Kora was conceived as a solution aimed at the Korean market to accommodate both accomplished and novice home cooks. As a conventional pan and lid, Kora functions per normal, however, by allowing the top portion of the lid to be removable the, the pan can transform to allow for easy, safe, mess free flipping, ensuring the flavours are mixed well. With the ease of convenience for Kora to accommodate at different stages of cooking, even novice cooks can become experts at cooking Korean Food, whilst the more experienced and regular cooks can enjoy a more clean and easy way of cooking at their convenience.
Done in collaboration with World Kitchen
Persona
Korean culture and dinning etiquette
Product Matrix
A product matrix was conducted to understand better the types of products Korean preferred to buy, in addition to understanding the semantics of competing brands.
User Research
The user allowed us to observe and record traditional Bibimbap and Japchae being cooked. Observations were made from the preparation till the serving of guests
Observational Sketches
Initial chosen directions
After sketching, the main 3 directions chosen were:
- 'tree rings' = thermo-chromatic ink, as pan ages, more rings appear to show how old the pan is and when it needs to be thrown away. This was based due to the throw-away culture of the Koreans, where they buy 2 to 3 pans every year.
- steaming
- flipping - is an indication of not only skills when cooking, but also allows for a more thoroughly flavor infused dish to be made
The directions were derived from observations made of our user and secondary research.
Chosen direction
Flipping was the chosen direction; to help emphasize on easy, clean flipping. Koreans typically flip significantly for pancakes, those more professional at cooking often flip each dish at least a few times when cooking at home.
