In China, the takeaway industry has been steadily rising, gradually maturing, and evolving into a large-scale dining market. Urban white-collar consumers constitute the primary user base for food delivery and are the target user group for this project. However, food delivery waste has yet to be adequately addressed. During the theme exploration and research phases, through methods such as interviews and co-creation, it was found that subjectively, there is a weak awareness of reducing food waste, unclear criteria for judging the freshness of leftovers, and a lack of facilities for storage and reheating. However, the most significant objective obstacles include portion sizes exceeding appetite, and the taste not meeting consumer expectations.

This corresponds to an opportunity to bridge the information gap between consumers' expectations and the actual portion sizes and tastes of dishes. Combining with the SICAS consumer behavior model, which aims to increase the conversion rate of consumers' willingness to reduce food delivery waste into actual behavior. The goal of this project is to assist consumers in feeling confident, inspired, and encouraged about how to order takeout that suits their food intake and tastes, thereby reducing food waste. Through brainstorming sessions and prototype testing during the ideation phase, the final design was iterated in both intuitive and conscious directions.

The final design is a new takeout ordering app that primarily integrates an AI assistant - Order Pal, and visual information prompts to help consumers of different personas order takeout with appropriate portion sizes and flavors in various scenarios. Through Order Pal learning users' ordering preferences, recommending suitable portion sizes and flavors, the app assists consumers in quickly and conveniently placing takeout orders while feeling guided and inspired. Additional details in visual information continually prompt and reinforce consumers' understanding of portion sizes and flavors. With long-term reminders and encouragement from Order Pal, consumers gain a better understanding of their food preferences and intake, enabling them to find meals that suit them, reduce food waste, and cultivate a more mindful food consumption.

Context
The amount of electronic waste keeps growing, half of which is white goods. In the meantime a transition from gas hobs to induction hobs is taking place. Induction hob have a shorter lifetime and contain more valuable materials. As a consequence, the induction hob e-waste will increase significantly.

To prevent a further increase of e-waste by this growing amount of induction hobs, a circular product is proposed. In this graduation project an induction hob is designed that is fit for the circular economy. Here the focus is on the inner three circles of the Rainbow Model.
For this project the Hood-in-Hob Elevate™ from ATAG Benelux was researched and redesigned.


Research
Research was done into the architecture of the current product, identifying the priority parts and how easily the product can be disassembled. It was concluded that most of the priority parts were located in the induction assembly, which is the part of the product that is hardest to reach. The main reason for it being hard to reach is because the product needs to be taken out of the countertop, which brings multiple complications with it.

Next research into consumer behaviour was done, to gain insight into the product care the consumer performs, the reason of product replacement and the user’s attitude towards refurbished products. It was found that the product was almost never replaced because of technical obsolescence, but because of psychological and functional obsolescence. In order to avoid this type of product replacement, it should be designed for upgradability and remanufacturing. To support this, the product should be easy to disassemble.
It was also found that the only product care the consumer performs is the cleaning of the product. Lastly it was found that the consumer is prepared to buy a refurbished product provided, if the expected lifetime is the same as a new one and if the product is thoroughly cleaned.

Concept
The result of the project is a concept of an induction hob that is fit for a circular economy. The main change compared to the current product is the architecture of the concept.
The induction assembly is changed into two separate modules, which can be disassembled without removing the glass plate from the countertop. The disassembly has been simplified so much, that the consumers are able to replace the induction module by themselves. They can send the module to ATAG for repair, making the repair process faster and using the time of the service engineer more efficient.
Finally, the user interface has been taken out of the product and made into a separate product. The user interface was one of the priority parts which were most difficult to disassemble. By making it separate, it is easier to reach. On top of that the upgradability has been improved this way, there is more upgrade flexibility and no changes to the rest of the product are required.
To conclude the design recommendations are made for detailing the concept even further.

This project set out to design a product that is fit for the circular economy. The outcome is a concept of a product that is easier to disassemble and thus easier to repair, upgrade and remanufacture.