In the 1950s, the average mealtime was 90 minutes. Today, the average mealtime is 12 minutes.
Our product helps to bring back the traditional family meal as well as providing a time-efficient solution to preparing wholesome meals.
Define Statement
These days, people are so busy that they rarely ever get to taste a home-cooked meal. We are eliminating the hassle of cooking after a long day's work. Our maneuverable baking dish stores ingredients to combine for later. From working parents to babysitters, users will benefit from a simple way to prepare wholesome foods that will fit within their busy lives.
Ideation
During our ideation phase in module 3, we tested different ways that we could incorporate the 3 main parts of our baking dish: measuring tools, dividers, and effective communication between the users.
We wanted to include measuring cups or measurements to eliminate the amount of tools the user needs to cook with.
This is another early prototype including the cups for measuring wet ingredients.
This is an early prototype including a whiteboard lid.
This prototype includes the grid system on the bottom of the pan that prevents spillage between the separated ingredients. It also shows how the dividers can easily be pulled out to mix ingredients.
We used real ingredients, both wet and dry, to show how the user could prepare a basic casserole recipe. Our dish would be complete with an attachable spoon for both measuring and mixing, a detachable whiteboard for cooking instructions, and ingredient labels on the inside of the lid.
Materiality
Originally, this baking dish consisted of a non-stick, scratch-resistant ceramic base and shell. The measuring cups included with the dish would also be ceramic, and the removable dividers of the dish would be constructed of shatterproof Tritan. It would be complete with an attachable spoon for both measuring and mixing, a detachable whiteboard for cooking instructions, and ingredient labels on the inside of the lid.
Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability
At the beginning of module 4 we were asked to research desirability, feasibility, and viability, and to address these issues accordingly. We first identified the flaws we found within the baking dish. We researched everything from compartment formation to safety to experience of the user. This is where we used our systems map to help guide us towards a better design.
Empathy
For empathy we wanted to give the optimal experience while preparing and baking a meal. We tested our prototype with different users. We made a point to seek out users from many different lifestyles.
- A father
- Single mother
- Mother of five
- A student
Jeff
- Working father of three
- Works 8 AM until 5 PM
- Comes home to a household full of chaotic schedules
- Two of his children are in and one is a middle
triathlete with basketball volleyball and softball practices
Lisa
- Mother of 5
- Begins her day by getting her children ready for school and feeding them
breakfast
- She takes the kids to school
- In the afternoon, she hurries to get all the kids to their extracurricular
activities. Once home, she eats dinner, helps them with their homework
and gets them ready for the next day
- Said that she would enjoy more quality time with her children and would
enjoy cooking meals with them
Crystal
- Single mother with two teenage boys
- She wakes up at 4:45 AM to begin her 12-hour work day
- She arrives home at 6 PM and makes dinner for her sons
- After dinner, she helps them with their homework, exercises, and
then goes to bed.
Natalie
- Working student
- Spends the day hurrying between classes, and then to work
- Eats a quick dinner, does her homework, and prepares for the
next day
After empathy, we found that users would like a simple way of communicating with the whiteboard. Jeff said that stationary dividers would be helpful because there might be a babysitter that would accidentally leave in a divider while cooking!
Research
Feeling rushed is a part of everyday life for today’s mothers and fathers: Among those with children under age 18, 40% of working mothers and 34% of working fathers say they always feel rushed. Based on this information we decided to put an emphasis on family togetherness. We also wanted to welcome the idea that the whole family can interact while preparing and baking a meal.
We researched the nuclear family size, parents who had dinner with their famly everyday, the number of homecooked meals per week, and evenings families eat together.
We found that the family size is getting smaller, and that there are fewer traditional nuclear families. These families, consisting of a mother, father, and children was 40% in 1970, today that percentage has dropped to low of 23.1%. Families in the 1950’s were very home-centered and women had certain expectations.
In a home economics book from the 1950s there was a list of how to prepare for dinner. As you will see, not only was the preparation of the meal demanding, but it also required etiquette. Have dinner ready, prepare yourself, clear away the clutter, prepare the children, minimize the noise, make him comfortable, and make the evening his. Society today does not place those expectations on women. In response to this research, we confirmed that our dish enables users to speed up the meal processing in order to accommodate busy lifestyles.
This is a comparison showing the shift of evening mealtimes from 1990 - 2012:
Continuing Materiality
This baking dish not only has to accommodate the modern lifestyle, but also has to be a quality piece. We broke down our ideas for materiality into categories that would produce the most effective family meal.
We broke down our ideas for materiality into categories that would produce the most effective family meal. We explored materials such as glass, ceramic, and aluminum to find which material would best account for affordability, durability, ease of cleaning, heat transfer, and transportation.
Final Product
Our final solution was a ceramic baking dish with a three-part dividing system. This allows for larger casseroles and other dishes serving 8 to 10 people, or smaller ones serving 4 to 5. The dividers include measurements, eliminating the need for measuring tools, and in the middle is a shorter stationary divider, allowing the user to use the entire dish for only 4 to 6 servings. We also included a storage dish for ingredients measured in tablespoons and teaspoons. The purpose of this dish is to bring back family time as well as save time to allow families to do activities at their convenience to fit modern day schedules.
This palette is used for measuring and storing ingredients measured in teaspoon and tablespoon increments. This allows the user to prepare a meal with these ingredients and also store it in the refrigerator.
Our baking dish still serves 8-10 individuals, but after considering the modern day shift in families and family lifestyles we began to ideate a way to make smaller serving sizes in order to accommodate for these shifts.
We have installed a divider that stays stationary within the baking phase for 4 person and 6 person meals.
Colors Casserole Recipe
- 2 cup blue rice
- 3 cup green popcorn
- 1 1/2 cup lentil
- 3/4 cup black beans
- 2 1/4 cup red rice
- 1/2 cup alphabet soup
- 1 cup green lentils
