PoB is a proposal for a cooking site integrating social media features and a shopping companion smartphone app. Let them share their passion for cooking.
Insight
The assignment for my course in HCI at Sydney Uni was proposing and designing a web service with a business potential.
Idea
The idea arises after a round of surveys and interviews on Internet habits and social media.
With Facebook ruling the social media ecosystem, users were missing a more specific site for certain kinds of activities.
Being an international student and migrant for almost a decade I have always relied on my friend's and families to inspire my culinary needs, this concept tries to bring online that cooking network with all its personal, social and emotional connotations.
The proposal considers non-intrusive ways of generating revenue, users can decide if they want to pay for a subscription and get the chance of having their recipes and activities sponsored by retailers who at the same time can find a more personal way to reach their customers. Users can create their own cooking books and order a hard copy for themselves or as a present.
Probably the most innovative way of generating a business opportunity came with the addition of a phone app that allows the user to create their shopping lists and make use of retailers' offers and discount coupons.
Role
My idea was selected among the 30 presented to become the design brief for the semester, I was nominated one of the team leaders and formed a group of three people with different skills.
My role as team leader was scheduling and coordinating the user-centered design process, generating surveys and user interviews, supervising and conducting user testing sessions.
Because of my technical background I took a big share of the work on developing a semi-functional high-fidelity prototype to be used in user testing rounds.
The ideation and design of the phone app was also my own.
Impact
My team's work was the highest graded with a High Distinction mark.