Research

03 Brick and Mortar Observations

"I want people to enjoy what I make. Then I will
be happy and know that the effort was worthwhile."

While Directed Storytelling narrowed our focus somewhat, it was necessary to really get a first-hand feel for what our users would be going through when deciding on a recipe to prepare. We approached a graduate student at CMU who was preparing a couple of dishes for a pot luck. The social nature of this bricks and mortar observation, tied with the comments of our users in Directed Storytelling, is the primary rationale for our focus on Holistic Impressions.

Our user was cooking a dish for a potluck that was happening that night. She chose to do chicken paprika and chicken katsu, because both were successes the last time she served it. The user had posted the chicken paprika recipe on the refrigerator (below). She had found the recipe previously in the Squirrel Hill Magazine. Her chicken katsu recipe came from her parents. Her parents taught her how to make the batter.

Primary Observations:

• very minimal space in the kitchen
• many different sources for recipes (i.e. Internet, family, magazines, books)
• worried a lot whether people would like her dish
• does not remember the temperature the oven needs to be set at
• kitchen does not have good lighting for laptop
• can be very messy (e.g. oil splatters, flour flying)