Consumer Co-Creation & Ideation
Reimagining technology in the kitchen space with consumers
The Challenge
As technology becomes increasingly embedded in the home, our client wanted to understand what “smart” really means to today’s consumers, especially in the kitchen and coffee space. With a rapidly expanding market of connected devices, the goal was not to create tech for tech’s sake, but to uncover what makes technology truly meaningful to people’s lives.
We set out to answer:
- How do consumers define and value “smart” technology?
- What’s working (and not working) in their homes?
- What kitchen/coffee experiences are ripe for innovation?
- Where are the gaps between intent and impact?
My Role
- Designing and leading the end-to-end research process
- Developing recruitment screeners, workshop protocols, and stimulus materials
- Facilitating consumer and internal ideation workshops
- Conducting post-session synthesis and analysis
- Translating insights into opportunity spaces and Jobs to Be Done
Approach & Methods
- Pre-Session Homework
Participants identified two key technologies in their lives:
- One that positively impacted their day-to-day
- One that fell short of its promise
This surfaced early signals of what success and failure look like in the tech-enabled home.
- Co-Creation Workshop (Kitchen Environment)
We designed a rich, in-context experience for participants. Activities included:
- Icebreakers to surface attitudes around “smart”
- Group discussions on current tools, frustrations, and wishlists
- Structured ideation exercises generating consumer-created concepts
- Internal Ideation Workshop
Using the Jobs to Be Done and opportunity spaces defined from the Co-Creation Workshop as fuel, cross-functional teams (product, design, engineering) generated over 50+ ideas, later refined and story-boarded for quantitate testing.
Key Insights
Outcomes
6 Opportunity Spaces
Themes organized into two tiers:
- Functional: Eliminate redundancy, simplify routines, reduce error
- Aspirational: Inspire creativity, enhance rituals, foster learning
8 Jobs to Be Done
These jobs became the north star for concept generation and prioritization.
Idea Generation & Validation
- 50+ ideas generated in internal workshops
- 6 concepts selected and story-boarded
- Quantitative validation used to assess alignment with consumer needs
Impact
- Strategic direction: Research reframed how the organization approaches “smart” products, not as a feature set, but as an enabler of better living.
- Product pipeline: The opportunity spaces and Jobs to Be Done directly informed new product briefs.
- Cross-functional alignment: Co-creation bridged consumer needs with product, design, and engineering capabilities, accelerating ideation.
Reflection
This project reinforced the importance of meeting consumers where they are, both literally and metaphorically. Creating space for conversation, in a kitchen, not a lab, allowed us to uncover real behaviors, values, and unmet needs. By embedding those insights into the ideation process, we ensured that solutions weren’t just technically feasible, but emotionally resonant and deeply relevant.