Marco,
an affordable and inclusive coil replacement for the blind
It takes 5 times longer for a person who is visually impaired to cook. And today, they face stress and anxiety when trying to do something as basic as cooking their own meal.
How might we create the experience of cooking more inclusive for people who have lost their sight?
24 hour hackathon
In a 24 hour hackathon, I worked with designers, engineers, and developers to create a solution that will change the future of cooking.
We decided to make the future of cooking more accessible.
Our design won first prize, and that was just the beginning.
Research Class
The idea was just the beginning, I partnered with First build and CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design) to continue the project as a Research Class elective. In which I was involved as a project manager and design researcher, we had 4 more students involved as industrial designers and design researchers.
Product Development
After I graduated college, the class continued to further develop the product based on learnings from our research class.
I was involved in milestone presentations to consult the project.
Iterative rounds of research to identify a market and need-solution fit
Research Methods:
Role Play
Kitchen Audits at schools for the blind and home
One-on-one co-creation interviews
Existing solutions audits/research
The Research
The Outcomes
Design Principles
We created design principles based our observations about the mental model users currently have, their DIY solutions (workarounds), and the challenges we observed.
Safety, Control, Orientation & Feedback.
Market Understanding
Our learnings challenged many assumptions we had. For example, less than 10% of visually impaired users know how to read braille, most are low-income, most live alone, and most are not completely blind. Which made contrast and simplification part of our design criteria.
Four areas of opportunity, one recommendation
We conceptualized four potential desirable solutions. With our team and subject matter experts we prioritized to focus our efforts on a Minimum Lovable Product.