: it's a mini-fridge. Raquib tells us it feels "my life revolves around the mini-fridge... I'm constantly going through and reorganizing things."

The point here is simply that it's difficult to organize a mini-fridge.

The majority of college students don't have kitchens in their room like Raquib... but they're still making meals. Like Matt. Matt makes almost all of his meals himself, but doesn't have a kitchen.

In Matt's words: "my kitchen area is really crappy". Matt's challenge is that his kitchen is incomplete. Everything is spread out and he doesn't even have convenient space to prepare meals.

The point here is that most college students have incomplete and disorganized kitchens, making it extremely difficult to prepare meals.

But students aren't just preparing meals by themselves.

This is Eri. Eri loves to cook. Part of Eri's kitchen is here in her room, including her mini-fridge.

The other part of Er's kitchen is down the hall, where the community kitchen for her floor is. This is a real hassle, because Eri ends up making lots of trips back and forth between her room and the community kitchen to prepare meals.

Eri doesn't just love to cook, she loves to share, too. The students on Eri's floor are always borrowing cooking equipment and food from each other. And on weekends, they all meet in the lounge to eat food someone made and watch a movie together.

What Eri's situations highlights is that when it comes to food, college students are moving around and interacting with each other.

After seeing what college students are really up to, we organized our insights into design criteria. The first opportunity area we outlined was fridge space.

We saw that organization is important. In particular, mini-fridges need easy access and visibility to all parts of the fridge. And they need flexible and dynamic organization features so students can easily reconfigure their fridges to accomodate different items. And of course, it needs to be space efficient.

The second opportunity area, mini-meals, is a much larger area that's richer in problems. Afterall, students don't buy mini-fridges for fridge space, they buy it so they can make meals and snacks.

Looking at mini-meals, we saw that students really need help creating unified kitchen areas in their room.

The last area is sharing. Sharing supports mini-meals, like when Eri's floormates lend each other pots and pans. Sharing is also a reason students by mini-fridges, so they can share food and drink with friends and create sociable rooms.

From sharing, we learned that mini-fridge features should be mobile and support social interaction around preparing and eating food.

Taking this map of design criteria, we some design ideas quickly come to mind...

Things like removable containers...

...stackable storage units...

...and extendable worktops. Taking these ideas, we designed a modular fridge system. It works like this...

Inside the fridge, we have rails that support removable containers, like trays, half-sized trays, shelves and bins which hook onto the rails.

Outside the fridge we also have rails for attaching countertops, bins or hanging your own items. Platforms units stack on top or underneath the fridge.

What this system allows you to do is to create your own kitchen area in your dorm room.

It helps you organize the precious space within the mini-fridge. With the half-trays, now you can easily make room for tall items, like drinks.

You also have a unified, organized kitchen area with work and storage space.

The removable containers allow you to move food around more easily, like trays of pop or cooking ingredients. Having a more complete and open kitchen area makes the room a much more sociable place.

This product is going to be one the first products from a new private label brand you're creating. So why mini-fridges.

Well, in 2004 America spent $75 million on mini-fridges.

And the majority of the users are college students. But this is still only part of the story.

Last year college students spent $10 billion furnishing their dorm rooms and this number is expected to grow. A student-centered mini-fridge is the way to go, for several reason.

We've outlined some ideas on where to go from this design concept.

The first area is barnding. It's crucial to connect with college students and tell the story of how this is more than just a mini-fridge, it's a mini-kitchen. You could set up different configurations in throughout the store during back to school season. And mix this product in with other products... like putting microwaves, TVs and sandwich makers on the platforms.

But what about after back to shool seasons over. Well, by grouping different features of this system you can easily compete in other markets like apartment and office. In fact, small apartment owners and office workers share many of the same problems that college students have with their fridges.

You may want to extend this concept beyond fridges. Hotplates, microwaves and coffee makers are all extremely popular with college students. You could offer a entire product line of appliances that work together with the mini-fridge system.

And it doesn't just need to be appliances. Taking inspiration from brands like Elfa and Tupperware, you could sell accessories for your mini-fridge, like special containers that fit inside the fridge. In fact, it may be better to partner with some of the brands. It could be as simple as just agreeing on some dimensions so that Tupperware's containers are compatible with your fridge and your fridge is compatible with their containers (everyone benefits).

Either way, college students are spending a lot of money on their dorm rooms and having a lot of problems making meals. Similar problems are experienced in many other environments like small apartments and offices. There's a huge opportunity here. Mini-fridges are a great place to start...

final presentation (draft 2)

2006-11-27T03:22:00.000-06:00

The slide visuals all need a lot of work, as do the use and consistency of text on the slides. I'll have to see what I can do about this tomorrow. I have several outlines for how to restructure the story if this doesn't flow well... but I do like establishing early on that this is project is focused on students.

*********************************************

Slide 0: (Title)

[I'm thinking my point here should be the need for a "mini-kitchen", and I think a picture of a student-designed mini-kitchen captures this nicely... still not sure what text to put.]

Slides 1.1 - 1.n : Introduction & Project Goals

Good morning and welcome back...

It's been 4 months since you first asked us to design a mini-fridge for your new private label kitchen appliance brand.

(further review (and define) goals of the project)

Up untill now, your private label brands have focused on consumer electronics.

We wondered, why mini-fridges?

[think of some other transitions into mini-fridge $]

Slide 2.1: Compact Fridge $

In 2005, sales for mini-fridges were (approx.) $75 million. And X% of these users are college students.

But this is only a fraction of the story...

[hmmm, this slide is ambiguous...]

Slide 2.2: Dorm Products $

Students spent $10 billion dollars furnishing their dorm rooms...

Slide 2.3: And growing.

...and this number is expected to grow.

[i will plot some numbers and make this a real slide when I get a chance...]

Slide 4: Student Living

A student-centered mini-fridge is the way to go...

Meet your target user group:

When you're in college...the dorm is your home.
Compact products with style are important (you know this... this has been your focus with marketing back to school products this year..."Study, Connect, Live and Entertain in Style")

But multifunctional is also important... college students want smart products that are useful for many things...products like laptops (compact, sleek & stylish, it's also a TV, DVD player, stereo and much more...)

The mini-fridge has become a dorm room necessity... but it's not a very smart product... it's more like a dumb box you cram food into.

Slide 5: Product Overview

When a student walks into Best Buy, choosing a mini-fridge is pretty simple - you just need to decide what size box you want.

[I found a 30-second (cheesy) video guide for college students on buying a mini-fridge from BestBuy.com...maybe I could play that...]

[could insert previous product overview slide]

This is pretty much true no matter where you shop for a mini-fridge.

Slide 6: Features

Few features isn't necessarily a bad thing. What's important is there aren't any features unique to the mini-fridge. This surprised us since a mini-fridge is used in very different ways than a full-size fridge (as we'll see).

Slide 7: Competition

So who are your future competitors?
The competition is mostly no-namers competing on price - the brand names aren't making anything special. There's a huge opportunity for something, ANYTHING different... and being a new comer isn't a barrier to dominating this market.

Slide 8: Neglected Market That's Up for Grabs

From a consumer p.o.v. nobody owns the mini-fridge market.
Nobody speaks fridges like Sub-Zero.
Nobody speaks mini-fridges.

Your product will speak dorm room fridge (and more)... and deliver on that promise.

Slide 9: Opportunities

Mini-fridges are a neglected market with ripe areas for innovation.
We've outlined 3 opportunity areas...

1. fridge space

This is the most obvious area. Going into user research, we expected lots of problems with fridge organization. This was indeed common, but we quickly hit on a much richer opportunity area...

2. mini-meals

Guess what - college students make meals. And not just easy-mac and leftover pizza. Busy, irregular schedules (and host of other reasons) lead college students to prepare small, convenient meals in their rooms. And students aren't preparing meals in isolation...

3. sharing

... students are sharing kitchen resources and food along with each other's company.

Slide 10: Use Environments

[like Lucas suggested, I may either cut this down are combine it with opportunities... these common environments may not be central to this presentation, but I think they may be of use to Best Buy, especially if they are planning on launching a line of dorm kitchen appliances. Anyway, maybe it makes more sense now that I've explicitly said some stuff about the opportunity areas.]

You should be aware of 3 common environments where students are using mini-fridges (and other kitchen products)...
Each situation exemplifies a specific opportunity area and set of design criteria...

Note: The remainder of this post is unchanged from my previous post (changes - coming soon!).

10 Small fridge w/ room kitchen

Mike and Raquib cook a lot in their room kitchen.

11 fridge space

But they have trouble fitting everything in their fridge and getting stuff out.
So... The mini-fridge should have improved organization.

12 incomplete dorm room kitchen

Matt and Asif prepare most of their own meals but don't have a kitchen.

13 mini-meals

They try hard to organize a kitchen area in their room but it's still a mess, which makes it difficult to prepare meals.
So...the mini-fridge should help with creating a cohesive kitchen area in the room

14 community kitchen

Eri prepares many of her meals in the community kitchen for her floor.

15 sharing

She has to make many trips back and forth b/w her room and the kitchen to make meals. She also shares her cooking stuff and meals with her floor mates.
So...the mini-fridge should support mobility & social interaction

15b sharing

(cut out or combine this last slide idea?)

16 design criteria

So this is what a student-centered mini-fridge should do...

+ provide easy access (and visibility to all parts of the fridge)
+ provide flexible organization (so users can reconfigure their fridge on the fly to accomodate various items)
+ make efficient use of space (so users can fit everything they want into the compact space)
+ create a unified kitchen area (with work and storage space for food and kitchen stuff)
+ facilitate transporting (of food and kitchen items)
+ support social interaction (around eating and preparing food)

17 generic design ideas

These immediately suggest some generic design ideas..

+ removable fridge containers
+ stackable storage units
+ extendable worktops

[slide: list with diagrams of concepts]

18 modular mini-kitchen fridge

We've designed a modular mini-kitchen that can satisfy all these design criteria and more. It works like this...

[slide: diagram of concept ]

19 rails

The rails serve as universal attachment points for the different modules as well as for hanging your own items.

[slide: simple rendering or photo of rails]

20 containers

Inside the fridge...

Different container modules provide easy access and flexible organization in the small space...(trays, shelves, bins)
These are removable and can be used with other elements of the system...

[slide: simple rendering or photo of container modules]

21 platforms and countertops

Outside the fridge...

Platform modules stack on top of the fridge to create work and storage space.
Countertop modules hook onto the rails to provide additional workspace that can be stored away when not in use.

[slide: simple rendering or photo of stackable storage modules and countertops]

22 example use scenarios

(This system solves these problems ...in these situations...which are supported by my research...)

Note: I don't plan to use all these slides (22a-f).

22a easy access

Pull out the trays, access and organize stuff, put them back. Now you can actually get to the back and bottoms of your fridge!

22b flexibility

Easily make room for large items by moving the half-trays. No more items that don't fit. Less wasted space.

22c organized kitchen area

Efficiently organize and store food, appliances and cookware by combining stacking modules, rails and containers. Appliances no longer take up all your work space. All your food stuff is in one convenient area!

22d preparing

Easily prepare a mini-meal in your room. Use the countertops for additional workspace.

22e mobile

Take a tray of food to the kitchen or a tray of pop to a friend's room.

22f sociable

Your room is the best room to eat and hang out in!

22g creative uses

Create a unique and personalized space in your room.

(The system may seem too extravagant to actually produce... but...You don't need to implement every aspect of the system: each element could be a stand alone product. The product doesn't need to be modular: the elements could be integrated with fridge.)

23 mini-kitchen platform

You might want to expand your focus beyond just the mini-fridge...You could offer a complete line of mini-kitchen products that work together.

[slide: diagram of mini-kitchen concept or photos of individual products, like a hot plate, microwave, etc., arranged to suggest combined use]

Note: The following slide ideas are especially underdeveloped and perhaps not even worth developing. Much of this probably won't make it into the final presentation (though I'd like to try and develop some of it).

24 strategy

You are potentially offering much more than just a mini-fridge. You are offering a system to help college students expand and manage the kitchen areas of their rooms. This benefits you in several ways.

24a avoiding unfavorable business models

Students often inherit or rent mini-fridges. By offering more than just a mini-fridge students have good reason to buy a new fridge.

24b adapting to unfavorable business models

Moreover, you can continue to profit off the product by selling fridge accessories and related kitchen products.

24c partnerships

You could partner with other companies to offer products compatible with your mini-fridge or mini-kitchen system. For example, company A could produce sealable containers that hang and fit inside your fridge.

24d entering other markets

You can also compete in other small refrigerator and kitchen markets (and possibly create new ones) with this product... like apartment, office and assisted living homes.

24e branding
Here are some ideas on how to brand and market this product...(e.g. showcasings in stores during back to school with dorm room planning services)

24f integrate with current strategies

...and tie it in with your overall strategy for marketing to college students (e.g. showcase at colleges along with other "sleek" products)

(...and of course, lots other ideas I haven't given too much thought to...)

25 end

[slide: image of design concept in dorm room setting, or perhaps next to other mini-fridges for sale at Best Buy]

final presentation (draft)

2006-11-22T21:53:00.000-06:00

Here is the straw man for my final presentation. I still have some work to do developing and crisping up the final design concept and how I communicate it ( I'm thinking of improving my prototypes, or at least taking some better photos of them in use-scenarios). I also want to replace many of the photographs I've presented below. The final slides on the mini-kitchen platform and other strategies need work on content and graphics (or need to be scaled back or dropped).

*************************************************************************
1. compact fridge market: why and who

So you think you want to enter the mini-fridge arena...

Well, there's a lot of money in mini-fridges and even more in products for college dorm rooms.

2. why else

You should focus on a student-centered mini-fridge.

3 student living

Meet your target user group:

When you're in college...the dorm is your home...compact, multifunctional products are important...

[photograph of dorm room that captures "compact", "multifunctional" and "home"]

4 product overview

Here's what's currently going on with mini-fridges...

They're pretty much all the same (nothing innovative here).

5 features

And there aren't any features unique to the mini-fridge (there should be).

6 competition
The competition is mostly no-namers competing on price - the brand names aren't making anything special.

7 neglected market that's up for grabs

From a consumer p.o.v. nobody owns the mini-fridge market.
Nobody speaks fridges like Sub-Zero. (Lucas' Idea)
Nobody speaks mini-fridges (but you could...)

8 opportunities

Mini-fridges are a neglected market with ripe areas for innovation.
We've outlined 3 opportunity areas...

9 use contexts

You should be aware of 3 common situations where students are using mini-fridges...

Each situation exemplifies a specific opportunity area and set of design criteria...

10 Small fridge w/ room kitchen

Mike and Raquib cook a lot in their room kitchen.

11 fridge space

But they have trouble fitting everything in their fridge and getting stuff out.
So... The mini-fridge should have improved organization.

12 incomplete dorm room kitchen

Matt and Asif prepare most of their own meals but don't have a kitchen.

13 mini-meals

They try hard to organize a kitchen area in their room but it's still a mess, which makes it difficult to prepare meals.
So...the mini-fridge should help with creating a cohesive kitchen area in the room

14 community kitchen

Eri prepares many of her meals in the community kitchen for her floor.

15 sharing

She has to make many trips back and forth b/w her room and the kitchen to make meals. She also shares her cooking stuff and meals with her floor mates.
So...the mini-fridge should support mobility & social interaction

15b sharing

(cut out or combine this last slide idea?)

16 design criteria

So this is what a student-centered mini-fridge should do...

+ provide easy access (and visibility to all parts of the fridge)
+ provide flexible organization (so users can reconfigure their fridge on the fly to accomodate various items)
+ make efficient use of space (so users can fit everything they want into the compact space)
+ create a unified kitchen area (with work and storage space for food and kitchen stuff)
+ facilitate transporting (of food and kitchen items)
+ support social interaction (around eating and preparing food)

17 generic design ideas

These immediately suggest some generic design ideas..

+ removable fridge containers
+ stackable storage units
+ extendable worktops

[slide: list with diagrams of concepts]

18 modular mini-kitchen fridge

We've designed a modular mini-kitchen that can satisfy all these design criteria and more. It works like this...

[slide: diagram of concept ]

19 rails

The rails serve as universal attachment points for the different modules as well as for hanging your own items.

[slide: simple rendering or photo of rails]

20 containers

Inside the fridge...

Different container modules provide easy access and flexible organization in the small space...(trays, shelves, bins)
These are removable and can be used with other elements of the system...

[slide: simple rendering or photo of container modules]

21 platforms and countertops

Outside the fridge...

Platform modules stack on top of the fridge to create work and storage space.
Countertop modules hook onto the rails to provide additional workspace that can be stored away when not in use.

[slide: simple rendering or photo of stackable storage modules and countertops]

22 example use scenarios

(This system solves these problems ...in these situations...which are supported by my research...)

Note: I don't plan to use all these slides (22a-f).

22a easy access

Pull out the trays, access and organize stuff, put them back. Now you can actually get to the back and bottoms of your fridge!

22b flexibility

Easily make room for large items by moving the half-trays. No more items that don't fit. Less wasted space.

22c organized kitchen area

Efficiently organize and store food, appliances and cookware by combining stacking modules, rails and containers. Appliances no longer take up all your work space. All your food stuff is in one convenient area!

22d preparing

Easily prepare a mini-meal in your room. Use the countertops for additional workspace.

22e mobile

Take a tray of food to the kitchen or a tray of pop to a friend's room.

22f sociable

Your room is the best room to eat and hang out in!

22g creative uses

Create a unique and personalized space in your room.

(The system may seem too extravagant to actually produce... but...You don't need to implement every aspect of the system: each element could be a stand alone product. The product doesn't need to be modular: the elements could be integrated with fridge.)

23 mini-kitchen platform

You might want to expand your focus beyond just the mini-fridge...You could offer a complete line of mini-kitchen products that work together.

[slide: diagram of mini-kitchen concept or photos of individual products, like a hot plate, microwave, etc., arranged to suggest combined use]

Note: The following slide ideas are especially underdeveloped and perhaps not even worth developing. Much of this probably won't make it into the final presentation (though I'd like to try and develop some of it).

24 strategy

You are potentially offering much more than just a mini-fridge. You are offering a system to help college students expand and manage the kitchen areas of their rooms. This benefits you in several ways.

24a avoiding unfavorable business models

Students often inherit or rent mini-fridges. By offering more than just a mini-fridge students have good reason to buy a new fridge.

24b adapting to unfavorable business models

Moreover, you can continue to profit off the product by selling fridge accessories and related kitchen products.

24c partnerships

You could partner with other companies to offer products compatible with your mini-fridge or mini-kitchen system. For example, company A could produce sealable containers that hang and fit inside your fridge.

24d entering other markets

You can also compete in other small refrigerator and kitchen markets (and possibly create new ones) with this product... like apartment, office and assisted living homes.

24e branding
Here are some ideas on how to brand and market this product...(e.g. showcasings in stores during back to school with dorm room planning services)

24f integrate with current strategies

...and tie it in with your overall strategy for marketing to college students (e.g. showcase at colleges along with other "sleek" products)

(...and of course, lots other ideas I haven't given too much thought to...)

25 end

[slide: image of design concept in dorm room setting, or perhaps next to other mini-fridges for sale at Best Buy]

business context

2006-11-18T21:01:00.000-06:00

I've been working on the business context research some. Here are some of the key points I think I should communicate to Best Buy.

1) You want to enter the compact fridge market. Then targeting college students is the way to go. They are the largest user group of compact fridges.
2) College students are spending a ton of money on their dorm rooms (you knows this, your competitors know this).
3) Many students aren't buying compact fridges. Intead they are renting them or inheriting them.
4) You need to offer a new and innovative mini-fridge that meets the needs of college students. This is a huge opportunity to offer more than just a small box that preserves food by extending the core offerings of the mini-fridge and connecting the fridge with other student-centered products you offer (or could offer), such as dorm kitchen products.

Here are some related facts and ideas in more detail:

Compact Fridge Market

+ 1,500,000 compact refrigerator units sold in U.S. in 2004 (~$75-100 million ?)
+ most users of compact fridges are college students

A mini-fridge targeted at college students is right on. The compact fridge has become a staple dorm room product. But, this size of this market alone may not justify you entering it without it being part of a larger strategy (?) ...

Spending by College Students in 2004

+ $2.6 billion on dorm room furnishings and $7.5 billion on consumer electronics
+ on average, $260.09 on dorm room furnishings and $509.14 on consumer electronics

This is good. Several articles suggest college students are continuing to spend more on furnishing their dorm rooms. This adds value to the mini-kitchen concept and also suggests that the design should perhaps pay attention to cosmetic features in addition to function. It also may be worth emphasizing to consumers that the space created by the mini-kitchen can also be used for products like TVs and game consoles, since these are so popular (especially at Best Buy).

Response by Retailers

+ Target sells dorm kitchen appliance packages that combine a mini refrigerator, hot pot, coffee maker and sandwich maker. Best Buy also sells TV, fridge and microwave packages.
+ The Container Store offer "dorm room experts" that give personalized storage tips over phone and post a recommended shopping list to secure site for you
+ Best Buy plans to showcase furnished dorm rooms at colleges, pitching sleek products that conserve space

Target is grouping products together to sell the mini-kitchen. Our product goes the next step and offers a cohesive structure to the mini-kitchen along with other useful features. This would be a great product to present at Best Buy's showcasings at colleges. Best Buy might want to develop the mini-kitchen concept further and offer a complete line of mini-kitchen appliances and accessories (e.g. hotplate, microwave, storage cart, tupperware, etc.). Best Buy could try to build a community around the mini-kitchen system (or more generally a dorm-room system) by suggesting configurations in the store or by offering local contests for "coolest dorm room". This could work to further promote the product and might also be an interesting source of research data. I might also want to try to tie "sleek" into the concept, especially since this is part of Best Buy's college strategy.

Alternatives to Buying Mini-Fridges

+ inheriting fridges
+ renting fridges

The mini-kitchen is in a good position to become the rental fridge that these rental companies purchase (right now it seems to be Microfridge which has an integrated microwave; if the microwave is on then the fridge is off and vice versa, so it uses the same power as a standard compact fridge...something to think about if you want to go after this market).
Since many students are inheriting their fridges from friends and family or renting them, Best Buy needs to offer a truly unique mini-fridge. They can continue to profit of them by selling accessories for their mini-kitchen fridge. They could also sell the same accessories for use with compact fridges by other brands. For example, the trays or platforms could be made so they fit with existing mini-fridges that Best Buy sells (an alternative to producing their own mini-fridge).

Other Markets

+ office
+ apartment
+ assisted living

Microfridge markets it 3-in-1 (freezer,fridge,microwave) appliance as a "refreshment center" for offices. Summit markets many of fridges for assisted living homes. Again, many aspects of the mini-kitchen are appropriate for these contexts. Removable containers would be handy for undercounter apartment fridges and assisted living homes. Stacking to make room for appliances (freezer,microwave,coffee maker) might be appropriate for the office refreshment center.

To do
1) What are the exact numbers on sales of compact fridges? Why can't I find them?
2) Is the compact market growing, shrinking or flat? My guess is slightly growing or flat. If this is true, I should especially emphasize the fact that spending by college students on dorm room products is rising and that we are offering more than a mini-fridge with the mini-kitchen.
3) Who are the potential competitors of the mini-kitchen fridge?

Sources:

http://www.acleareye.com/The%20McKinsey%20Quarterly_%20The%20Online%20Journal%20of%20McKinsey%20%20Co..pdf

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_13/b3826123_mz033.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8884977/

concept refinement and future directions

2006-11-18T01:32:00.000-06:00

Below I outline a summary of my concept. Then I outline some ideas and concerns I have on what to do next.

Concept Summary -The modular mini-kitchen focuses on solving problems related to storing and preparing food in small living spaces, particularly college dorm rooms. Countertops and platforms provide centralized food prep and storage space around the fridge. Container modules help to organize items inside the fridge but can also be removed and used outside the fridge. The modular and minimal design allows you to quickly and easily reconfigure and personalize the product in many ways.

rails - The rails serve as universal attachment points for the different modules as well as for hanging your own items.

containers - The various container modules provide convenient, flexible and efficient organization of food items in the fridge. Tray and shelf units fit on top of the rails in the fridge. Bin units hook onto the rails.

example use scenarios:
+ use trays and shelves as removable drawers to organize and access items (students have trouble seeing and getting to the back and bottom areas of the fridge)
+ quickly reconfigure to make room for large items (students have trouble fitting open cartons of milk, large vegatables and cases of beer)
+ many different configs with door bins and half-trays . ( students organize fridge items in various ways e.g. a section for dairy, a section for meats, drinks area - also have lots of small fridge items they want to keep organized)
+ remove trays and take to a community kitchen or a friend's room (students are sharing food and kitchen resources)

platforms (or boxes or some other type of stackable storage unit) - These stack on top of the fridge and each other to create work and storage space for a unified kitchen area in the room.

countertops - These hook onto rails on the sides of the fridge to provide additional space for food prep. Countertops can be stored away when not in use.

example use scenarios:
+stack microwave or another fridge on top of platform (appliances take up a lot of counter space)
+ use trays and bins with the rails on the platform and fridge exterior to store dishes and food (students have dishes, cookware and food that they want to keep organized together)
+ use top of fridge and countertop for work space (students need space to make mini-meals)

what else it could offer

+ hang your own stuff e.g. S-hooks, bags, tupperware, cooking utensils
+ other container modules (e.g. hanging tupperware containers, tupperware drawers,"soft" trays, dividers, mesh elastic bags and nets)
+ hang rails elsewhere (the rails are adjustable and removable, so they could be installed somewhere else, like on the wall)
+ stack platforms elsewhere (e.g. under fridge, beside fridge, in middle of room for eating or sitting on)
+ platforms fold to conserve space
+ non-kitchen configs e.g. entertainment setup, work study setup, mini-bar setup
+ offer entire line of mini-kitchen appliances and accessories that work together as a system (e.g. microwave, hotplate, cart, freezer, pantry, etc.)

I was trying to organize each of the parts of this concept as follows.

form- what is it's structure and how does it work?
primary function- what function does it perform very well?
secondary functions - what else can it do?
problem scenario - what problems does this solve?

I think it's important that even though the concept I present is modular, each component has a primary function that it performs very well to solve a particular set of problems I identified. Additionally, these components can combine in many creative ways to provide flexibility and additional functionality. You could make the components integrated and still have it solve many of the same problems.

Some concerns I have to start resolving (with the final presentation in mind)...

1) How much more do I refine this concept?

For instance, I have this idea of a stacking unit that fits on top (or under, or on the side) of the fridge. Should I keep it at this level of abstraction or should I make a more concrete embodiments of this concept. For example: The stacking module is a box (like this). It has attachement points for rails inside so it can accomodate the various container modules. The tops and bottoms are also keyed so they lock onto the top of the fridge and each other. It comes apart to conserve space when you're not using it and even fits inside the fridge for easy transportation. It's made out of enameled steel, which has a sturdy look and feel to it.

To me, it seems like a good way to go is to present a more abstract concept (like a stacking module) along with a very concrete representation of how this concept might manifest itself as a real product (like the idea I describe above). Which leads me to my second concern.

2) How do I visually communicate these concrete representations of a potential final design?

Sketches, models, renderings, simple diagrams? It seems like for the final presentation I would want to present a really clean and crisp embodiment of these final design candidates. I was thinking of cleaning up my prototypes and taking some better shots of them in a realistic college dorm setting.

3) How do I visually communicate the mini-kitchen platform, or as Lucas put it, that "this concept has legs"

I'd like to present the idea the Best Buy could incorporate the mini-kitchen fridge into a more expansive series of college living products, like the mini-kitchen series. This concept is still at a pretty high level, so I'm not sure if detailed models or sketches are appropriate (even if I had the time). I could use diagramatic illustrations (similar to those I used for my earlier design concepts). Also, I could present a photo of a compact kitchen (e.g. a hotplate, microwave, small freezer, small oven, etc.) and use words to describe how this could become a new product line extension of the mini-fridge concept.

prototyping - round 1

2006-11-15T05:50:00.000-06:00

I did some prototyping of some parts of the modular dorm system (or mini-kitchen) concept. Here's some pictures of the system without any modules.

It might be cool if the rails (or other potential connector elements) were modules, rather than integrated like they are in this prototype. Maybe they could slide up and down on tracks for infinitely adjustable shelves.

Lots of people complained about not being able to fit large items, particularly tall drink bottles. Here, you can move the half-trays to make room for tall items.

You can use the trays like drawers to help you see and access the deep spaces of the fridge.

Or you can pull them out of the fridge.

The trays fit into the platform or shelf unit. Ideally, you could also attach them to the sides of the fridge, platform and other things.

An important aspect of this design is that the modules (e.g. shelf, tray, counter, bin) can attach to various parts in various ways. I wanted the connectors to be non-proprietary in the sense that they can easily be used with items not designed for the system. The rails are great because if they are not being used to connect modules, you can use them for hanging your own items. Practically, the rail may not be the best, as far as cost, manufacturing, structural integrity, etc. But it does capture a nice detail of the open-source system I have in mind. I really like the idea of a dorm system you can personalize (design) yourself. Of course, it should come with ready-made solutions in case you just wanna be a consumer.

I had to use tape to hold up the half-trays to get this configuration. If you could cheaply engineer a system that easily configures in these type of ways, I think it would be useful. It also allows people to creatively design their own optimal fridge configurations, something several interviewees described as an enjoyable activity.

The baggies in the door are held in place by netting attached to the door.

You can attach the half-trays and door bins inside the door to design your own door config.

This netting is good for holding small, loose items. It also doesn't take up any space when not in use, and doesn't get in the way of other modules. You could put it on the bottom of the shelves for a similar effect.

And you can of course hang your own containers from the rails. You could design a whole series of cool hanging tupperwares, jars and other containers.

Again, you can pull all the modules out of the fridge...

...and attach them to various parts outside the fridge.

This creates space when cooking or preparing a meal. You can also use the countertop modules to create additional workspace.

Even if you keep mostly drinks and snacks in the fridge, the trays are convenient for chilling pop and transporting the cans to the table to hand out to friends. Or if you're partying, you can keep loading up the trays with beer. I also wanted to prototype some modules that were designed with storing cans and bottles in mind.

The platform on top doesn't really convey the entire stacking concept I had in mind. I didn't try and build some of the stacking modules I had in mind, even the simpler ones. I also didn't get to prototype the carts or some of the more exotic modules.

I found the prototyping really forced me to work out the details of the design. As I was thinking about how to build these things, I ran into all sorts of details that seemed like they could make or break the product. I could spend as much time prototyping different tray module as I did prototyping all the various parts above. Even the most basic details, like dimensions, aren't obvious.

It would be great to do some testing. With something relatively simple, like the trays and rails, I could make some high fidelity prototypes and give them to students to try out in their rooms.

prototyping - round 0

2006-11-13T02:23:00.000-06:00

I bought the supplies for prototyping. I also was able borrow a mini-fridge.

I stripped it down so I can start to build a badass mini-fridge.

I started to do some sloppy prototyping with some foam core scrap.

I also started to make a quick model.

Now that I have a better feel for working with the foam core, I'd like to start making some cleaner prototypes of some specific parts of my concept.

I've found that just thinking about prototyping gave me some new design ideas and got me to start thinking about details.

Here's what I'd like to prototype:

The generic modules for the system are trays, shelfs, countertops, bins and platforms. These seem relatively simple to prototype, manufacture and use. If I have time, it would be nice to prototype some of the more elaborate or underdeveloped ideas I have.

There are a several key ideas I'd like to communicate (and work out the details of) with my prototype.

1) shifting trays and bins around to make room for items in the fridge
2) pulling trays out of the fridge to transport, view and organize
3) stacking with platforms
4) cantilever configurations - you can easily stick a module just about anywhere, in or out of the fridge
5) other configs

Another thing to think about is how these modules connect. I may assume a "magical connector" for some prototypes. I could then use a separate prototype or diagram to illustrate connector ideas. Or, I could keep it real simple and scrap the cantilever configuration idea.

concepts

2006-11-12T01:29:00.000-06:00

I described 3 concepts last class.

1) organization fridge - convenient and flexible access in a limited space

2) modular mini-kitchen - build your own kitchen area (or other areas for work and storage)

3) social fridge - space for eating, sharing and socializing (not just storing and preparing)

1) Organization Fridge

The organization fridge is about providing easy access and flexibility all within a limited space. Organizing accessories are easy to reconfigure and can be used outside of the fridge.

This fridge is most valuable to students who use their fridge for storing cooking ingredients.

2) Modular Mini-Kitchen

The modular mini-kitchen is about composing a well organized kitchen area in your dorm room (ranging from a instant meal prep area to a small kitchen with a cooktop). More generally, the modular dorm system allows you to easily design and create your own dorm room work and storage areas. There are suggested configurations, as well as accessories designed specifically for the system, but you're encourage to add your own personal touches.

Here's another configuration, this one geared more towards studying than cooking. The grey doors can be used for whiteboard or bulletin boards. The blue areas can be used for books and other items. The grey doors open to reveal a mini-kitchen area, with a mini-fridge, microwave and counter area.

3) social fridge

The social room fridge is about sharing food, drink and the company of others, as well as providing space to prepare food, study and store items. A few basic elements can be easily reconfigured to support a variety of activities.

This fridge can be set up as a sofa, bench or coffee table for socializing. It can also be configured for a work area or to free up space. Conversions are easy. The side handles, wheels and top-access to the fridge allow to be used a portable cooler or sofa.

The social fridge doesn't need to be quite so complex. A small coffee table can make a room more social and folding table-top can easily convert the mini-fridge into a coffee table.

...concepts...

2006-11-07T00:12:00.000-06:00

[the following are some incomplete thoughts... I plan to add more pics and more specifics as I refine some of these concepts]

Looking over my design ideas, one way to organize them would be like this.

stacking

spreading out

inner organization

combination use in & out

non-standard forms

The "stacking fridge" , "inner organization fridge" or the "top-access mini-fridge" are several concept-fridges. But they are more related to structure than purpose. What might the purposes of having a mini-fridge be?

+ prepare convenient meals
+ prepare healthy meals
+ prepare delicious meals
+ prepare food because it's fun
+ share a meal and converse
+ eat snacks and study
+ get drunk and party
+ look cool
+

If the previous concepts are about "how it works", than the following concepts are about "what it's for".

mini-kitchen fridge (preparing a meal from start to finish)

convivial fridge (sharing conversation over a drink or a meal)

TV entertainment fridge (drinking pop while watching a movie)

mini-bar fridge (serving drinks with style and throwing killer parties)

Also, these suggest 4 different aspects the product might focus on.

The mini-kitchen fridge focuses on food, particularly preparing and eating.
The convivial fridge focuses on people and social interaction.
The TV entertainment fridge is focuses around a specific product or activity, namely the TV and watching movies.
The mini-bar fridge focuses on a style or image the product conveys or helps to convey.

What other concepts do these suggest?

Another "how it works" concept that I had was for a modular system design.

Reflections on Context Research Presentation

2006-11-02T23:01:00.000-06:00

I think my presentations have been gradually improving over the semester, but they are still very poor. However, by seeing other presentations and getting feedback on my own presentations, I at least feel like I'm getting a good sense of what I need to work towards to give great presentations.

I think my presentation contained some good ideas. Of course, when you have a lot of ideas, there's usually something good in there. Editing myself down is certainly a challenge for me. I think one reason is simply that I'm often unsure of my own judgments, and prefer to present all of my ideas so that I can get feedback. Additionally, for me the details often seem fundamental to my understanding of some concept. Meaning often seems to dissolve when divorced of all the details. It's interesting to note that I'm often frustrated when others don't edit down there presentations - I just wanna know what's important, and if I want to know more, I often prefer to work out the details on my own.

Thinking back on your presentations (Gravity Tank, IDEO), I'm so impressed by how elegantly and effectively you convey higher-level ideas with a few carefully selected details. I suppose the challenge can be summarized as (a) determining the important high-level concepts, (b) selecting details that exemplify these concepts.

What I liked about my presentation

1) I think the content of my first several slides was pretty crisp and the way I was trying to convey it visually was pretty good. For example, in one of the first slides I used multiple images of fridges to convey that size was one of the only major differentiating features.

2) Many of my insights and design criteria seemed valuable. For example, space in the room is an issue, particularly that there is a lack of work space and storage space that is well organized. The mini-fridge can help solve this problem.

3) I think some of my design concepts were pretty good. For example, the idea of having a mini-kitchen that takes advantage of the outer structure of the fridge to create work and storage space. The visuals of this concept made it pretty easy grasp.

What I didn't like about my presentation

1) There was simply more stuff (words and graphics) than I needed to make the points I had. For example, the 3 slides with examples of how there is not enough space for cooking and eating could have been made with 1 picture and a quick example.

2) The stories and graphics could have been crafted better in order to better convey and support my insights, criteria and design concepts. For example, the concept that fridge organization is a common problem could have been supported by telling how Matt said it felt like his life revolved around the fridge because he was constantly reorganizing and digging through his small fridge. A single picture of a mini-fridge packed with food also could have helped convey this point, rather than highlighting all the different problems with organization.

3) Even though I feel I made some good points in my presentation, they can still be improved a great deal. In other words, I know my judgments as to what are good insights for design, what are good design criteria and what are good designs are still very underdeveloped.

What I would do differently

Instead of listing out things I'd do differently, I very quickly went through and edited the slides from my context research presentation to demonstrate some of the important aspects I'd change. I just used the images and info I had at hand (which should explain some discrepancies you may notice within some of the slides). After each slide, I've written a few sentences summarizing the main points of the slide.

Size is the major differentiating feature of compact fridges.

Compact fridges are just scaled down full-size fridges with less features. Yet, the compact is used differently than the full-size, and there is a need for unique compact features (as we'll see).

Most of the brands making compact fridge are lesser-known brands. The compacts made by name brands are the very similar in design and price as those made by these lesser-known brands. So Best Buy has a good opportunity to compete in this market.

In order to maintain busy and irregular schedules, college students make a lot of small and convenient meals. The mini-fridge is crucial in supporting mini-meals.

Food and drink are important to many of the social aspects of college life, from studying to partying. The mini-fridge places an important role in supporting these social activities.

Dorm rooms are small and space is always an issue. Many students are challenged by the lack of organized work space and storage space.

For many students, organizing lots of food items inside a small fridge is a constant challenge.

Many students maintain both private and shared kitchen resources. Transporting items between the room and a shared community kitchen is a common problem.

Mini-Kitchen - creates well connected work and storage space for a mini-kitchen area
Organized Fridge- easy to use, flexible and efficient organization
Eating, Drinking and Socializing Fridge - could be used as a mini-bar at a party, or as a dining table for entertaining friends

Context Research Presentation

2006-11-02T23:00:00.000-06:00

These are the slides I presented to the class.

This was the way I laid them out.

-

context research reflections and new directions

2006-10-30T03:26:00.000-06:00

Last year, Karen drew a wonderful diagram representing the cyclic expanding and constricting thought process of research.

Personally, research (especially design research) often feels more like this

This week I've been thinking about many different ideas trying to expand as well as focus. Many are new ideas, inspired by feedback from Jon, Lucas and (our guest) Dickson, as well as their work which they've presented. Some are old ideas, some of which I've blogged about but have not published.

Last week I received some great feedback and suggestions:

(1) Lucas suggested adding specific behavior to general design criteria, his reasoning being so you can design around the criteria towards solving a specific problem.

(2) Dickson suggested going the next step with sharing and further exploring the different cultural aspects of college living, as well as "telling the story" of the different configurations to target purchasers. Dickson's presentation also suggested considering "design qualities".

(3) Jon suggested we bubble up the important concept areas and populate ideas around them - 'Dig deeper and pull out the essence'.

I came up with the following design criteria for my presentation last week.

I think there are some important ideas in my design criteria, but also there are some very important ideas that are missing. They seem mostly based on needs and problems, e.g. work space, organization. I don't think I did a good enough job of explaining (or even understanding) factors such as sharing, conviviality and the college dorm as a home and community ( and how these relate to cooking and eating), even though I touched on them in my presentation and have been thinking about them throughout the semester.

I think my design concepts displayed a deeper understanding of what a college living product should be then I communicated to the class (or I consciously understand myself).

Such as...

When you are at college, your dorm room is your home. Moreover, you have limited resources, especially space. Underdesign is important so students can create their own personal home (albeit a temporary one). There is no room for unnecessary components. Also, creating your own home is a highly personal activity. In essence, the home is a design, a composition if you will.
If the dorm room is the home, then the dormitory is the community. College is about building and maintaining social relationships (perhaps more so than academics; perhaps more so than in the past). College room products often need to have the dual function of supporting individual as well as social activities and desires.

So what qualities should the design embody? Thus far, my criteria have tended to focus on functional qualities and structural qualities (and are focused around preparing and eating food). There are also qualities related to aesthetics (e.g. appearance, style, overall experience) as well as values (what values should the design embody - values of the users, the client and brand, and my own personal values). Perhaps another type of quality relates to personal meaning in relationship to the design.

As I was thinking of qualities the design should possess (which I discuss more below) I also started to think of how they relate to the concepts I have.

One concept I have is for a modular design.

One of the important principles of this concept is underdesign, which I talked about earlier. I think this is important because creating a home is a personal and communal activity. Moreover, many important aspects of the design cannot be known or practically included at design time.

1) system components - The components should all have a few primary functions that they do very well, e.g. the fridge body provides an area to keep items cold.

2) anticipated configurations of system components - The components should all be designed to combine in many combinations for much additional functionality and flexibility, e.g. the fridge body provides a base to put the shelf unit, provides space for fridge organizers.

3) possible configurations of system components - There will likely be configurations that are possible, but not anticipated. This also depends how you define components (should we consider fasteners used for assembly as components?).

4) anticipated configuration in use - In the real world, there will be physical components that are not part of the system, as well as user interactions and other intangibles. e.g. using the countertop for TV and DVD's.

5) iconic configurations - There should be a set of iconic configuration that are designed to fit different contexts. Like Dickson suggested, I can use these to start to show target purchasers what this product could be for them.

6) possible configurations in use - Because of limited resources and a desire to improve and personalize aspects of their home, college students often use products in very innovative, often completely unintended, ways. It's important that the components and configurations be "hacker friendly" and personalizable.

Thinking more about design qualities in some more detail (relating to function, structure, aesthetics, values and meaning)...and my research and understanding of college living...and looking at other products (I plan to look at more)...

...I began aggregating words and images of qualities that I felt were important.
Here are some qualities that I feel the product (especially components and configurations) should embody.

minimal
+ functional (does a few things very well)
+ effective
+ simple

Minimal goes with the idea of underdesign. When space and other resources are constrained, there is often no room for decoration or unnecessary or mediocre functionality.

clever
+ versatile
+ efficient
+ usable

Cleverness is necessary to achieve a versatile, efficient and easy-to-use product from a minimal design.

elegant
+ simple yet powerful
+ refined
+ stylistic simplicity
+ appropriate

Elegance is important not simply for functional reasons, but for aesthetic reasons as well.

This rail with S-hooks by IKEA is a great example of a minimal, clever and elegant design.

It's minimal: Despite the product being inexpensive and using little material, it is very effective at hanging items.

It's clever: The hooks aren't required to hang items on the rack and many different items can be easily arranged on the rack. The hooks can also be used to hang items elsewhere. The rail could be just as useful in the bathroom or bedroom as in the kitchen.

It's elegant: The design is stylishly simple. It is appropriate for the context.

There is another quality in this picture that is more a function of the user's relationship with the products. The rack proudly displays the kitchen accessories creating an expressive, inviting and personally meaningful kitchen area.

[Exercise: Compare these qualities of the rack with those of a cabinet drawer that could also be used to store and organize these very items.]

In my presentation I mentioned this idea of creating space. In particular, I mentioned using the outer space of the fridge to create space in the room for storage and work. I also talked about creating space inside the fridge with organization features, as well as combining inner and outer space ideas (e.g. organizing containers inside the fridge that can be used outside the fridge). One of my dominant concepts, which utilizes these ideas about creating space, is a mini-kitchen system.

I think these concepts have value, but there is more that can be said. I think there are some higher level ideas about what roles these newly created spaces should support. I'm hoping these might help to better refine my concepts, and formulate ideas other than the mini-kitchen concept I already have in mind (e.g. Lucas suggested creating spaces for entertainment, something Bests Buy specializes in).

+ personal-use space (private, protected)
+ shared-use space ( negotiated)
+ space for self-expression (personally created, embedded with personal artifacts, shared with others)
+ sociable space (collaboratively created, spontaneously created, hospitable, convivial)

Here are some ideas for a mini-kitchen concept related to these spaces.

personal-use space
+ work space (e.g. cooking,cleaning) and storage space (e.g. food, cookware) outside the fridge
+ organization space in the fridge
+ organization to help maintain private and protected space for personal items (e.g. moveable fridge dividers)
space for self-expression
+ organization that displays important personal items (e.g. a cubby for favorite tea kettles , tea packets and accessories)
shared-use space
+ organization to help maintain shared and communal areas (e.g. large area for shared pots and pans)
sociable space
+ dining space that can be easily moved or expanded

I plan to brainstorm other concepts around these ideas for spaces, as well as other ideas like underdesign and some of the qualities I listed. For example, the snack fridge, the study fridge, the lounge fridge, the entertainment fridge, the play fridge, the convivial fridge, the mini-bar fridge, the keg party fridge,...what might these fridges be like?

Some other to-dos:

+ understanding and critiquing the client (BEST BUY)
+ understanding related products and their qualities (kitchen and cooking products , college products, products college students have, full-size fridges)
+ business context research

Different values have been implicit in many of the ideas I've discussed. There are two more ideas related in part to values that I think are important:

environmental sustainability
This issue was brought to my attention when I was looking at some concepts of the "fridge of the future." Refrigerators and other appliances consume a lot of energy and seem to vary considerably in their efficiency - some compacts are not much more efficient than some full-sizes. Many college students won't care about efficiency since they don't pay utilities. Best Buy may not either. But apartment owners probably do, and so should schools. Sustainability will also be an issue when choosing materials and thinking about manufacturing. In this case, Best Buy probably will care. Anyway, I think a responsible designer should be on the look out for sustainable solutions, especially when they come with other benefits.

universal design
I learned that compacts are used in assisted living homes (for people who can't reach a full-size). Some of the ideas I have (and plan to have) about organization are likely universal design solutions. Again, I probably won't have the time to do more research on it, but it seems like a good idea to at least keep in the background.

context research presentation (near-final draft)

2006-10-24T03:29:00.000-05:00

Many of you probably had a mini-fridge in your room at college. Maybe you used it mostly for pop or beer or perhaps you kept a lot of meals in it, or cooked a lot. For most students, size is the most important decision they make when selecting a mini-fridge for their room at college. If they are cooking meals, than a large fridge is important. If they just plan to keep some pop cold, than the smaller size may be better.

Apart from size, the compact fridges that are out there all look very similar. Most of the differences are subtle, such as color or the way the door shelves are laid out. Some noticable differences are pop can storage and chiller compartment. Also, some fridges have a separate freezer compartment.

Compact fridges are just scaled down full-size fridges with less features. There are no features unique to the compact, even though it is used in very different ways than the full-size fridge . At the full-size level and high-end compact level we see an explosion in features (I haven't listed them all). Many of the features that appear at the full-size level are aimed at maintaining the quality and freshness of foods, but many are also aimed at organization (which is very important for the space constrained compact).

So there doesn't appear to be much differentation between mini-fridges, other than size or whether it has a freezer or not, and maybe whether it has a pop can dispenser. Instead these low-end compacts are competing on price. Most of the players are no-name brands that are only competing in the low-end compact market (GE, Kenmore and Whirlpool are exceptions, but their products still look the same as the lesser known brands). This is good for you (best buy). There's an opportunity (and a need, as we'll see) for a differentiated product, and lacking a name-brand isn't a barrier to entry.
Summit is interesting because they offer the most extensive line of small fridges. They seem to be the only ones offering a mid-price range, and they cator they're products towards assisted living homes and other situations where the fridge is mounted under the counter. Perhaps there is opportunity for the college dorm fridge to compete with these mid-range products offered by Summit that are popular with small kitchen owners.

So what should a college dorm fridge do?

I think two concepts capture what a college kitchen product such as a mini-fridge should support: mini-meals and conviviality. Everyone I interviewed frequently make quick individual sized meals, especially during the week when they have class. Whereas mini-meals are typically about providing energy for the day, eating with others is often about enjoying the quality of the food and drink, as well as the company of others. Situations such as studying together, watching a movie together, conversing and partying can all be convivial, and food and drink is often an important part of such situations. Conviviality also includes cooking together and taking care of each other by sharing food and other kitchen resources.

Going into my user research, I was expecting organization of items inside the fridge to be a big problem - I expected many people were trying to store lots of food in a tiny fridge and having problems. This is a problem that occurs, but it's not the most common problem...what I didn't realize was that if you don't have a full kitchen, organization isn't as big a deal.

Optimally, a kitchen should typically have a fridge, a sink, a stove and oven, and a microwave, as well as convenient counter area and cabinets. [This diagram was inspired by the concept of the work diamond in kitchen design, and backed by my user research.]

However, most kitchen areas in students' rooms are far from optimal. The fridge may be small, but the most pressing problem is usually lack of other kitchen components. There's often no stove or oven available, and no sink in the room. Perhaps more importantly, there's often a lack of space to prepare food and store food and dishes.

If a student does have access to a full kitchen in their room but only has a mini-fridge, then organization becomes a real problem. There fridge is usually packed with lots of different types of food for meals as well as snack.

Similarly, if a student has access to a community kitchen and is using a mini-fridge in their room to keep all their food, organization is real problem. Additionally,this student has to balance problems with transporting items back and forth from the kitchen versus leaving personal items in the community kitchen for others to steal or misuse.

The first set of design criteria deals with creating space. Space is a big issue in all 3 situations. The mini-fridge takes up a decent amount of space. Students already use the fridge to create space by stacking items on top of the fridge to make use of vertical space and to raise items up to a convenient height.

For the incomplete dorm room kitchen, parts of the kitchen are typically scattered throughout the room. Often there's a lack of space to work when preparing meals.,Matt uses his coffee table to prepare meals, do his homework and eat his meals. He wishes he had a countertop near his fridge and microwave, at a regular height, for preparing food. Another problem he has is that his food, dishes and appliances are scattered throughout various parts of his room.

Mike and Raquib also have space issues with the small kitchen in their room. There's hardly any counterspace - stationary appliances and other items take up most of the counterspace. Raquib often uses stools and his desk in the other room for additional counter space when cooking. As Raquib puts it "you can always use more space."

Eri uses a shared community kitchen to cook her meals, but keeps as much food and cookware in her room as possible. Eri is fortunate in that she has a double room to herself, so she has an extra bureau which is completely filled with food and cookware. Still, she has to keep some of her stuff in the kitchen and would like more space to store and organize her stuff in her room.

So, in all three situations space is a big problem - particulary work space and storage space that is well connected to provide a good kitchen area.

The second set of design criteria deals with organization. Problems with organizing items in the fridge are most apparent when you have a full-kitchen, because then you;re keeping lots of different foods to cook with.

The problem is simply that there is too much food for the small fridge. Matt (when he was using a shared community kitchen and a mini-fridge in his room) said "it felt like my life revolved around the mini-fridge" because managing the small space forced him to constantly go shopping and reorganize his fridge to fit everything. Lack of freezer space also poses a problem because fresh foods cannot be preserved for extended periods of time. So efficient use of space is very important.

Access is also a problem. You have to bend down at take a bunch of stuff out and put it back to get at things in the back. Often times people forget about things they can't see.

Flexible organization features are also important to deal with the variety of items stored. People use the same product in different ways. When students have more than one fridge it's common to use one as a primary food fridge and another for drinks or large items that won't fit in the primary fridge. Mike and Raquib have four mini-fridges: one for food, one for drinks and two for items that won't fit anywhere else. Flexible organization should be configurable to fit these different uses (e.g. food fridge, drink fridge, bulk storage fridge).

How frequently different items are used is important - a mini-fridge should allow for easy access to frequent use items like drinks or sandwich meats for mini-meals or butter butter for cooking. The easiest spots to access are the front areas, especially the top door bin, which are where people tend and keep the stuff the use most often.

Another important characteristic is whether items can be stacked or not. Un-stackable items are difficult to organize in the fridge. For example, an opened carton of milk can't be turned on it's side and can't fit upright in the fridge. Loose items could benefit from compartments to keep them organized in.
How long an item lasts also plays a role in organization. Eri tries to keep meats and vegetables towards the freezer compartment so they'll keep better, even if there are more convenient spots available. Other people try to keep perishables towards the front of the fridge where they are visible, so they don't forget them.

The types of items people have change with time. Eri occasionally finds herself with tall bottles, which she has to store in the big fridge, or large vegetables which she was to cut up to fit in her
fridge. The fridge should allow users to easily change the configuration of the fridge interior to accomodate various items.

A final note on organization: like cooking, organizing food and cookware can also be enjoyable. Food is incredibly important to many people, as is being neat and efficient. Matt and Eri both showed a sense of pride and accomplishment at cleverly and effectively working with limited space. In short, flexible organizing features can help fullfill people's desires to be creative and organized , as well as their needs for efficiency and convenience.

The potential benefits of a community kitchen are the sharing of resources and the company of others - the downside is people may steal or misuse your stuff and the location may be an incovenience. Storing food and dishes in the room allows for the convenience of making quick mini-meal or sharing a drink with guests. Because of the convenience and security, Eri keeps as much of her stuff as she can in her room. The main challenge for her is transporting stuff back and forth between her room and the kitchen. She recently bought this cart, which has greatly simplified her life (although she doesn't like looking like a fligh attendent when she wheels it around). Before she had to make six or seven trips or more, back and forth, using the tray in the picture when cooking a meal.

So here's the concept I have in mind. The mini-fridge has two spaces: an inner space and an outer space. The outer space can be used to help create space in the room by attaching countertops, shelves and other funiture or space organizing components around the mini-fridge. In this way, people can start to create a more cohesive kitchen area, with places to work and store food and cookware. The interior of the mini-fridge should also have improved organizational features. Some of these features may be removable, and thus usable outside of the fridge to create space. For example, the fridge could contain removable baskets that can be attached to the side of the counter or other components.

The picture is just one idea for what a mini-kitchen configuration might look like.

Maybe the user research and design criteria portion makes more sense if viewed like this:

I've been talking to people

2006-10-17T04:12:00.000-05:00

I completed 3 one-hour interviews over the weeked. I have another scheduled for thursday. Here's my thoughts and progress this week, thus far..

what's going on? I've collected a lot of data from my four interviews. I'm starting to organize it all to find patterns and develop insights. After each of the interviews, I came back to my room and reviewed my notes, audio recordings and pictures, trying to think about the important things I learned. There's so much stuff, and I didn't even get to ask all the questions I wanted to ask! I really want to try and structure everything in some thorough way. I feel like structuring is important not only so I gain high level insights, but so I become more intimate with the details and better understand the whole of what I'm looking at so I can determine what else I should learn and how dorm kitchens and fridges can be improved. Anyway, what I've done so far is this:

I printed out small pieces of paper with all of the data I thought was interesting. I've started to cluster data that is similar and buildup the data into categories. I've also been thinking about some of my preconceived notions and hypotheses about what is going on. My method (if you can call it that) is motivated by stuff I've heard about like structured planning and affinity diagrams.

Figure: The columns with post it notes are areas I've organized while the lower right hand corner contains data which I still need to organize (because it didn't seem to fit with the other stuff )

For example, going into the interviews, I had this idea that sharing was an important category. However, after I played around with the data I'd collected I came up with the category of social interactions around food, which further breaks down into helping others, conviviality, sharing resources, and anti-social behavior. Each of these categories further breaks down into a set of behaviors or attitudes of people. For example, conviviality breaks down into "I enjoy cooking with friends and loved ones", "I like to share the food I make with others", "My friends will make food, eat and drink while visiting", "the kitchen, food and drink make my room a great place to hang out." Each of these statements is supported by data from my interviews (which I haven't listed here). Here are the categories I've come up with so far:

social interactions around food

helping others
+ "People ask to use kitchen resources I have (but they don't)"
+ "I cook for other people to be nice"

conviviality
+ "I enjoy cooking with friends and loved ones"
+ "I like to share the food I make with others"
+ "My friends will make food, eat and drink while visiting"
+ "My room a great place to hang out because of the kitchen, food and drink"

sharing resources
+ "I don't have to have every kitchen tool because we share"
+ "I can have a wider variety of foods because we share"

anti-social behavior
+ "people steal food and disrupt my meal plan"
+ "people disrupt my preparation by not cleaning up after themselves"

eating needs and desires

control over what I eat
+ "I like to know exactly what's in my food"
+ "It's important I eat right so I don't feel ill"
+ "It's important I eat right so I look and feel good"
+ "I need to vary the foods I eat so I don't get bored"
+ "I'm particular about the taste and quality of my food"
+ "Food is important for maintaining my culture"

control over when I eat
+ "I eat at irregular hours"
+ "It's important to fit my eating schedule with my work and school schedule"
+ "I eat when I get hungry"
+ "I eat frequently"

control over where I eat
+ "I like to work while I eat"
+ "I like to be entertained while I eat"
+ "I feel more at ease when I eat at home"

food preparation

available resources affect my food prep experience
+ "I don't enjoy the act of preparing because I can't cook"
+ "I can't cook because I don't have a kitchen"
+ " I can't cook because I don't have time"
+ "I enjoy the act of preparing food in the kitchen"

learning to prepare meals
+ "I want to expand my cooking skills"
+ " I don't cook because I don't know how"

types of meals
+ "I prepare food just for myself"
+ "I prepare quick meals"
+ "I prepare meals with many parts"
+ "I make several meals out of leftovers"

I've also printed out lots of pictures from my interviews and started to group them and make observations to further add to my data(but haven't gotten too far yet with this).

What should I learn more about? I'll bet these categories will change, especially after a few more interviews. I'd like to test some of the concepts out on future interviewees, to test their validity and expand on them. I haven't finished organizing all the data I've gathered, but the stuff I have left seems to be about organization, work methods, work space and resources, and the fridge. In future interviews, I want to delve deeper into specific behaviors related to planning, organizing and preparing and also focus more on the mini-fridge.

What should we do? I've spent most of my time wading through my findings and organizing them into insights that I;ve hardly spent any time determining design criteria and synthesizing design ideas. I think it would be good to sit down and think about what a "convivial mini-fridge" or "learning mini-fridge" or "healthy mini-fridge" could be. Or, like Lucas suggested, I should ask other people what these fridges could be.
I have been keeping track of the few design ideas that have comee up. For instance, I've noticed that (1) appliances, like microwaves, take of a lot of premium space (2) people try to make use of vertical space (and for good reason, since it's efficient). This might suggest putting appliances on raised platforms or otherwise allowing for easier stacking or moving of large appliances.

pilot interview

2006-10-11T15:17:00.000-05:00

Figure: the fridge area is one of several spaces that make up the kitchen area of Matt's room. Matt estimates that 80% of his meals come out of the fridges.

Here's a summary of the important insights and observations from my interview.

1) the big problem with the fridge is there's no freezer
2) the big problem with the room is lack of workspace
3) many quick mini-meal cycles rather than a few large meal-cycles (cycle: planning, preparing, eating, cleaning and restoring)
4) the major obstacle to cooking and enjoying meals is lack of tools (e.g. workspace, stove and oven, pots, etc.)
5) "food is the most important thing" "it's the most fundamental thing in my life"

Here's a more detailed account of the interesting points of our discussion:

According to Matt, food is the most important thing in his life. He prefers to sacrifice quantity rather than quality of food. Last year, Matt lived in an student apartment inGermany where he used a mini-fridge, but also had access to a community kitchen on the floor of his apartment. He Matt cooked almost all his meals and enjoyed doing so. At IIT Matt lives in the dorms and is only at school for 3-4 days a week and has only a microwave to cook with. However, he does prepare most of his own meals since he doesn't have a meal plan. Here, a typical meals for Matt are leftover takeout, sandwiches, leftovers from home, and deli-meals. He also eats a lot of small snacks, like yogurt, granola bars and bread and butter. Matt tries to eat at least one "real meal" (i.e. a hot meal w/ vegetables and meat) a day. He also tries to make one new meal a week, since this is a good way to learn to cook and to not get bored with your meals. However, this is difficult because Matt doesn't have a kitchen. Whereas in Germany Matt enjoyed cooking, at IIT he doesn't enjoy preparing meals since he can't cook because he doesn't have the tools. His "kitchen area" is "pretty crappy" at IIT.

Figure: The "cooking" area of Matt's kitchen is in his closet next to his clothes. Matt doesn't like how his kitchen area overlaps with other areas of his room.

Figure: This closet shelf is used to store food and kitchen items as well as personal items.

Matt would rather prepare meals. Matt's situation in Germany where he cooked most of his meals was much closer to his ideal situation than his situation at IIT. He views the main obstacle as a lack of kitchen tools rather than a lack of time. His ideal kitchen would be like the one he had in Germany. The key elements are:

+ a fridge with a freezer and a lock
+ stove and oven
+ lots of countertop space and cabinets
+ variety of pots, dishes and other cooking utensils

One important benefit of this ideal kitchen is it is shared environment. This allows for sharing of food, tools and meals. The shared kitchen can also become a problem when people steal food (and therefore disrupt your meal plan), hence the lock is important.

In Germany, "life seemed to revolve around the [mini] fridge" because every few days he went shopping and every few hours he had to rearrange his fridge contents. Organizing fridge contents was more of an enjoyable challenge to overcome than a constant frustration. Here Matt and his roomate are not "actively using" the fridge, because they don't cook and eat a lot of take-out.

Matt's eating schedule is highly irregular. Whereas in Germany food was something to be enjoyed, at IIT food is often viewed more as simply fuel for the body. In Matt's words "I make a quick meal when hunger distracts me from work".

One issue that kept arising was lack of workspace. According to Matt, "once you take something out, you have to put it back right away to make space". Matt's "countertop" was a coffee table that also functioned as a desk, dining table and tempory space for other objects. For Matt, kitchen tasks are performed in series rather than in parallel. With limited space and tools, Matt tends to make lots of quick mini-meals throughout the day, rather than large meals.

Figure: The coffee table functions as a kitchen countertop, dining table and desk.

Figure: Many "tops" are used for food related items.

Matt's biggest problem with the mini-fridges are that they don't have a freezer. This means he can't keep ice cream, ice and other frozen foods for extended periods of time. The chiller compartment is like a "slap in the face" to Matt, and he would prefer to not have it at all. Some other things he didn't like about the fridge was the "plastic thing" (i.e. crisper drawer). He'd rather not have it and instead have another adjustable shelf.

Not suprisingly, frequently used items are stored at the front and top areas of the fridge. Stackable items (i.e. items with flat and strong tops and bottoms) are stored on the bottom of the shelves. Other than this, food tends to go in any available spot. Matt never volunteered that organization was a major problem with the fridge. Rather, he felt a major problem was that there isn't enough workspace outside the fridge to arrange items and prepare, eat and cleanup meals.

Here's the discussion guide I used:

Intro
+ this will only be shared within the class
+ ill take lots of pictures, and record
+ assume I don’t know anything
+ this is a pilot interview

Warm Up
How's school going this year?
How's the room?
What are some your favorite foods or drinks?

General strategies

1) Why?
2) Show me…
3) What does ____ mean to you?
4) Story or Example
5) Repeat or Rephrase
6) Generalize
7) Summarize and state conclusion

How do you use your fridge on a typical day?

Purchasing

Why’d you buy this fridge? What were you looking for in particular?
Does it meet your expectations?
How important is: Appearance? Price? Size? Features? Availability?

Can we take a look inside your fridge…

Shopping

What types of foods do you buy?
How often do you restock your fridge? How often do you shop?
Can you keep everything you want in your fridge? What are the limitations?
What sacrifices do you make? How do you adjust shopping and meals?

Organizing

What items do you use the most frequently?
How do you organize the stuff in your fridge?
Do you have trouble finding things? Keeping track of things?
What’s the biggest challenge with your fridge?

Preparing

How often do you prepare food?
Do you cook a lot? Make a lot of snacks?
Walk me through making a meal. Walk me through making a snack.
Do you plan meals?
Is preparing food a chore; is it enjoyable?

Eating

Where do you eat your meals?
When do you eat? What’s the schedule for meals? Snacks?

Sharing

Who do you share the space, food, utensils with? What are benefits?
How do you have to adjust? What problems arise?

Kitchen

So what would you call this area of the room?
How have you organized it like this?
What are the most important tools you have related to food?
What tools do you wish you had? (fantasy)
Describe you ideal kitchen setup…
(back to reality) What are the essentials?

Experience

Describe the social atmosphere around food for you.
What does food mean to you?
Where did you learn to prepare food?
Do you wish you could cook more? What prevents you?

Features

What’s good? What’s bad?

+ canstor
+ shelve
+ chiller
+ crisper
+ door configuration
+ what else?

For future interviews: I definitely want to explore many of these areas more. I feel like I didn't do a very good job of identifying specific behaviors and problems. For example, "lack of workspace" arose several times in our discussion, but I didn't get many specific examples of how lack of workspace is a problem. I also need to do more work thinking about the spaces of the kitchen area that I see in peoples' rooms.
In general, I found it hard to get Matt to demonstrate things explicitly for me. Instead, I'd move on to something else. As a consequence, I didn't get as many interesting pictures of behaviors as I would have liked.

research plan (in more detail)

2006-10-04T02:36:00.000-05:00

User Context Research

Here are the meal-user recruits I have so far:

1. (friend) Matt lives in the dorms at IIT but goes home every weekend. He doesn't have a meal plan, and prepares a lot of meals himself but does not have a kitchen. He shares an under-counter fridge AND a snack fridge with his roomate, who is in similar situation as Matt (except he's on a meal plan).

2. (friend) Mike lives in the dorms at IIT and never goes home during the school year. He has a kitchen in his room and prepares many meals for himself and has a partial meal plan. He has two under-counter fridges.

3. (brother) Nick lives in a small apartment in Germany where he goes to school. He has a kitchen and a single compact fridge, and cooks most of his meals for himself. He loves to cook meals for himself and others.

4. (classmate) Kurt lives in the dorms at IIT. He loves to cook and has two compact fridges. Since he doesn't have access to a kitchen in his building, he often walks over to the other dorms to use their kitchen.

User Research Methods

Contextual Inquiry
------------------------

I plan on asking these people questions while we look at the contents of their fridges and other objects in their room. I'd like to see demonstrations of how people use their fridge and other tools for meal preparation.

Photo Documentary
-----------------------------
Even though these people would (at least at first) be happy to answer any questions I have, I want to try and take up as little of their time as I possible. However, getting lots of photos of their fridges shouldn't take too much time. By looking at pictures of the state of their fridges and kitchen areas over time, I can start to draw insights and selectively ask questions as needed.

Discussion Guide (1st Draft)

Each set of questions is preceeding by some comments where I've tried to capture the motivation behind the questions.

// what are purchase drivers? What were the intended uses? How do intended use and actual use differ?

Why did you buy this model ?
Was brand name important? Performance? Features? Appearance?

// general questions to get a feel of the user's situation

How do you use your fridge on a typical day?
What is the biggest challenge you face with organization?

// What are the different fridge contents, tasks and tools?
// In general... What's bad: what are the problems, workarounds, unmet needs, ideas for improvement? What's good?

Walk me through:

- making a meal
- making a snack
- organizing fridge contents
- stocking your fridge (and shopping)

How well does this (workaround) work for you?

// Test and probe specific behaviors and objects you've identified, e.g. lifetime, frequency, stackability, compactability; internal organization hypotheses

What kinds of items do you typically keep in the fridge?
How do your fridge contents change from day to day?
Do you stack items a lot? Ever think about investing in tupperware containers?
Do you forget about items often? Do you throw out a lot of food that goes bad?
Do you always keep these items over there? Which stuff do you use the most? The least?
How often do you rearrange items? How often to you adjust the shelves? Reconfigure interior?
How often do you cook meals? In what contexts?

// critique current features

What's good about this feature? What's bad?

- can storage
- door configuration
- shelves
- chiller
- crisper
- exterior (door, top, dimensions, level legs)

What features do you wish this model had?

// planning and strategies, or lack thereof

Is their a method to the way you organize contents?
Is their a method to the way you plan shopping lists?
Is their a method to the way you plan meals?
How often do you organize contents, plan shopping lists and meals?

// identify other kitchen tools

What other kitchen appliances do you use?
What other tools do you use for preparing meals?
What are the most essential tools you use?

// what's missing from your kitchen?

What other resources do you wish you had? A stove? More space? More time?
What would your ideal kitchen consist of? What are the essentials?

// how does preparing meals and organizing food fit into your daily life

Do you like making meals?
Is preparing meals fun or a chore? Why?
What's the most important object in your kitchen? In your room?

Business Context Research

My plans for context research feel relatively underdeveloped, but here are some areas I want to investigate further:

+ How do compact fridge manufacturers in the low-price range compete ? (they don't seem to be competing on price and features)

+ leasing and other business models for small fridges and other appliances

+ kitchen organization products ( tupperware, what else?)

+ small kitchen appliances / college kitchen appliances (what's new? what's popular?)

+ What are the full-size fridge innovations? Can these features be inherited or adapted to compacts?

+ think about other systems for organizing stuff (???)

research plan ( an overview )

2006-10-04T02:28:00.000-05:00

Here's the current plan for my research plan.

Who I want to interview

So far, I've focused on one particular way to breakdown of the set of mini-fridge users, where I've labeled two ends (extremes) of the user spectrum:

1) Snack-users don't have a lot of items to keep in their fridge. There isn't a large variety in the types of items they have.

2) Meal-users have lots of different types of food and lots of it. They prepare many of their meals themselves. They would prefer a large fridge, but must settle for a compact fridge because of limited space or money.

At first, I plan on focusing on meal-users, rather than investigating other types of users for several reasons:

1) I suspect the needs of other types of users are often a subset of the needs of meal-users. Researching meal-users will likely spawn new user subgroups to investigate.
2) Meal-users seem to be the most underserved group.
3) Meal-users are less common than snack-users. I should recruit and talk with them sooner rather than later. Snack-users are easy to find.

What I want to find out

Figure: Representation of the 3 progressive levels guiding my inquiry.

Currently, I'm thinking about my research goals by organizing them according to 3 levels or themes. The core level is organization features of the mini-fridge. This level is primarily about function. It is about addressing user needs and creating a product that works better. The next level is mini-kitchen. This is about offering extended functionality to the user in the context of planning, preparing and eating meals. It's about a system of features and products that work together to help support the multitude of tasks related to food preparation. The final level is about creating an aesthetic, meaningful experience, not simply a functional system. It is about a system of products that is truly in rhythm with the life of the user.

I suspect most of my research will be focused at the mini-kitchen and internal organization level. Who knows what will happen with this outer level. I mention it explicitly to remind myself that I feel like a really great design is about more than satisfying user needs. I want to remember to ask questions, when appropriate, that help to uncover what type of product would truly be enjoyed by the user. Or maybe people just want something that works. I'm interested to find out.

Looking at these levels in more detail...

1. internal organization

So far, I'm setting the focus of my research around the theme of organizing items within the compact fridge. Organization becomes increasingly important as we move from snack-users to meal-users. Meal-users would benefit from an easy to use organization system that is also flexible and space efficient (clearly a tradeoff and hence a challenge).

Some general design criteria for an organization system, supported by some early observations:

Quick and Easy
--------------------------
+ students are busy
+ organizing and planning meals is a constant and necessary task

Space Efficient
---------------------------
+ limited interior space
+ there is always more stuff that could go in the fridge

Flexible
-----------------------------
+ varied needs of users in general
+ dynamic needs of a given user
+ preparing meals is a highly personal activity

Inexpensive
-------------------------
+ college students have limited finances
+ small fridges viewed as short-term investments

This criteria is still very general. With my user research I need to get into more specific criteria. What are the frequent tasks which need to be quick and easy? What features can help better use available space? What methods do you use now? Which tasks in particular require flexible features? How do use patterns change from meal to meal? From day to day? How inadequate do youfeel the current system is? How much would you be willing to pay for the new system?

Another thought - the Inexpensive Criterion could be challenged by any the following assumptions:

+ there are many meal-users who are confined primarily by space (not money)
+ students have the option to rent or resell an expensive compact-fridge
+ the design is modular; expensive components can be added on as the user desires

I want to investigate the potential validity of these assumptions. As part of my context research, I want to research the market for meal-users other than students. Also, I want to look into current and potential business models for renting or leasing mini-fridges . It would also be good to look at other kitchen products, particularly products that help organize and products designed for small living spaces.

2. mini-kitchen

The second theme I want to focus my research around is the mini-kitchen. The general list of design criteria I mentioned earlier applies to the mini-kitchen as well. I need to work on developing more general and specific design criteria for a mini-kitchen. What are the important tasks that should be supported? (e.g. shopping, stocking, planning, preparing, cooking, eating, sharing, cleaning, ...?) What are the existing tools and methods that support these task? (e.g. kitchen appliances, utensils, storage containers, work areas,...?)

3. experience

Finally, I'm interested in what preparing and eating meals means to people. When is preparing meals fun and when is it a chore? Do you want to learn to cook more? How does eating and preparing meals fit into the social aspects of college life? What kitchen products do you love and why? What about college products? Are the inadequacies of the mini-fridges a constant frustration or challenges you've overcome?

In the following posts, I'll get into the specifics of my emerging research plan.

immersion presentation (revising)

2006-10-04T01:24:00.000-05:00

I've started to make some revisions of my immersion presentation based on feedback from Lucas and April (thank you to both). I don't have time have time to work on this anymore for the moment since I'm working on my research plan, but here's what I have so far .

Product Landscape Overview

A student is shopping for a small fridge for their college dorm.

They are concerned with:

+ Is the inside big enough? (Will it fit all my food?)

+ Is the outside small enough? (Will it fit in my room? In my car?)

+ Is it the right type? (i.e. fridge w/ freezer, fridge w/ chiller or all fridge)

+ Is the price right? (This isn't a long-term investment, I don't wanna shell out a ton of money.)

They are not concerned with:

+ Will it maximize freshness of my food?

+ Will it fit with the décor of room?

+ Is it a quality name brand?

Figure: Table summarizes the categories of small refrigerators. The region outlined in red indicates where college students are shopping. An X means no models are offered in this range.

Sizes

1) Snack size models are characterized by their near cubic outer dimensions.

2) Under-counter size models are characterized by their 33" height, designed to fit under kitchen counters.

3) Apartment size models are characterized by their height of over 33".

Note: These sizes can further characterized by common features (see next section)
Note: many different "subsizes" are available within a given size

Types

(type 1) all refrigerator

(type 2) refrigerator w/ chiller compartment.

Chiller compartments are advertised as "freezers", but they don't freeze water (but they come with ice-trays!) They do maintain a lower temperature which is, for example, good for quickly chilling a can of pop.

(type 3) refrigerator w/ freezer

Freezers are offered as compartments separate from the main body.

The vast majority of college students will choose something in the red box, i.e. a low-priced compact-size refrigerator. The high end models are too expensive and the apartment size are too large for the dorm room or for transporting.

The major purchasing decisions are:

1) Size ( snack-size or under-counter-size)

2) Type (fridge w/ freezer, fridge w/ chiller or all fridge)

The decision about type is often misinformed (i.e. buyers think chiller = freezer)

Price isn't as big of a decision because for a given size and type, the prices tend to be the same across brands (until the jump into the high-price models)

Features Overview

Figure: This diagram represents common features at a given size or price.

Trends:

1)
(1) As you go up in size, you get more features. These features are oriented towards “meals” (e.g. vegetable crispers, dairy compartments, deli drawers)

(2) As you go down in size, you see fewer features. These features are oriented towards "snacks" (e.g. vertical beverage storage, chillers)

2)(3) Features are usually inherited from the sizes below it; few features are unique to the compact size

(4) There are few differentiating features among the low-price compact-size models.

Organization is especially important for compact users who need to keep lots of food in a small space. However, there aren’t novel features for the compact fridge that help with organization and maximizing efficient use of internal space.

Opportunity: A set of differentiating features that aid in organizing lots of food in a small space.

A closer look at features

coming soon! (maybe)

Brands and Offerings

Figure: Each of the enclosed regions represent the offerings of a group of small refrigerator manufacturers. There are in total 8 groups of offerings (4 sizes and 2 price ranges) . Example: Summit offers snack, under-counter and apartment sized models (but not full-size) both at the low and high price range.

I've started to rattle off a list of 'insights' from thinking about this diagram, as Lucas suggested. I haven't gotten around to sorting it all out yet...

+ Summit offers the most comprehensive line of small refrigerators
+ Most of the competition is among lesser known brands who specialize in low-priced small-size refrigerators
+ The low-price small-size refrigerator market is dominated by models that satisfy many different user groups (e.g. dorm, office, rec room, etc.)
+ No one is making high-end apartment refrigerators
+ Few manufacturers make small AND full-size models
+ Rental companies use MicroFridge, which specializes in compact 3-in 1 fridge/freezer/microwave appliances
+ There isn't a well-defined mid-price-range. Summit is the exception, offering models at many different price ranges. Microfridge also might be in the mid-price range.

Users

There are two extreme types of users:

(i) snack-users - Those who only need to store "snacks" (not a lot of food)

(ii) meal-users - Those who need to store "meals" (lots of different types of foods) but can't afford or can't fit a large fridge

The relatively simple needs of snack-users are well-supported by the current market: cheap snack-size fridges are ideal if you only need to store some drinks and the occasional leftover Chinese food.

However, the demands of meal-users are not well-supported by the low-price compacts being offered. Meal-users buy the biggest fridge they can fit and afford. The most important features are type (freezer, chiller or all fridge) and size . The other features don't play a big part in purchasing (this is supported by talking with meal-users as well as the fact that stores such as Best Buy and Target only sell one model for a given size and type).

Opportunity: Organizing Features

Since meal-users would like full-size fridges, but have to settle for compacts, the features of the compact fridge should help them make the most out the limited space they have. At present, their is a lack of such features at the low-end compact range (in fact, a lack of features in general).

Opportunity : "mini-kitchen"

The needs and desires of meal-users users also suggest a mini-fridge supporting a mini-kitchen. That is, a fridge which supports preparing and organizing meals rather than just preserving and organizing the contents of the fridge.

Figure: A "mini-kitchen" in a college dorm. Components include a mini-fridge, pantry, microwave, sandwich maker, toaster, and blender.

Many college students haven't the need, the time or the tools to cook all their meals. Yet, there is a niche of meal-users who prepare many meals themselves and would do so more often if they had more resources. This group can benefit from a mini-kitchen which helps them make the most out of limited resources. Moreover, the snack-user/meal-user classification is a spectrum and many college students are somewhere in the middle of it, finding themselves wanting a full-size fridge but having to settle for a compact. New organizational features can be beneficial to a wide range of users, not just the extreme class of meal-users.

Appendix: Hypotheses relating to users and the market (modeled after the hypotheses example sheet John and Lucas gave us)

Market

Lack of innovation and specialty amongst small fridges

+ Small fridges are for generic use; most are intended to serve a large variety of users

Corollary: there are no small fridges specifically designed for college students

+ Small and full-size fridges differ mainly in size and number of compartments

+ Few features are designed specifically for small fridges (Canstor, chiller and top recessed door handles are the exceptions)

+ The biggest purchase drivers are capacity (associated with size and portability), type, price and availability

Performance

People are confused, deceived or apathetic with respect to performance and reliability differences

+ Students buy the cheapest fridge (for a given capacity and type)

+ Brand name reliability isn't important; it only needs to last a couple years

+ Buyers think chillers = freezers

+ Energy efficiency isn't important to students; they don't pay utilities

Control and appearance

Advanced controls and fancy finishes are features that college students can do without

+ There are few cosmetic features, especially at the lower price range
+ Students are worried about fitting all their food in the fridge, not maximizing freshness

Internal Organization

Small fridge users need/want more efficient, flexible and convenient organizational systems

+ Fridge contents change with time; consequently, so do optimal interior configurations

+ Reorganizing contents is a frequent chore

+ People don't reconfigure adjustable shelves (you have to remove all the items first)

+ Crispers are used for long-lifetime, infrequent-use items, rather than the short-lifetime items they were intended for

+ Single serving and other small items are common to fridges

+ People have lots of wasted vertical space in their fridge

+ Food is buried and forgotten about in deep spaces

+ Canstor is good for pop, but not for much else

+ People underestimate the fridge size they need/want

+ People try to put more in their fridge than it can comfortably hold

+ People plan meals and shopping lists according to what will fit in the fridge

Mini Kitchen

The mini-fridge should support a mini-kitchen

+ Students would cook more if they had more kitchen resources

+ Fridges don't help with meal planning and preparation

+ College students eat and prepare a lot of unhealthy meals

Aesthetical, Social, and Reflective Experience
Small fridges can be more than functional products

+ Fridges are utilitarian; they are not cool; they are not personal

+ Fridges offer a poor aesthetical experience (aesthetics are not limited to super

+ Food is an integral part of people's live: it is necessary, pleasurable and enjoyable, it brings people together

+ Students learn to plan and prepare food for themselves when away at college

immersion presentation

2006-10-04T01:09:00.000-05:00

I'll post my presentation as soon as I get my camera and upload some pictures (most of my presentation wasn't in digital form).

Check out the following post where I've started to revise the presentation based on the feedback I received from Lucas and April.

design immersion presentation notes

2006-09-23T21:58:00.000-05:00

Here is a rough draft of notes for my presentation. I certainly need to work on the succinctness of my story ( improving the "crispness" of my categories, as you say) . Any suggestions? What am I missing that's important?

We can break down the category of small refrigerators according to two attributes of a product: capacity and "type" (my word).

The three types are:

(a) refrigerator w/ separate freezer
(b) refrigerator w/ chiller compartment
(c) refrigerator only

As for capacity, I've considered capacities ranging from 1.7 - 12.0 cu.ft.

Note: when I refer to "small" fridges I mean fridges around the 1.7-12.0 capacity.

trends:

+ capacity tends to determine a unique size (e.g. 4.3 cu.ft. fridges all have outer dimensions of about 21" x 21" x 34")
+ you can get capacities in many increments of 0.1 cu.ft.
+ 1.7-6.0 are typically advertised as "compact refrigerators"
+ 6.0-12.0 are typically advertised as simply "refrigerators" or "apartment refrigerators"
+ 4.0 - 6.0 are often advertised for "under-counter" use. They are usually 33" high, which is the height of ADA countertops.

+ at 3.0 we start to see true separate freezers
+ at 3.5 we start to see crispers
+ at 6.0 and higher almost all have crispers
+ at 12.0 and higher almost all have separate freezers
+ the number of models with crispers and separate freezers increases with capacity
+ there is a gradual evolution in size and number of compartments; it goes from "compact refrigerators" meant for snacks and drinks to "full-size refrigerators" meant for meals
+ capacity and number of shelves and compartments is the single largest differentiator between small fridges and large fridges. Canstor, chillers and top-recessed door handles are the only features designed with the small fridge in mind.

Here is a visual summary (click to enlarge):

If I added more pictures of the many different in between capacities, you could start to see even more clearly the linear evolution from compact to full-size fridge. By this I mean that the number of compartments, new features and price tend to increase monotonically with capacity.

Players

There are a lot of players in the small fridge market. Summit offers the largest selection - they have models in every price range and almost every style. Avanti, Haier, Danby and Sanyo offer a wide range of small fridges. GE is one of the few brands that offers many small fridges as well as full-size fridges.

I haven't researched it much, but I haven't stumbled upon any interesting aftermarket small fridge products. I should probably look into food containers. I did come across several services that rent small refrigerators to college students.

Features

There doesn't appeart to be much innovating going on with small fridges, especially at the low-mid price range.

Almost every fridge has door bins/shelves and removable shelves in a main compartment . Almost all models have a door bin that can fit a 2-liter bottle of pop. Most have a recessed door handle and leveling legs. Many doors are reversible.

Most of the features found in small fridges such as various types of door bins, removable shelves and cripsers are all inherited from full size fridges. Moreover, there are many features present in large fridges that don't appear often or ever in small fridges. Also, the set of features of small fridges that seldom or never appear in large fridges is very small. Canstor, chiller compartments and top recessed door handles are the only features I'd put in this set. It's somewhat surprising that these are the only features I can find which seem to have been designed specifically for small fridges.

Technical Innovations

Some new performance features are Avanti's thermoelectric cooling and Summit's dual-evaporation system. Thermoelectric cooling reduces weight and maintenance (since its all solidstate electronics - no moving parts). However, it's not very efficient. I imagine that's why it's only used in a small number of models and only at the 1.7 and lower (such as small camping coolers). Summit's dual-evap apparently allows for an integrated true-freezer compartment within the main compartment ( a chiller that really freezes).

Design Innovations

The Soleus beverage cart and the Maytag skybox are like mini bars on wheels, intended for pool, patio and rec room environments. Summit, KitchenAid and some others make some expensive under-counter fridges that have drawers, icemakers and other features found in larger fridges. Danby recently came out with the GenII Canstor, which allows for easy access to individual cans.

hypotheses/observations

I've drawn the following hypothesis/observations, which are organized into groups below.

performance

people are confused, deceived or apathetic with respect to performance and reliability differences

+ students buy the cheapest fridge (for a given capacity and type)
+ brand name reliability isn't important; it only needs to last a couple years
+ buyers think chillers = freezers
+ energy efficiency isn't important to students; they don't pay utilities

market

there is a lack of innovation and specialty amongst small fridges

+ small fridges are for generic use
corollary: there are no small fridges specifically designed for or marketed towards college students
+ small and full-size fridges differ mainly in size and number of compartments
+ few features are designed specifically for small fridges (Canstor, chiller and top recessed door handles are the exceptions)
+ the biggest purchase drivers are capacity (associated with size and portability), type, price and availability

internal organization

small fridge users need/want more efficient, flexible and convenient organizational systems

+ fridge contents change with time; consequently, so do optimal interior configurations
+ reorganizing contents is a frequent chore
+ people don't reconfigure adjustable shelves (you have to remove all the items first)
+ crispers are used for long-lifetime, infrequent-use items, rather than the short-lifetime items they were intended for
+ single serving and other small items are common to fridges
+ people have lots of wasted vertical space in their fridge
+ food is buried and forgotten about in deep spaces
+ canstor is good for pop, but not for much else
+ people underestimate the fridge size they need/want
+ people try to put more in their fridge than it can comfortably hold
+ people plan meals and shopping lists according to what will fit in their fridge

college eating

+ students would cook more if they had more kitchen resources
+ fridges don't help with meal planning and preparation
+ college students eat and prepare a lot of unhealthy meals

aesthetic, social, reflective experience

+ fridges are utilitarian; they are not cool; they are not personal
+ fridges offer a poor aesthetic experience
+ food is an integral part of people's live: it is necessary, pleasurable and enjoyable; it brings people together
+ students learn to plan and prepare food for themselves when away at college

opportunities

My hypotheses/observations about the market suggest that the industry could profit by offering a product that says "I'm designed specifically for college students". As for designing such a fridge, I have the following ideas.

A compact fridge for college students should be:

+ small
+ inexpensive

Size is an issue not only because of room space constraints, but also because of the difficulty with transporting large items. The price should be relatively inexepensive because most college students plan on the fridge being a short term investment.

I'm seeing internal organization as a major opportunity for improvement. The compact fridge should be about organizing a lot of various food items in a little space. Removing and inserting items, as well as cleaning and reconfiguring the means of organization, should be:

+ flexible
+ space efficient
+ quick and easy

The fact that there aren't any organization features designed specifically for small fridge users might mean that no one has really tried to innovate in this area.

The last two groups of hypothesis/observations is stuff that seemed to transcend the current ideas about small fridges (as represented by the current market). These last two categories suggest going beyond an isolated product, towards an integrated experience.

The "college eating" hypothesis suggest a mulitifunctional, mini-kitchen. By this, I mean products that help students to plan and prepare meals in the context of college life. An example might be containers for organizing items inside the fridge which can be used outside of the fridge to aid in meal preparation. So, maybe the the new product should be a modular, portable container system rather than just a new shelf layout. Another related idea might be extendible space for meal preparation. Modular containers could help with this, as could collapsable countertop extensions. Yet another idea is to better integrate other food preparation tools and appliances into the mini fridge. For example, integrating a stovetop into the fridge body in some way.

These ideas about a mini-kitchen start to suggest a product that is truly integrated into the life flow of the user. The second category "aesthetic, social and reflective experience" is about ideas that go even farther beyond functionality. I'm still pretty hazy about what this could mean. Ideally, a mini-kitchen should support social interaction, such as sharing recipes or tips on organization as well as sharing meals and conversation. It should also support the user in actively designing their own personal mini-kitchen (if they so desire). Also, since food is such an integral part of our lives, it seems that it is especially appropriate/possible that the overall aesthetic experience of the small refrigerator be improved.

future research

Things I want to learn about people:

+ contents - what foods do they buy? what do they keep in the fridge? how do contents change with time?

+ tools - what resources do they use during the "food process" ( planning, shopping, organizing, preparing, eating, cleaning)?

+ eating and preparing - how often do they prepare meals? in what contexts?

+ social and personal relationships with food processes - what does this mean to people? what do they desire?

+ good and poor designs - what do users like and not like? what do they want?

In particular, I want to observe and talk to users who have a large quantity and diversity of food items in their fridge, and prepare lots of meals.

Things I want to learn about technical performance:

+ what are effects of packing a fridge to the max?

+ what are important issues with energy efficiency and performance of fridges?

Things I want to learn about the market and related products:

+ what innovations are happening with full-size fridges, with full-size and small-living space kitchens?

+ what are some other products that offer great organizing systems to copy from?

food stuff

2006-09-13T17:17:00.000-05:00

I've talked with some group (ii) users, i.e. people who prepare most of their meals themselves and use a compact in place of a full size refrigerator,. Several important attributes of items stored in the fridge emerged from these discussions, as well as from reflecting on my own experiences. Here they are, along with some related hypotheses.

(1) lifetime - How long before this item goes bad?

long <--------------------------------------------------> short
condiments bacon fruit

+ short-lifetime foods are often forgoten about and expire when they are stored in less visible spots (e.g. drawers,behind other items)
+ people often store short-lifetime foods in more visible spots (e.g. upper door bins, front of shelves) to avoid the above situation
+ long-lifetime foods are often stored in less visible spots

(2) frequency of use - Is this item accessed everyday or every month? Is it continuously going in and out of the fridge or does it tend to stay put?

frequent <-----------------------------------> infrequent
O.J. deli meats worcester sauce

+ frequent-use items are typically stored where they are easily accesible (e.g. upper door bins, front of shelves)
+ infrequent-use items are often stored in less accessible places (e.g. behind other items)
+ vegetable crispers are often used to stored infrequent-use items, rather than storing the short-lifetime items they were intended for

(3) presence - Is this type of item usually in the fridge or is it something uncommon or unexepected to the fridge?

strong <-------------------------------------> weak
milk, condiments grapes leftover Chinese

+ strongly-present items tend to have established spots in the fridge
+ rearrangement is often necessary to make room for weakly-present items
+ new items move in to replace the spaces left by items that have been used up

Here some early ideas for design criteria for spaces:

+ must have quick and easy access spaces for frequent-use items
+ must have visible spaces for short-lifetime items
+ should have long term storage space for long-lifetime-infrequent-use items (given that quick access / visible space is limited)
+ might have reserved spaces for strongly-present items

Some other attributes of items were related to the size, shape and other physical properties of iitems. These were:

stackability - Does its shape, strength and weight lend itself to be stacked on top of other items? Underneath other items?

flexibility/compactability - Can it bend and compress to fit in a variety of spots in the fridge or is it rigid?

independence - Is this a stand-alone item or does it require or are there benefits from placement in a container?

I don't think I understand these last 3 so well, yet. I have to start thinking about packaging and auxiliary containers for storage (e.g. tuperware, plastics bags). => More research.

Bonus Thoughts: It might be also be helpful to further break down some of the attributes. For example, we could break natural-lifetime down into out-of-fridge natural-lifetime and in-fridge natural-lifetime, which can both be further broken down into unopened natural-lifetime and opened natural-lifetime.

Bonus Meta-Thoughts: Several times, I've reminded myself that description and explanation are not the primary purpose of design. Description and explanation are useful to the extent that it provides insight into what should be created. Too much of an emphasis on description and explanation, and we are entering scientific domains of inquiry. So, as Lucas suggested, I'm trying to edit myself down to the 4-5 things I think are most important with respect to design, rather than aiming for comprehensive explanation and description of some specific phenomenon. Through my training in mathematics I've developed a habit of formality and rigor that tends to emerge when working in areas other than math and science. Clearly, formality and rigor can be powerful in many areas other than math and science, but only when applied appropriately. Hopefully as the course progresses, I'll become better at avoiding getting locked down in mathematical and scientific modes of thought, and I will improve my judgement as to what is important with respect to design.

what's out there, what's not

2006-09-12T22:56:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to identify different users and environments for compact fridges (I've started using the industry lingo). For instance, retailers offer the following suggestions for where you might want to use your compact fridge:

+ dorm room
+ studio apartment
+ marine
+ mobile home
+ garage
+ rec room
+ outdoor pool / patio
+ office
+ restaurant / food service
+ lab / medical /pharmacy
+ ADA counter /assisted living home

Why are some compact fridges better for certain contexts? Here's some of my findings and impressions:

Summit and a few others manufacturers offer compact fridges designed and advertised to fit under ADA counters (32 inches high).   Some of these fridges (particularly the top-of-the-line models) have unique designs which seem well suited for people trying to use compacts as full-size fridges.

Summit Professional SPDS 3 drawer is ADA compliant, designed for under-counter use. Price: $1599.00

Custom/interchangeable panels, stainless steel doors and fine finishes seem most appropriate for certain office, marine, mobile home apartment and home uses where appearance is imporant.


The GE Monogram 2.5 cu.ft. is a top-of-the-line compact that accepts decorative panels. Price: $1199.00

Features such as exterior controls, front ventilation, door latches and locks, cooling fans and thermometers appear well suited for people who are mounting them under counters, for specialty applications (e.g. medical), or for people who like features for the sake of features.

The Norcold 1.7 cu.ft. is designed expressly for mobile and marine applications and features front ventilation, exterior controls, door latch and a cooling fan. Price: $609.99

I found a few compact fridges that are geared towards game rooms, tv rooms, patios, etc.

The Maytag SkyBox Rookie Fridge 2.8 cu.ft., designed with rec rooms in mind, features castors and a top compartment for drinks or food, as well as interchangeable sports panels.
The Soleus Party Fridge Cooler also features castors, as well as flip up table and racks, so it can be used as a mini-bar. Price: $299.00

A few manufacturers offer compacts that come with attachable microwaves. These are designed with dorm rooms in mind. There is a rental service that rents these models to college students at IIT and other schools.

Microfridge 2.9 cu.ft. 3-1 appliance. Price: $469.99

Vertical beverage can storage and other interior configs designed with beverages in mind seem most appropriate for rec rooms, offices, dorms

The Danby DCR158W 5.4 cu.ft. features twin GenI canstor beverage dispensers. The picture suggests its well-suited for storing beverages. Price: $259.00

These products I've mentioned above are somewhat exceptional; most compacts are designed for more general use.

At a glance, these 1.7-1.8 cu.ft. compacts don't appear to differ much.

Nor do these 2.9-6.0 cu.ft. fridges.

Nor do these 2.9-8.3 cu.ft. fridges with true (separate) freezer compartments.

Crispers, beverage racks, chillers and separate freezers seem to be the major differentiators as far is interior configuration.

Notice that as far as interior configuration and shape, the compact fridges don't differ much from these 16-22 cu.ft. full-size fridge, aside from scale and number of compartments and shelves.

Thinking about users broadly, we might partition them into two groups:

(i) People whose fridges must hold many of the meals they eat and prepare themselves.

(ii) People whose fridges hold mostly snacks, beverages and leftovers.

Most compact fridges seem to be targeted at group (ii), where the majority of consumers likely fall.   There seems to be a lack of fridges tailored to of group (ii) users.

The compacts that are being offered all seem to be scaled down versions of full-size fridges. For the users in group (i), this scaling may work fine. If someone has lots of the same item in their fridge (we might refer to these as uniform users) they don't need to go scrounging around as much, and so organization isn't as complex. Similarly, this is true if someone only has few items in their fridge (we might refer to these as sparse users). But for users in group (ii), who are trying to substitute a compact fridge for a full-size (we might refer to these as complex users), this doesn't seem to work as well because the quantity, size and diversity of the items being stored aren't scaled with size of the fridge.

I'm anxious to find more group (ii) users to talk with and observe.

prices, sizes and features

2006-09-11T03:55:00.000-05:00

Here is a fairly lengthy summary of prices, sizes and features.

Price, Capacity **********************************************************

+ separate freezer models cost more for a given capacity
+ high end "under the counter" compact fridges can cost over $2000
+ 1.7-1.8 are $50-120 (Sanyo Walnut $220, Norcold $600)
+ 2.5-3.2 are $100-250 (Summit 2.9 $350, Scotsman 3.0 $820, Summit 3.0 3 drawer $1800)
+ 3.5-4.4 are $150-250
+ 4.8-5.5 are $200-500, (Lynx outdoor 5.5 $2000, U-Line 5.5 2 drawer $2300)
+ 6.0 - 10.0 are $300- (AGA 6.0 $1800)

Features **********************************************

(for the following, I considered 52 models in the capacity range 1.7-8.3. This seemed to be almost all of the models available)

General Interior

+ interior configuration is varied (though variation is often subtle)
+ manufacturers differentiate by int. config.
+ few int. configs are copied completely
+ for 1.7-1.8 are ~10 different int. configs available
+ for 2.5-4.0 are ~20 different int. configs available
+ for 4.0-8.3 are ~20 different int. configs available

Door Interior

+ Most use a combinations of swinging bar and rigid bar door bins
+ Some use a clear or opaque molded door bins
+ Very few have have removable/adjustable door bins

+ 2/3 have vertical beverage storage (evenly spread across all sizes, although number of cans varies)
+ Danby's GenII canstor stores cans at an angle for easy access to any can

Main Interior

+ all have removable shelves
+ nearly all shelves are wire (very few glass shelves, usually as a crisper lid)
+ 2/3 have adustable shelves

+ no fridges under 3.0 have crispers
+ some of 3.0-4.3s have crispers
+ most 4.8-8.3s and up have crispers (the drawers are all plastic; some are opaque, some clear)

+ most fridges have "chillers" advertised as freezers, which don't really freeze
+ many 1.7-1.8s have a half-width chiller
+ many 2.5s and up a full-width chiller
+ some 2.5s and up have a separate true freezer, which runs on a separate compressor
+ Summit has an integrated true freezer that uses a special "dual evaporation" system

+ all fridges have a temperature control (numbered from 1-5,7 is common)
+ usually located at the top right or left of main compartment

+some have interior light

Exterior

+ many/most have reversible doors with recessed handles, adjustable feet, and flush back design
+ some have a workable countertop
+ few come in colors other than black and white,; few have stainless doors, special finishes or paneling
+ few have lock and key latches
+ few have external thermometer

this blog is, at least in part, a journal

2006-09-11T00:29:00.000-05:00

Several times you've mentioned that should aim to "tell a compelling story" , to simply explain what it's all about and to avoid the "what I did on vacation" presentation. I took this message to heart, and am very interested in learning design communication.

I was also thinking it would be good to keep a journal of my experience: to document my progress, reflect on it, and get feedback.

So, I plan to use this blog as a journal, and possibly also to more formally communicate my findings and ideas, as I might to a client or coworker.

early ideation

2006-09-09T20:55:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my early ideas. It should be interesting to observe the evolution of ideas and to compare ideas from different phases of the design process.

One of the first things that came to mind was improving the flexibility of organizing mechanisms inside the mini fridge to minimize wasted vertical space and to improve accesibility and visibility of items. Things like netting, bungee cords, pouches, lazy susans, infinitely and easily adjustable shelves collapsable shelves,...

I'm also interested in exploring how the mini fridge can support other activities, in particular those related to food. There may be a desire and opportunities for the mini fridge to become more than simply a box to store food in. For instance, on the sides of the mini fridge you could have lines, bars or hooks for hanging or compartments for storing pots, food and other items. Or you could have special storage units the secure to the top of the fridge.

There could be additional countertop work areas, that flip out or slide out. These could be used as a kitchen counter, as a dining table, as a desk extension, as a bedstand,....
Maybe add wheels, so you can slide it in and out from under a desk, or so you can wheel it into the lounge on your dorm floor or a party in someones elses room.

I'll try and keep posting interesting ideas as I think of them.

mini fridges

2006-09-09T19:55:00.000-05:00

It took me a while to decide on a product. I've pretty much decided on the mini fridge. Here's some things that interested me in the mini fridge:

1) familiarity and accessibility

I've used them and found them useful (I seldom, if ever, use the other products). Also, mini fridges are ubiquitous at colleges (the other products seem much less common in the dorms).

2) complex interactions

The patterns of accessing and arranging items inside the refrigerator seem more complex than the patterns of usage for the other products. What is stored inside the fridge and how it is stored and accessed seems to vary quite a bit, even for a particular individual (compared to the other products). The exterior of the fridge also usually used like a piece of furniture. The top surface is usually used as a table or countertop and the front is sometimes used for magnets and notes. So, maybe there's some interesting ways to redesign the exterior.

3)"food" is an interesting topic

-we all need food
-we are all programmed to find food pleasurable
-most experience enjoyment associated with food , e.g. social interactions centered around food, or the enjoyment of preparing food

Studying how people college students store, retrieve, prepare share, enjoy and otherwise relate to food may suggest new ideas for designs (not restricted to a mini fridge).

I'll try to organize and post some of my findings about mini fridges soon.

new blog

2006-09-09T19:52:00.000-05:00

I started a new blog because for some reason the old one wasn't posting to my main page.

immersion

2006-09-09T19:51:00.001-05:00

I visited Best Buy and some other stores and also talked with some users. I've been spending most of my time searching the internet (mostly via Froogle, nextag.com, NexTag) for compact fridges and related products, and am trying to make sense of it all . Here's one attempt.

I've been making a lot of lists of features, prices, sizes, etc. as well as questions, hypothesis and ideas. At times, I feel I'm suffering from analysis paralysis i.e. I'm trying to analyze too much stuff too thoroughly.

I'm now trying to organize and distill my lists to make sense of all this stuff. I think I'll post some of the current lists and thoughts I have, in part because I think it may help to organize my data and thoughts.