Design an IoT app that would pair with Blackstone's new line of smart smokers. The app needed to make the on-boarding/setting up process simple and it had to act as a data command center for smoker status and cook progress
Blackstone was not the first one to have an app enabled smoker so my research was what I call, Pain Point Research. Meaning finding what pain points users are having with competitor products, i.e. Camp Chef's, Traeger's and Weber's smart smokers. I started by going to the one place I knew people would tell it to me straight, Reddit. I read every thread I could find on Reddit (as well as other grilling forums) where people were discussing their app-enabled grills and smokers. I took notes as I read about what people wished their app could do, what was confusing/frustrating about their current app, and where their app was falling short.
I created functionality maps to start the conversation with the client to determine exactly what they wanted the app to do. I created wireframes, sample messaging and short examples of what a user journey would feel like. Then I took those wireframes to internal teams and gathered feedback. I asked them to perform a task on the wireframe website and watched how they went about completing that task. I also specifically collaborated with the development team to ensure the design was build able without being unnecessarily expensive.
The challenge with this app was there was a lot of similar looking data that had to be displayed in a way that allowed a user to easily differentiate between each data point, as well as customize it. For instance the dashboard on the app needed to display not one temperature but 5, (the current grill temperature, the current temperature of 2 separate probes and the target temperature of each probe). The app also needed to be able to display 4 active and unique timers. Then deeper inside the app there was the functionality to create a cook profile, basically automating a cook so the grill would respond to target temperatures being reached or change a setting based on cook time. The design needed to be so simple a user just knew what to do and didn’t need a guided tutorial
I designed a fully functioning mock up of the app in Adobe XD so the client could click through to each screen and interact with it. This allowed them to ask for additional changes before pushing it to development saving time and development costs. This product is still under development and is being developed by a small group of people to keep a competitive edge. The client decided to postpone user testing at his time because they did not want to show the design to people outside. the company. To compensate I adjusted the design using as much client and developer feedback on the app as I could get.
