Case study · Beko Gourmet Yogurt Maker

Yogurt Maker

Rebuilding the flows around the user needs rather than the appliance, and designing the app experience.

The Beko Gourmet Yogurt Maker on a plinth against a textured concrete wall, its control panel showing the Yogurt, Probiotic and Kefir programmes, the Sweet, Normal and Sour taste settings, and the Insert Sensor, Add Milk and Add Starter steps

Project plan

From concept test to final flows

The programme ran in nine numbered stages — opening with external research and a benchmark, moving through ideation and the physical panel UI, and closing with the connected app and a final round of flows for the next prototype.

  1. 01

    Concept Test Research (External) + Benchmark

    • Verifying the project idea.
    • Getting more customer insight (Turkey only).
    • Research on present user habits and overall yogurt making processes.
    • Exploring similar products on the market.
  2. 02

    Ideation Workshop (Internal)

    • Ideation session against pre-defined personas, supported by insights from the Concept Test Research report.
    • Evaluating primary features and defining the final inventory list.
  3. +

    Yogurt Consumption Habits Research

    • More information on yogurt consumption — this time across six countries.
  4. 03

    Designing initial UI drafts & alternatives for the physical product

    • Creating various alternatives for the given UI panel dimensions.
  5. 04

    Finalizing first round of UI

    • Supporting the UX Research team with the data required for the first prototype.
  6. 05

    Supporting user testing sessions (10 women, 45 min. each)

    • Defining and validating scenarios for the testing sessions with the UX Research team.
  7. 06

    Evaluating outcomes

    • Evaluating the results of the user testing sessions and defining the future action plan with the PM, R&D and UX Research teams.
  8. 07

    Refinements

    • Re-evaluating the UI and preparing the necessary technical documentation for the next prototype.
  9. 08

    HomeWhiz App

    • Defining connectivity flows and features according to the previously defined product feature set.
  10. 09

    Finalising

    • Finalizing product and app flows for the next prototype and its user testing.

Step 01

Consolidating the research, the flows and the earlier panel alternatives.

  1. 01

    Analyzing data

    Research reports, benchmark reports, consumer habit reports, the user journey workshop output and the personas that came out of it.

    Survey chart ranking how important each dairy product is to respondents, with traditional yogurt highest
    Consumption habits survey
    Comparison grid of dairy products consumed in the household by product and by country
    Consumption by product, by country
    Benchmark table of competing yogurt makers with prices and capacities, alongside photographs of each product
    Competitor benchmark
    Photographs of the user journey workshop, with participants at tables and a whiteboard of grouped notes
    User journey workshop
    Persona card for a 49-year-old homemaker who ferments three kilos of yogurt a week from raw milk and judges temperature by experience
    Personas
    Journey map across five stages from sourcing milk through preparation, fermenting and resting to eating, with pain points at each stage
    Journey map, with pain points
  2. 02

    Flows

    Mapping the flows that already existed, for both the device and the yogurt making process itself.

    Device algorithm flow diagram branching through milk heating, starter addition, taste and probiotic settings to completion
    Device algorithm
    Illustrated probe step sequences comparing the everyday milk route with the raw milk route
    Probe sequences
    Large colour-coded flow board covering the whole making process with annotations and comment markers
    Full process board
  3. 03

    Past alternatives, and the decision making behind them

    The earlier panel designs — and, more usefully, the reasoning that produced them. The alternatives on their own only show what was chosen; knowing why narrowed down which decisions were still worth reopening.

    Board of earlier device panel alternatives showing dial and button layouts, closed-device appearance, and a usage sequence
    Panel alternatives & layout
    Device panel states in sequence — off, on, adjusting settings, two running states with remaining time, and finished
    Panel states, off to finished

  4. Final UI for the very first prototype

First User Testing

User testing sessions

First round of testing went in front of ten participants, 45 minutes each. Their words are more useful than any summary of them — "add starter" read as a button rather than an instruction, people didn't realise they then had to press play to begin fermenting, and the cooling stage before and after fermentation wasn't understood at all.

Everything in Step 02 is answering this.

Step 02

Revising flows.

The first round of flows described device algorithms and device UI panels — accurate, but framed entirely from the appliance's point of view. Making yogurt isn't a thing that happens on a panel. It happens over hours, across a person, a machine and a phone.

So I widened the frame: a single flow showing the user, the device and the app interacting together, including the waiting, the ambient light states, the buzzer, and the moments where the app has to speak up because the person has walked away.

  1. 01

    First flows: device algorithms & device UI panels

    Complete and correct — but written entirely in the appliance's terms.

    Colour-coded device algorithm flow branching through heating, starter, taste and duration, annotated with comment markers
    Device algorithm flow
    Grid of device UI panel states grouped by programme, each annotated with its behaviour
    Device UI panels, state by state
  2. 02

    Adopting a more holistic approach

    A flow showing user + device + app interaction from a wider perspective.

    Swimlane storyboard with a User row and a Yoghurt row, tracking what the person does against what the device shows at each moment
    User against device, moment by moment
    Detailed swimlane covering user, interface, ambient light and hardware rows, with algorithm notes attached to the sensor detection branch
    Interface, ambient light and hardware lanes

  3. Refined Final Flow

The final flow — a wide swimlane board with User, Product UI, Ambilight and HomeWhiz rows running across the full making process

Final flow — user, product UI, ambient light and HomeWhiz as parallel lanes.

Connectivity scenario board mapping user actions, algorithm notes, device UI, buzzer, time-out, ambient light and HomeWhiz behaviour across each stage

Wi-Fi connectivity scenarios, mapped stage by stage across every channel the product speaks through.

Step 03

Designing the app: HomeWhiz.

With the flows settled, the app work started from an inventory list and a set of requirements — connectivity, welcome and first use, what the panel shows before a program is sent, what it shows while running and once finished, graphs and history, user input, and replenishables.

From there I defined the app anatomy so it sat correctly inside the wider HomeWhiz experience rather than as a one-off screen set: a Control Panel for setting a program up, a Program Started state for following it, and an Assisted Guide for the parts where the person has to do something physical.

Step 03 board — the HomeWhiz inventory list and requirements, and the app anatomy wireframes for Control Panel, Program Started and Assisted Guide

The final UI for HomeWhiz and the device was set to be tested after the components for the second prototype arrived.

Prototype

The device and the app, together

The two halves only make sense side by side — the panel on the appliance and the phone in your hand showing the same process from different angles.

Three finished HomeWhiz screens — keeping cold, program setup with taste and container selectors and recipes, and fermenting multiple containers with a keep-cold toggle

What's next

Assisted Guide.

Step by step guidance for yogurt making

To help people experience yogurt making as playful and easy rather than fussy — insert the sensor, add the milk, and the app confirms each step as the device detects it, instead of asking anyone to guess.

Assisted Guide screens — a four-step progress indicator walking through Insert Sensor and Add Milk, each confirming once detected

Recognition

iF Design Award 2022

The Gourmet Yogurt Maker went on to receive an iF Design Award in 2022.

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