The Lifestyle-Driven Innovation Team of Guangdong Midea Kitchen Appliances Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is aiming to create excellent design solutions for target consumers, which are based on their latest lifestyle and emotional needs. Especially in the context of the current AIoT trend and in the post-pandemic era, life changes quickly in seconds. To achieve innovation, even a valuable breakthrough in the design process, the sensibility of each team member’s mind is fully called upon to grasp every tiny pain point, in order to create an ideal field for breeding great ideas. Moreover, the team loves to seek the best way to enhance the connection between the product and its user, instead of just focusing on shaping an object like before. That is its comprehension of user experience design.
Guangdong Midea Kitchen Appliances Manufacturing Team in an Interview with Red Dot
Red Dot: Why did you become a designer?
There is always more struggle and pain than satisfaction and happiness in life. Yet, good design is able to optimise life for people. Being a designer in modern society, you can make joy and welfare into reality through your daily work.
What intention do you pursue with your award-winning work?
A trendy smart UX, which finely integrates with a large touchscreen or smartphone and the product.
Was your award-winning work inspired by current social issues?
The COVID-19 pandemic forced young people to cook more at home. And the rise of online courses has also shown that digital natives have already become accustomed to learning life skills via the internet.
Which target group would you like to address with your award-winning work?
The MZ generation – the ones who have build a family of three or four people and have moved beyond the middle income level regarding their economic condition. They usually pay attention to quality of life and have enthusiasm for experiencing new things.
Please describe the concept of creativity against the background of your award-winning work. A large-touchscreen experience specifically developed for multicookers which can collaborate well with the smartphone app to suit most scenarios in users’ daily lives. We refer to this as the “Pro’ UX”. For most urban people, cooking is a comparatively boring chore. The CookPro 6 system provides them with a range of interesting flagship cooking content. For example: basic cuisine lessons, a chef’s guide, cooking videos, etc. Up to now, most UX of current cooking products have been developed based on functions only, such as control, recipe list and recording, etc. In this project, we strived to create an AI-style HMI based on “what the user wants to get”.