This week, some trusted colleagues and I experimented with remote design collaboration by having a virtual brainstorming session using Conceptboard to see if it felt agile, flexible and generally designer friendly. Special thanks this week to my friends and talented designers, Rola Kadi and Halle Millien for generously donating both their time and creativity.
What ideas did we serve up?
I felt that we worked well together and came up with a good number of quality ideas. Take a look for yourself by playing the video below, and see how we went from sorting trends from our user interview post-it quotes, to brainstorming on strong foundational ideas that will inform storyboards along with design sketches for both digital product wire-frames and industrial design concepts.
Design exploration for the next phase of this project will come directly from the results of our brainstorm. I really like Rola’s idea that enables users to select a family or individual’s favorite flavors, then receive suggestions that fit those choices for recipes inspired by cultures around the world. Halle layered onto this by suggesting that we streamline these dishes by changing only a couple ingredients, but stick to a familiar workflow that would take 30 mins or less. Since many interviewees complained about how much time cooking takes, this makes a lot of sense.
Other ideas informed by interview trends include looking at hands-free ways to interact with recipe instructions, such as voice commands or augmented reality. Also, essential “starter” tools that enable quick and easy prep for recipes within this new experience will serve to break down the barrier for entry, especially for people who previously haven’t cooked.