KenWorld

Smart Package System

KenWorld is a smart package system that integrates software and smart packaging, providing users with personalised, efficient, and modular experiences to win over their trust in Kenwood products.

Client

My Role

5-member Team leader

Researcher & UX Designer

Timeline

May - Jul 2022 | 8 Weeks

Deliverables

Hi-fi Prototype, Branding and styling

Video Prototype, Presentation

Summary

Project Overview

I was the 5-member team leader working on decision-making, collaboration, user research, testing, UX design, and video prototyping. We conducted interviews and observations with Chinese food devotees, who are Kenwood's main customers, to get insights into why they prefer hand-made over machine-made food. Then, in order to achieve our goal of winning more market share in China, we added instructions on how to make Chinese food using Kenwood products to the company's existing application and launched a smart package to guide users to the right components.

The Problem

As a result of the Chinese people's artisanal tradition, their foods are often chopped into a variety of forms, and they assume that machine-made food cannot approach the quality of handcrafted cuisine. In addition, users get confused about how to choose the most appreciated components for certain dishes, which stops them from using Kenwood products. As a result, Kenwood has a low market share in China compared to its competitors.

Jump to Outcome

Kenwood Limited is a British kitchen appliance manufacturer founded in 1947. Its products can dramatically improve the efficiency of food preparation for food devotees, thus giving them more energy and time to spend on food creation.

Introduction

Jump to Outcome

The Process

Explore Chinese Market

Research & Findings

Final Delivery

Explore Chinese Market

28%

of the Chinese market is made up of imported kitchenware brands (including Kenwood).

Compared with the sales of traditional Chinese soya makers, the sales of food processors are less than half.

8.31

20

million food processors

million soya milk maker

Why do Chinese people prefer hand-made?

Asian cultures are more artisanal and don’t let machines help them chop vegetables.

Asians tend to require a lot of ‘hand work’, such as hand tearing chicken or marinating food.

Dishes need to be cut into a variety of shapes.

We want to design a solution which

supports the Chinese cooking devotees
who dislike using machines to replace manual labour to build trust in the Kenwood food processor and have the confidence to use it.

Research Techniques

Jump to Outcome

Secondary Research

Secondary research coupled with in-depth contextual research were conducted to identify the pain points and preferences of food devotees in China during food preparation, as well as awareness and perceptions of machines, and to answer the research questions:

What are the views of Chinese food devotees on food preparation?
What are the habits and needs of Chinese food devotees during the food preparation process?
What are Chinese food devotees' views on machine-made food and hand-made food?
Is the prejudice of Chinese food devotees towards machine-made food correct?
What are the needs of Chinese food lovers that need to be met by Kenwood's products?

Qualitative Research

Key Findings

High learning costs

High demands for artisanal food

Inefficient storage

Inconvenient interaction

The learning assembling process can cost a lot of time, so people prefer to use their hands directly to be more efficient.

People don't want food to be made entirely by machines because, in some steps of Chinese cuisine, it is difficult for devices to achieve the results of traditional hand preparation.

The package is so big to store effieciently, and some components are not commonly used, which can get lost or dirty quickly.

People usually use other screens during the food preparation but don't want to touch the screen with dirty hands.

UX Vision

To design a solution which supports the Chinese cooking devotees who dislike using machines to replace manual labour to build trust in the Kenwood food processor and have the confidence to use it.

Final Delivery

Outcome

KenWorld is a system that includes a user interaction interface and a smart package that supports Chinese food devotees through the experience of using Kenwood products for food creation by controlling the interface with the voice and the smart package responding simultaneously.

Branding

Workflow

At the start, the user can speak directly to the screen, and the voice sensor will then collect the data and send it to the cloud. After that, the platform will control the machine to do its work.