Gupta Ananya
Blendie
A beverage mixture
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The purpose of this project was to understand the process users go through while buying a beverage and how we can create a physical and digital product to ease the buying and making of the beverage.
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October 2021 - November 2021 | 8 weeks
User Journey Map
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Choose Beverage: Milk
My user is Mr Teo, who is in his late sixties. He needs to get milk in the morning to stay strong and healthy. He likes to try different milk flavours every day and likes to do things quickly. Some of his expectations include that the product should be affordable, can be stored for a long period, healthy, and can be prepared easily.
Some opportunities include:
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A product that can suggest to the users which beverage powder to buy and the perfect powder-to-milk ratio depending on the user's taste bud.
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A product that can tell the user when the drink is at the right temperature. (not too hot to cold)​
Service Blueprint
​At the same time, I decided to do a Service Blueprint to gain more insights into the process the users have to go through when making their beverage.
FILA Charts
​These were some of my insights and possible solutions based on my persona. My persona is seniors in their retirement who like to do things quickly and fast.
Persona
However, after the group discussion, we decided to change our choosen drink to tea, since it better fits our target users. Hence, finalising our persona to Tea-Lover Roy.
Problem Statement
​The elderly wants to make a cup of drink in the fatest, simpllest, and most efficient way. However, every time the user wants to make a drink, they will have to go through a long process of waiting for the water to boil, pouring the water into a cup with powder, and then trying to stir the mixture evenly. Sometimes there can be spills or powder residue due to uneven mixing. The mess made while creating the beverage, will annoy tea-lover Roy, who just want to quickly start his other morning routine.
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Design Opportunities
How might we create a physical and digital product that will help ease the process and effort needed to make a cup of tea?
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Possible Solutions
To design a cup mixer that will help ease the process and effort of making a cup of tea for the elderly at home.​​
Ideation
Our final idea was a beverage mixer (specifically for tea) and an app for elderly who love are tea-lover and carefree. The mixer can be operated with an app and help users mix the different ingredients in the tea and heat it to the perfect temperatures. It is also portable, allowing users to prepare drinks on the go. The user can aslo sign up for a subscription which will deliver different flavours of tea to the user. They can also make custom sets depending on their preference. The user will also get recommendation based on their liking.​ Lastly, they can play games and read up on different recipes while the tea is getting ready.
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Perspective Sketch
Wireframe of the Cup
App Layout
Storyboard
Final Renders
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Blendie Interface
Proof of Concept
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Circuit Design (Bluetooth):
Initially, the green and yellow lights will blink, indicating that Blendie is on and within the connection's reach. When the user presses the "connect" button on the Blendie app, the blue light will flash five times, indicating that Blendie is successfully connected to the phone.​
https://youtu.be/-8KdXf-cXE8?si=BNzVWM3Hc0IRjyKP
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Circuit Design (DC Motor, Temp Sensor, LED - Automatic):
When the user chooses the recommended setting for the cup, the mixer (DC motor) will automatically start spinning, and the temperature will automatically rise because of the heating rod. The blue light turns on, indicating that the tea is still being prepared. Once the tea reaches the optimal temperature, the DC motor will stop, and the red light will be turned on, indicating the tea is ready.
https://youtu.be/GVC00zGfovM?si=nzJBUXxj-Ah9YWXe
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Circuit Design (DC Motor, Temp Sensor, LED - Manual):
The temperature sensor and the DC motor (mixer) will operate separately if the user opts for the manual cup setting. For the heat setting, when the blue light will turn on while the tea is heating to the indicated temperature. The light will turn red once the temperature is reached indicating the tea is ready. The DC motor (mixer) will only spin if the user on the mixer (represented with the potentiometer).​
Future Improvement​
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There are many improvements I want to make to the Blendie app. Firstly, I could have made a mood-board and style guide before designing the interface. It would have given the app a more consistent look. There were also some inconsistencies with icons, alignment and grid for different features. I also didn't design the default user avatar and could have improved the app's error page and loading state. Additionally, there was some missing information like the cost of the product. Lastly, I could further improve on effects like scrolling and response time in the app.​