Cooking Friends

In this project, I highlight some of the design principles I used during my master's degree. Using food as a medium, people from all over the world can connect and share their cultures. It's easy to connect with people over food, as it has little to do with complicated things like politics, religion, etc.

Problem Space: Designing a platform for cross-cultural communication through food

Background: The world is becoming more diverse and multicultural, and there is a need to create platforms that help people from different cultures interact and learn from each other. Food is a universal language that can bring people together and help them share their cultural values.

Goal: To design a platform that facilitates cross-cultural communication through food, allowing people to connect with others from around the world, learn about different cultures, and share their own cultural experiences.

Research Questions:

How do people currently learn about and share their cultural experiences with others around the world?
What are the barriers to cross-cultural communication, and how can we overcome them through a platform focused on food?
What are people's attitudes towards sharing their cultural experiences with others, and what motivates them to do so?
How can we design a platform that is inclusive and respectful of different cultural practices and beliefs?
What features should be included in the platform to facilitate communication and learning about different cultures?

Possible Solutions:

Creating a platform that includes live cooking sessions with people from around the world, where users can learn about different cultural foods and cooking techniques.
Designing a platform that allows users to create and share their own recipes, along with stories about the cultural significance of the food.
Incorporating features that allow users to connect with others who share similar cultural backgrounds or interests, such as regional cuisine or dietary restrictions.
Creating a gamified experience that encourages users to explore and learn about different cultures through food, with rewards for completing challenges or engaging with others on the platform.
Providing resources and tools for users to learn about the history and context of different cultural foods, as well as tips for respectful communication and cultural sensitivity.

Design Theories

Design Principles

As this platform is used by a diverse range of cross-cultural users, it's important that the interface is kept simple and free from specific cultural norms to ensure universal understanding. It's important to consider that features and elements within the app may be perceived differently by users from different countries, based on their respective cultural norms.
The platform should also be easy to use and smooth to interact with
Ensuring relevance to people of all genders, ethnicities, religions, races, etc.
The application should offer a flexible system to accommodate people living in various time zones around the world.
Mutuality is a crucial aspect of friendship, as it is a two-way street. Therefore, this platform is aimed at creating communities of people and fostering mutual relationships. This reciprocity should be reflected in the design of the application.

Benchmark and Inspiration

Radiooooo

Before developing my idea for creating a shared experience space, I conducted research on existing shared space platforms. Two platforms that greatly inspired me were Radiooooo and Window-swap.

Radiooooo.com is a collaborative website that was established in 2013 and has since become a valuable resource for discovering great music. Its cross-cultural design is both simple and beautiful. By selecting a country on the world map and choosing a decade from 1900 to the present, users can explore a curated collection of music from that time and place. Music serves as the shared symbol in this platform, and the collection is hand-selected "with love, by humans for humans". Through this platform, people can communicate their culture through the universal language of music.

Window Swap

The COVID-19 pandemic affected people worldwide, regardless of their location or country's status. This platform dubbed the "quarantine project," offers a unique perspective by allowing people in quarantine to experience the world through the eyes of others across the globe. Its creators describe it as "a place on the internet where all travel-hungry people share their 'window views' to help each other feel better until we can responsibly explore our beautiful planet again."

Background Research and Co-Creation Session

I approached a professor who teaches culture at a university and asked him to share his experiences and knowledge about culture with me. Together, we engaged in a co-design session, during which he provided valuable insights about communicating culture through shared experiences. From there, I conceived the idea of developing a platform where people from around the world could come together to play cultural games, socialize, and engage in meaningful activities. We collaborated on shaping this idea and I then created a low-fidelity sketch of it.

Site Map

To shape my ideas and streamline the process of creating a prototype for my web application, I developed a site map. Site maps not only provide a clear roadmap for designing a system but also help identify potential issues or bugs. Using my design principles, I created a well-structured site map that accurately represented the features I envisioned.

Design

On this platform, you have the option to be a host or a guest. The map feature displays the number of guest plans created by individuals from each country. Clicking on the numbers reveals a preview of the food created by the people of that country, represented by their location icon. Clicking on the food provides information about the food and the host of that plan.

To become a guest for someone, you must also be willing to host them. The system prompts you to select the plans you wish to provide for the person you will be hosting.

You have the ability to create hosting plans with various time slots for individuals to participate. The system provides the option to offer flexible scheduling to accommodate people residing in different time zones.

At the specified time, people will join together on the platform and cook together!

While attending a meeting, they have the ability to jot down notes for personal reference. Additionally, there exists a section specifically designated for hosts to enter notes pertinent to their attendance.

All their plans can be seen on a calendar in the app.

Usability Testing

To ensure the functionality of my prototype for individuals from varying cultural backgrounds, I conducted a test with three people from different countries. This test included evaluating the processes involved in hosting and guesting app features, and the web app design. I asked participants to think aloud while completing tasks and share their thoughts and opinions.