Foodous: An interactive café that delivers on education and magic

Eating should be a wholesome experience. However, many of us, especially children, are disconnected from the origins of our food. Understanding where our food comes from enables us to be more mindful and conscious of maintaining a healthy natural environment.

Foodous is a concept for a technology-enhanced cafe, where children and their parents can eat well and learn about where food comes from at the same time.

Design objective

To create an educational and interactive cafe for kids to learn about the origins of their food.

Secondary research to key insights

An overview of the concept through storyboarding and 3D modeling

See storyboard enlarged.

Planning: Service blueprints to origami

A service blueprint was created to identify the physical touch points, define what the users would interact with, and what components were "behind-the-scenes."

Building it small with origami

Building our model on this small scale, enabled us to move the parts around figure out ideal layouts.

Since this project is aimed for children, we measured the placement of the screens based on the average height of an elementary school child in the US.

Designing the experience

I wanted a concept that was both parent and kid-friendly, focused on playful illustrations, and that created an intuitive customer experience.

Bringing it to life – visuals + animation

Using a subtle background color, the emphasis was on the brightly colored illustrations. Giving slight texture to the illustrations giving them a more rustic, wholesome appeal. The reddish coral hue spoke to igniting the appetite, and the dark blue reflected a sense of familiarity and loyalty.

Step 1: First screen customers interact with when arriving at Foodous

Step 2: Customers pick their ingredients

Step 3: Payment and order number for pick-up

Slideshow of the screens

Prototyping the physical build + space

We made sure to design for the height differences between child and adult based on phase of ordering process. We imagined the actual space having living gardens on each panel. We had to use "Wizard of Oz" to showcase how this concept would work.

"DJ Soojin" behind the scenes controlling the screens.

The wand

An Arduino, color-changing (concept) wand was made. The idea is that customers will make their selections using the wand; the wand would then store the data of each selection and used it for check-out

Key takeaways + reflections

Parents don’t want to give their children too many choices for fear of holding up the line.
Parents are happy to let their kids make their own choices if they know they aren’t going to have to pay any extra for more choices
Parents don’t want to have to worry about moving their kids and whatever else they may be holding (like lots of kids bags/strollers) so being able to do all the ordering in one place is easier.
The wand needs to be re-thought. While it's a fun element, it would undoubtedly cause disappointment for the child when they have to give it back. It would be unsustainable both for the business and environment to have plastic wands for every customer too.
Consider exploring a system with multiple kiosks instead of walking to benefit parents. The conceptual kiosk could accommodate two screens (one for the parent and one for the kid) allowing parents to control and limit the order placed by their kids. The system could be beneficial for the business model plan as it enables more customers to interact and place an order.