Sous
BRIEF
Sous is a smartphone application intended to optimize your grocery shopping process at the store, while also managing your kitchen environment with integrated AI and a touch of gamification.
TIMELINE
5 weeks
ROLE
UX/UI Design
Design System
TEAM
Ava Maciulewski
Cindy Te
Robyn Wight
Steve Wu
PREVIEW
Sous, your personal sous chef.
Sous is at your command and ready to help you stay organize with your groceries whether you're at home or on your way to the grocery store.
CHALLENGE
“Grocery shopping is a lot of effort!”
The grocery shopping experience is unique to everyone. There are varying methods for how someone might grocery shop, and current solutions do not address this individuality. People who cannot afford much time to browse and shop for their groceries can often spend excess time shopping, forget what they're shopping for, or buy unnecessary products.
Grocery shopping is a universal struggle, but how so for college students?
We decided to look for common issues in grocery shopping among college students ages 18-25. As college students ourselves, we knew that grocery shopping is a common challenge among our demographic, especially for those who are living away from home for the first time.
RESEARCH
So what makes buying food so hard?
To find out why, we conducted three quick research methods with 9 different participants given the limited time we had and noted common observations.
When observing…
Many shoppers would stand at a section for minutes before grabbing something.
Some shoppers would wander around and return to sections they’ve already been.
Many shoppers consulted their phones by searching up products.
When following…
Only one participant did not have a grocery list prepared. This participant would walk around and forget items they needed.
Participants with a list bought items that weren’t needed.
When there were variations of a product to choose from, more time was put into consideration.
During interviews…
When more is bought than needed, the entirety of the product might not be completely used.
Two participants mentioned having a hard time figuring out where to start for groceries if no research is done beforehand.
Typically, little to no time is spent planning before heading to the grocery store.
INSIGHTS
It's easy to buy stuff, but planning is not.
Part of the challenge of grocery shopping comes from the planning aspect. From our research, we found that those who were at least slightly prepared to shop were able to eliminate some of the common issues mentioned before.
Parts of the planning process can include creating shopping lists, deciding what products need to be bought, or even what to do with these products afterward.
Due to these challenges, shoppers who cannot
afford the time to plan their grocery trips can spend
excess time shopping, forget what their shopping for,
or buy unnecessary products.
OPPORTUNITY
How might we develop a system that fits into daily routines to simplify grocery planning and ease the overall shopping experience?
IDEATION
Efficient, Functional & Stress-Free
We sketched out 20 ideas and ranked them on a scale of
1-5 based on these three criteria:
How efficient does this make the grocery
shopping process?How functional is the product throughout the grocery shopping process?
Does it relieve stress from grocery shopping?
DOWNSELECTION
The 3 Stages of Grocery Shopping: Management, Research, Shopping
Ultimately, our sketches resulted in 5 ideas, which we thought could only be features. We reevaluated our ideas and realized that we were only considering what happens during grocery shopping, so what about the stages beforehand?
We formed three new ideas that we believe represented different stages of the grocery shopping experience: management, research, and finally the shopping stage.
Management
Smart Kitchen
Keeps track of current groceries
AI assistance helps determine what groceries are needed
Synchronized kitchen devices
Research
Grocery Bestie App
Helps compare products across selected grocery stores
Provides product suggestions
and alternativesCompares grocery deals for budgeting
Shopping
AR Grocery Experience
Eliminates time spent in store with quick features like automatic checkout
Learn about products on the spot
Custom-curated grocery list
ITERATION
Practicality & Accessibility
After re-evaluating our new ideas, we realized that each one faced significant challenges that made them impractical in their current forms:
Smart Kitchen is not accessible, as it requires advanced technology and assumes people already have high-end kitchen equipment or are willing to invest in it.
The Grocery Bestie app would necessitate partnerships with various retailers, complicating its development and scalability.
AR Grocery Experience, and for a routine task like grocery shopping, their features can be effectively delivered through more accessible devices.
Based on these insights, we believe the best solution is to integrate the strongest features from each concept into a single app aimed at making the grocery shopping experience simple and accessible for all users.
DIRECTION
Grocery Assistant App
Always on Command
Sous is always listening and ready to be at your command. While you’re out shopping, cooking, or have your hands full, just talk to Sous for a hands-free experience.
Inventory Check
With integrated AI, Sous can craft recipes for you, help you cook, or know what you need based on your kitchen inventory.
Sous is Smart!
With integrated AI, Sous can craft recipes for you, help you cook, or know what you need based on your kitchen inventory.
DESIGN SYSTEM
FINAL DESIGN
Sous
The sous chef devoted to helping you plan your grocery runs and kitchen management. Sous is always listening and ready to be at your command. Whether you’re out shopping, cooking, or have your hands full, just talk to Sous for a hands-free experience.
The Inventory
Your kitchen inventory is everything available in your kitchen. Sous helps you keep track of the food that you have on hand. The inventory can easily be updated with a scan of a receipt (or manual input is okay too).
Curated Recipes
Since Sous already knows what's in your kitchen inventory, Sous can also whip up unique recipes using the ingredients you have available.
Cook with Sous
In Cook Mode, you can either follow a recipe by text or cook with Sous. You can use step-by-step instructions along with AI-generated cooking videos for your recipes to ensure a delicious meal!
Additional Screens
Grocery List
Create and edit your grocery lists manually or ask Sous for help.
Recipe Book
All your recipes are saved here.
Recipe Page
Learn how to cook new or old recipes in recipe pages.
Inventory Organization
To keep your kitchen organized, Sous will prompt you to select a storage location for new groceries.
Missing Ingredients
Before cooking, Sous will make sure you have the all necessary ingredients in the recipe.
Substitutions
If you don't have all the ingredients, Sous will suggest substitutions.
NEXT STEPS
Making Sous smarter!
Inventory Issues
Something overlooked in our current user flow is how inventory items are removed. The user can add items to their inventory, but what happens when they're used? Additionally, editing the inventory every time there is a change of items may be a tedious process, so how can this task be simplified to ensure that the user's inventory is up to date?
Expanding to Other Platforms
Sous is currently only a mobile solution. When in the kitchen or elsewhere, users may prefer to use a different device, so what would Sous look like on other devices? Would there be features unique to bigger devices?
Usability + AI Testing
What are some scenarios that users might encounter when using Sous AI, and how can usability issues be handled? How would the user flow and current features be adjusted to ensure that users experience an efficient grocery shopping experience?