Electrolux Grand Cuisine

About
When Electrolux set out to revolutionize cooking at home by developing a superior professional-level home kitchen system, Grand Cuisine, they turned to Ocean Observations for beautiful and usable user interfaces that match the groundbreaking product design of the new luxury series.

Problem
One of the ideas behind the new line is to allow high profile consumers across the globe to cook like professional chefs in the luxury of their own homes. The series includes eight appliances, each with unique functionality. Our challenge was to create a cohesive UI behaviour that allows users to be inspired and supported while using any of the different products in the series, from the blast chiller to the precision vacuum sealer.

Solution
We started with thorough user research in several parts of the world, observing and interviewing representatives of the target audience (including lords outside of London and business women in Manhattan) to gain insights around how to best support these individuals in their pursuit of culinary excellence. Our research revealed several different sets of unique needs and behaviours and we designed a system UI that caters to the different modes. The user can choose to manually control every feature of the cooking process or let the advanced automatic programs take care of the details. Ultimately, Grand Cuisine empowers users to become better chefs. The interface doesn’t interfere with the cooking process, but instead delights and entices users to try new cooking techniques as well as new dishes.

About
This Roadmap is a vision and a document that functions as an implementation strategy for products and services, and as such not only gives advice on which services need to be developed but also when to go to market.

It is used as an initial specification and assessment for development of future services and as a visual communication tool to be shared internally and externally.

Problem
How can Ericsson provide their operator clients with new and more meaningful services, especially in the close future when networks become congested from the increasing usage of mobile broadband services? How can useful and engaging new services be built taking advantage of all the information available in Ericsson’s systems?

Solution
Based on insights from performing research on market trends as well as consumer behaviours and needs in Sweden, Japan and the US we came up with a strategy and a service envisioning showing the future user experience of suggested features and functions.

About
When the phone is mostly just a screen, that’s where an operator’s brand personality and meaningfulness needs to come through. KDDI wanted to make an experience statement in Japan with a redesign of the Android UI.

Problem
In Japan, the first version of Android was considered difficult to use and quite unattractive.

Solution
By conducting user studies on site in Japan and working in a close collaboration with our client KDDI, we created new UI behaviours with beautiful graphics. We gave the user more control to personalize the UI since this proved to be important to these particular users. The launcher was redesigned and mundane tasks like rearranging app icons were given our special attention. By making these tasks fun to perform users would spend more time interacting with the UI forming a relationship with KDDI’s brand.

About
For one of their most frequently used applications, the music player LISMO, KDDI wanted to find a unique way of easily selecting and playing music. Ocean Observations stepped up to the challenge and found inspiration in the old school Jukebox.

Problem
In the original LISMO application it was quite cumbersome and not very intuitive how to create and edit playlists.

Solution
We tackled this problem by designing a feature called collections. An empty collection is created with a single touch, it immediately gets an identifier, a beautiful icon, and a temporary name, the current date. No need for typing! The icon is visible when browsing and playing songs, and songs are added to the collection by dragging and dropping items on top of it.

About
We helped provide chefs worldwide with an essential tool that will make their workdays easier, regardless if they work in a school cafeteria or at a Michelin star restaurant. And Electrolux got a huge competitive advantage against their strongest competitor.

Problem
The current ovens were not optimal for serving several different user groups in a stressful environment such as a restaurant kitchen.

Solution
Ocean Observations came up with a new flexible digital user interface design supporting several different user modes and behaviours, replacing the old rigid control system based on knobs and buttons. We performed deep interviews, shadowing, customer journey mapping, interactive prototyping and eventually designed the complete user interface.

About
Yuki eats New York is a New York restaurant guide for iPhone built around sharing the unique culinary experiences and secret spots favored by Yuki Matsuo, a prop stylist, writer, and designer whose passion for food has earned her a cult following.

Problem
Most major New York restaurant guides are littered with chain restaurants and tourist traps, and many digital guides lack a personal twist and engaging user interface.

Solution
Together with Yuki we created an iPhone application that focuses on the food stands, cantinas, and unmarked dumpling and noodle restaurants that contribute to the vibrant and diverse energy of New York city, all presented through Yuki’s unique narrative. Packaged in an explorative gallery style.

https://oceanobservations.com/yukieatsnewyork/

About
The modem is the hub of the connected home, still not a very popular product. Does it need to be like that? We believe that it is possible to create a modern modem that solves many of the functional and aesthetic problems we see today. This modem could be a product unique to Bredbandsbolaget, and communicate the essence of what Bredbandsbolaget stands for.

Problem
In order to completely rethink the broadband service experience we needed a method for investigating how the customers interacted with the current touchpoints of Bredbandsbolaget.

Solution
Through contextual interviews and photo-ethnography, we mapped the user experience from the day of delivery, during installation, when using the modem, until turning it off. The result is visualised through the experience map. An experience map is a model of how people experience a product, service, environment, or system. Like a good highway map, it organizes and abstracts complex reality to focus the design team on the important bits.

To find new opportunities we structure the mapped experience into a defined story. Often this research and ideation method results in unexpected design solutions.

About
Ocean Observations and Ikivo presents an Android Homescreen Application.

Problem
Many widgets are mundane and lack meaning, launcher design is not optimal when loads of shortcuts have to be created, applications can be too complex and cumbersome to navigate when you repeatedly want something specific.

Solution
Fipplr, a progressive Android homescreen application that improves content and social service experiences with the help of purposeful feeds and an unconventional take on graphical design and interaction.

http://www.fipplr.com/

TESTIMONIAL
“Fipplr really allows you to add a amount of apps, collectively with Flickr, Twitter, and Google Differ widgets on Homescreen which exhibits the fast info’s and in a fast swipe to the best will improve the entire view of touching widgets and if in a swipe to left aspect you shall be access to the Launcher display.” www.andRoidappmobile.com 

About
We could not find the perfect RSS Reader for our iPads, so we decided to design and build it ourselves.

Problem
We lacked a focus on the actual reading experience in other services.There were too many navigation features in the reading pane and the notification badges visualizing the amount of unread items, added unnecessary stress.

Solution
We wanted the main focus of the experience to be on ‘reading articles’ and thus exposed the content and hid the navigation. When opening the application the latest articles are always displayed immediately, to change source the user taps a button to open the navigation layer. Stacks rather than badges indicated whether there were many or few new items in a feed.

https://oceanobservations.com/thefeed/