ChiQ smart appliance
service design
Putting people back at the center of the kitchen through meaningful, human-centered lifestyle design.
I redesigned ChiQ’s smart kitchen experience by integrating refrigerators and projectors into a central, peninsula-style platform. This project moved beyond hardware to create a cloud-based ecosystem that supports third-party services—like grocery delivery—forming the foundation of ChiQ’s broader smart home strategy.
Situation
Shifting lifestyles and emerging technologies required a re-evaluation of the kitchen’s role. We aimed to transform traditional cooking and food preservation activities into a connected, social, and service-oriented experience.
Tactics
Competitive Analysis: I researched and analyzed best practices of user experience and design in products and services related to the smart kitchen.
Customer Journey mapping: Visualized the end-to-end ecosystem to identify high-value interaction points between users and digital services.
Actions
Scenario Development: Translated research into user scenarios and product definitions during cross-functional design sprints.
Ergonomic Mockup Studies: Built lo-fi physical mockups to iterate on the form factors and hardware placement.
Prototype & User Testing: Validated working prototypes with real users to refine functionality and demonstrate the system's value.
Results
Redefined Core Terminals: Successfully fused the refrigerator with kitchen counters, creating a unified central platform for the home.
Service Integration: Established an open platform that allows third-party providers (e.g., grocery delivery) to integrate directly into user workflows.
Strategic Foundation: Launched the first stage of ChiQ’s "Home Internet" ecosystem, moving the brand toward a connected, human-centered product strategy.
