Preliminary research – trying to understand the appliance category and what specific products are driving it.

I began by researching consumer attitudes about ice cream & small kitchen appliances. I also began casually bringing up ice cream in conversations with people, trying to get a general pulse of consumer perceptions.

This was my inspiration board – trying to figure out how I might be able to re-imagine the form & function of an ice cream maker.

From there I dove into more formal interviews – trying to really understand my users. I defined someone who eats ice cream at least 1x every two weeks as the ‘regular’. The ‘owner’ is someone who owns and makes ice cream at least 1x every six months.

I began synthesizing the information – looking at usage occasion and what motivates the user.

Also wanted to understand the perceived value and dissatisfaction around an ice cream maker – again, looking from both the ‘owner’ and ‘regular’s’ point of view.

From there I made some persona’s and began to brainstorm viable new solutions based on the research and insights I had gained.

After coming up with several ideas, I wanted to get qualitative data for concept validation. The results echoed the interviews I had completed – people are unhappy with the texture of homemade ice cream. The solution, providing users with an indicator to know they are properly using the appliance.

Working with engineers to see what blue sky ideas are even possible, I’ve begun prototyping based on the results from concept testing. I’m deep in the process of iterative prototyping – getting mock-ups in front of users, gaining feedback, and tweaking for common themes…