Rapid Prototyping in Motion
Food Genius
Food Genius is a website that tries to classify consumers' dining out habits based on a complex algorithm that tracks more than 16 million restaurant menu items. This information can then provide customers with food-trend data. When Food Genius came to IDEO, they were an app developer for consumers (a Netflix for Foodies), though IDEO pivoted them to being an API and data provider for those in the food industry.
To make this switch, they prototyped a viral marketing experience that they called the "Curry Crawl". This was a way to rapidly test the usability of the new API. This was a three hour, live-tweeting Curry Crawl who's main goal was to find the best curry in the city by using the new API.
The process took a very short time and, as you can see in the images below, the prototype was nothing close to professional. The Curry Crawl exemplifies what rapid prototyping should be and shows how insights can be made simply by putting some sort of product in front of consumers.
To make this switch, they prototyped a viral marketing experience that they called the "Curry Crawl". This was a way to rapidly test the usability of the new API. This was a three hour, live-tweeting Curry Crawl who's main goal was to find the best curry in the city by using the new API.
The process took a very short time and, as you can see in the images below, the prototype was nothing close to professional. The Curry Crawl exemplifies what rapid prototyping should be and shows how insights can be made simply by putting some sort of product in front of consumers.