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SOLUTION OVERVIEW

FRESHLY DEVICE

Freshly consists of a circular touchscreen that provides the user with a control to swipe from one product to another. Color serves as an indicator to showcase the state of the food, it allows the user an easy interaction and an accessible visibility as they walk by the refrigerator door.

01.  F R E S H L Y  S E N S O R S

Detect ethylene and ammonia gases released by food in the refrigerator. These sensors can be installed in the users desired location, they pair with the Freshly device to give an accurate reading of the food. Whenever it detects high levels of food deterioration the sensor will glow red to notify the user.

Freshly synchronizes with a mobile app. Both, the Freshly device and mobile app showcase the consumption of food per month and the total amount that went to waste during that same month.

In order to learn and understand about current technology and sensors, I started the project with secondary research. This served as a foundation for the ideation process and possible features of the product.

I conducted interviews, through them I uncovered needs and desires that pushed me to be critical of design decisions and its implications. Through a synthesis session, tangible ideas surfaced and an opportunity area emerged:

How might we reduce the amount of food thrown away in households, while informing users if products are safe to eat?

My ideation process started by sketching a variety of concepts with different features and in different shapes. An initial design for Freshly was based on a voice interface. However, after testing early prototypes, I learned that people preferred having a visual interaction with the device.

Through a round of user testing, I discovered that color was the most efficient way to showcase the state of the food. The use of monochromatic images accurately indicates which product is fresh or not safe to eat.

By laser cutting several thicknesses of cast acrylic, I was able to explore and test different weight and size prototypes. It was important to identify the correct material in order to create a seamless structure that enhanced the touch functionality of the device. Prototyping a diverse set of structures with different materials helped me uncover the ideal experience. I resolved on a standalone device that could attach to the refrigerator surface. 

Freshly has a corresponding mobile app that prompts the user when they are not able to view the Freshly device. Freshly's app home screen communicates the state of the food, and through friendly push notifications reminds users which products need to be cooked or eaten as soon as possible. Users can view their food consumption habits in the data section of the app.

Through testing and product presentations I learned that Freshly encounters challenges whenever two identical produce or items are stored in the same location. For example, two different portions of chicken each in it’s separate package but both located in the meat keeper. The Freshly sensor will be able to indicate that there is chicken deteriorating in the meat keeper, however it’s still a challenge to indicate the exact and different state for each portion of produce.

I designed Freshly with current technology. The desire to create a realistic and present-day product was a constraint I wished to work with, this lead me to uncover the previously mentioned learnings. The information gathered motivates me to create a second generation product, that informs users a more accurately state of two identical produce in one same location.