Sous Chef

Cooking app designed for the Alexa Voice platform
CLIENT: CareerFoundry
MY ROLE: UX Designer
TOOLS: Alexa Console

Developing Sous Chef

I wanted to gain a better understanding about the creation of audio applications for smart devices such as Alexa or the Google Assistant. Applications that are utilized in the audio format are referred to as "skills". I chose to focus on Alexa skills; more specifically, the mechanics and limitations of the Alexa platform.

I explored various skills that had different purposes for the user. Though my research, I noticed many skills focused on recipe creations. I chose to create the recipe skill "Sous Chef" to allow users to create meals of their choice while offering a hands-free solution.

Exploring the current market

There is a huge range when it comes to the types of cooking skills that exist on the Alexa platform. Both those that are native, ie- created by Amazon itself, and those formed by other creators, such as myself, cover a wide range of options for cooking.


Many skills focus on types of cuisine. Italian cooking in particular is a very popular option. Other skills follow the direction of celebrity chefs and guide users to make their favorite chefs' recipes. And other skills focus on particular cooking appliances, for example cooking using a grill or crockpot.


With such a great variety of options, I decided to speak directly to current users to learn about when they used Alexa for cooking. I wanted to find out what types of cooking skills people were actually using and why they chose these particular skills. I set out to find people who were comfortable with Voice User Interfaces who had also used Alexa to find recipes.

Interview Discoveries

I reached out to various people to find participants who had used Alexa when searching for recipes. I conducted interviews with 5 people who fit this criteria. I wanted to gain a better understanding for when a user chooses a voice user interface and what they hope to achieve in the process. I also wanted to explore the needs and goals users have when cooking.

There were 3 key findings that resulted from these interviews. They included specific food needs, cooking limitations, as well as various reasons that inspired them to use voice user interface platforms to find new recipes.

Specific food needs:

Food allergies - gluten, shellfish, etc.

Religious considerations - some Muslim and Jewish prescribe to no pork; Hindu to no beef

Limitations:

Cooking experience - lack there of

Kitchen appliances - recipes may call for items such as a food processor or mixer that users

may not have

Time - limited time to cook or do

recipe prep

Preferences:

New ideas - users expressed it can be taxing to constantly have to decide what to eat/make on a daily basis

Impress others - when users supply food to others such as a work potluck, holiday meal, etc.

Explore cuisine - users stated their desires to discover new meals

The Sous Chef user

Using the information I gathered during my interviews, I synthesized the data and created a proto-persona that would represent the Sous Chef user.

Meet Julia - "I swear, this is the last time I am going to Jack-in-the-Box after rehearsal."

She is very busy working multiple gigs and picking up extra shifts whenever she can as a barista. Her passion is her music so most of her world revolves around performing and writing music. This leaves her little time to tend to cooking or any other household activities. For Julia, efficient, inexpensive cooking is key.

Julia would love to find a way to make good, inexpensive food so she didn't have to keep eating the same things over and over. She doesn't own many kitchen gadgets or spices so she needs the recipes to stay simple.


She needs to keep food options within budget as all extra cash goes towards her music. Julia would like tasty recipes to help her break the habits of stopping at fast food restaurants and skipping meals.

Creating the Voice of Sous Chef

Using further insight from the market research and interviews I conducted, I developed a system persona so the Sous Chef skill would have a consistent voice to aid in the development of dialogue.

Meet Tasty Terry - "Tasty made simple, just for you."

Tasty Terry is here to help users discover simple, healthy meals. She identifies meals with minimal preparation and cooking time. Her focus is on fresh food made easy. Advanced features of Tasty Terry allow for substitutions, spicy alternatives, and recipes that allow the user to provide the ingredients.

As to not intimidate those who may not be very comfortable cooking in the kitchen. Tasty Terry's speaking style is informal, friendly, and at a medium pace.

Her character traits include: encouraging, helpful, patient, informative, and contagious.


Getting to work on Sous Chef

I used my research to inform the design decisions about the skill Sous Chef. I wanted to cater to people just like Julia who may vary in cooking abilities or accessibility to cooking tools. I also wanted to take any specific dietary requests, whether by preference or by necessity. I opted to design a skill that would cater to the needs the specific needs of each user.

Meal selection flow

To showcase the interaction, I created voice flows to allow voice conversations between Sous Chef and users. Below is an example of a flow a user would encounter when trying to select a meal.

Conversational flow for Sous Chef

I created dialogue to be exchanged between the user and the Sous Chef skill. Keeping the criteria in mind, the Sous Chef side of the conversation must establish a friendly rapport as a skill that wants to help. Additionally, the user's request should be used to adjust recipe suggestions as to better serve the user with each use. Below is an example of a potential scenario that could come up during conversations.

User Scenario: As a seafood hater, I want recipes that not only stay clear of all fish, but all fish derivatives (oyster sauce, fish sauce, etc.) so that I don’t have that taste spoil my whole meal.

User: Hey Alexa, start Sous Chef

Sous Chef (Alt 1): Hello again! What are we making today?

Sous Chef (Alt 2): Welcome back! What would you like to make?

Sous Chef (Alt 3): Sous Chef here to your food rescue! What would you like to start cooking?

User: I don’t know. Suggest something.

Sous Chef (Alt 1): Would you like chicken, fish, or veggie?

Sous Chef (Alt 2): Do you want chicken, beef, or pork?

Sous Chef (Alt 3): How about Pork Cutlets?

User: I guess chicken.

Sous Chef (Alt 1): Ok, great! Do you want to try Chicken Marbella, or Chicken BBQ?

Sous Chef (Alt 2): How about Chicken Marbella or Chicken Pad Thai?

Sous Chef (Alt 3): Chicken Marbella, Chicken Pad Thai, or something else?

User: Let’s try Chicken Pad Thai

Sous Chef: Ok, ready for the instructions for Chicken Pad Thai?

User: Yes

Sous Chef: For Chicken Pad Thai, you will need:

Ingredients listed: ...

User: Ew! Hey Alexa, tell Sous Chef I hate seafood.  I don’t want anything with seafood or seafood ingredients in it.

Sous Chef (Alt 1): Sorry, I see Chicken Pad Thai has fish derivatives in it. Would you like to substitute these ingredients or make a different dish?Sous Chef (Alt 2): No problem. We can substitute all seafood items or choose a different dish.  Which would you like?Sous Chef (Alt 3): Let’s fix that! Do you want to substitute the fish related ingredients or try a different dish?

User: I want something else.

Sous Chef (Alt 1): You got it! How about Chicken Marbella?

Sous Chef (Alt 2): Ok, how about Chicken Marbella or Teriyaki Chicken?

User: Sure, let’s try the Chicken Marbella.

Sous Chef: One more thing, would you like to make a note to no longer suggest seafood related recipes?

User: Ya.

Sous Chef: Ok, no more seafood recipes will be suggested. You can change this at any time by going to the settings in your Alexa app. 

Ingredients listed: ...

Testing Sous Chef's usability

I conducted usability testing with 5 participants. I screened for their familiarity with voice user applications as well as their cooking experience.

My goals for the testing:

1) Determine if users were able to get Sous Chef to function (communicate recipes and instructions)

2) Observe user ease and likeability when using Sous Chef

I asked a series of intro questions to qualify them for the study. They then were asked scenario questions to test the ease of the Sous Chef app. I monitored the participants verbal interactions as well as their emotional reactions they each had when using Sous Chef.

The usability test was geared to test following functions:

(LaunchIntent) Can the users launch the skill?

(GetRecipeIntent) Are the users able to hear a recipe?

(ChooseTypeIntent) Are they able to make specific recipe requests?

(NextIntent) Can the users hear the recipe step-by-step?

(InstructionIntent) Are the users able to listen to the recipe instructions as needed?

To gauge the ease of completing these intents, the following scenario questions were asked of each user:

  • You recently discovered the app Sous Chef. How would you activate it?
  • You’ve just come home from a long day at work and you are trying to figure out what to eat. Nothing is coming to mind so you would like the Sous Chef app to give you some ideas.
  • You love garlic and you want to try something new. You’re looking for ideas so you choose to talk to Sous Chef about this.
  • You don’t have much time for cooking. You want Sous Chef to give you a recipe you can try, but you would like to hear the instructions on how to make the dish so that you can gage if you have enough time.
  • You are curious to try to make a new dish; however, you are unsure if you have all of the ingredients you need in order to make it. Select your dish and then find out what is used to create it so that you know if you would like to move forward.
  • (Optional) Make up your own scenario. Please let me know what you would like for Sous Chef to do!

Common pitfalls discovered during testing

During testing, there were some questions that resulted in errors from the majority of the users.

Specific recipe requests

It was a struggle for users to get the Sous Chef skill to make any type of recipe request. As the skill currently stands, users must listen to the recipe option that is stated by Sous Chef. No omissions or modifications are able to be made for the recipe or instructions at this time. Users can only choose from the list provided by Sous Chef and these recipes are recited one by one. At this time, Sous Chef does not have the ability to search for new recipes fitting the user's criteria. The skill can only offer recipes that are already in its library.


This resulted in much frustration for the user. Many users became very vocal when trying to get Sous Chef to articulate a recipe of their choice. To fix this issue, code development needs to occur to allow the Sous Chef app to respond to specific requests as well as to search beyond its internal library of recipes.


Next, next, next...

Users must listen to the recipes step by step using the command "next" in between each step to move forward. Many voiced frustration with having to continuously say "next" over and over to complete the recipe ingredients and steps.

To correct this, coding should be created to allow for recipe ingredients and directions to be grouped into small, manageable sounds bites. Additionally, the option to have the recipe read in its entirety should be added. This will allow users to better determine if they want to make the suggested recipe.


Yes or No complex

During testing, users became aggravated believing that Sous Chef was not responding how they thought it should. They wanted to be able to respond with phrases or full sentences when the prompt required a "yes" or "no" response.

For the prompts that only allowed a "yes" or "no" response, Sous Chef would just continuously repeat the question and would not move forward in the recipe process. This restriction interfered with users' desire to continue to use the skill.

To correct this, coding needs to be added to allow multiple statements within language coded for Sous Chef for intro phrases, responses, and questions.

Things I've learned:

Usability Testing for VUI is fun!

When comparing usability testing of high-fidelity mobile mock-ups to a voice skill, there were some key differences.

My users oftentimes wanted to go off script with Sous Chef and kept trying different phrases to say. They were ready to run with the skill instead of simply going over the exercise.

The emotional states of the users also seemed to be much more obvious. When the skill was not responding how users wanted they became very aggravated. Likewise, when they were able to get Sous Chef to do as they pleased, they became very excited.

Coding is Key

I knew this, BUT...

For this exercise I was limited to the confines for much of the coding as it was provided to me. During my research and discovery phase, I uncovered the how and the why for when users would use a voice skill for recipes. I was very much looking forward to creating a skill that would make my findings actionable.

No such luck. As the skill is written now I am unable to address many of the issues address above. More advanced changes to coding that are beyond my abilities need to happen in order to provide a skill that can be modified at a high level.

If time permits, the suggested changes could be addressed in the future.