A cultural exchange at your fingertips?

Many examples of mobile apps that aim to teach users - from Masterclass to Duolingo - draw a clear distinction between teachers and learners. There are challenges to designing a peer economy mobile application that enables users to exchange knowledge rather than obtain it.

This project aims to connect users with different cultural backgrounds to come together and share their skills in the most authentic way.

The project focuses on the prototyping stage, loosely based on second-hand research. Refer to Rethinking MakerSpace for examples of user research.

Creating Personas helped us structure our understanding of the users and their motives.

Matt | 23 | Environmental Consultant

Matt lives alone and works long hours at a large environmental consulting firm. Until his graduation, he lived in small dorms and never had a kitchen. His diet mainly consists of instant meals. He scours the internet for new recipes, but is often skeptical and intimidated by them. He dreams of having someone that can show him how to cook in person. He yearns for authentic connections in this new city, but is unsure how to find them.

Bryce | 32 | Restaurant Server

Bryce has always been interested in cooking. He has a few recipes that his grandmother taught him in his back pocket, but is starting to get bored of them. While he wants to expand his palette, he feels that a lot of online content lacks authenticity. He’s curious about comforting recipes from other cultures. He dreams of one day throwing a dinner party for his friends.

How might we specify what we want to learn? How might we reduce the logistical challenges of cooking with someone new? How might we ensure safety of our users?

Bryce is an intermediate cook, who wants to expand his culinary palette.

He is particularly fond of Mexican cuisine, so he chooses to filter out other options.

He matches with Sophia who wants to learn how to make Italian dishes in exchange of her authentic Mexican recipes.

Both Bryce and Sophia exchange their culture beyond just food.

Matt is struggling to understand a recipe he found.

Matt seeks for help from a cook who is experienced in making the dish, and eventually finds Bryce.

To make sure Bryce is not a fake profile, he checks his credentials on the app.

They meet and Matt gets to master the recipe.

Affinity diagram to brainstorm our objectives, technologies, and branding.