A
Chill Kitty
Name
yuhan XIA
Education degree
Kandidat
Fagfelt
Design
Institute
Design and Visual Interaction
Program
Visual Game and Media Design
Year
2026
Supervisor: Jesper Juul
Description
Chill Kitty is a gamified mobile app that helps young adults manage fridge ingredients through storage guidance, expiry reminders, and friendly interactions with a cat character. It encourages users to build better food management habits and reduce everyday food waste.
Design Inspiration
The idea came from my own experience of living independently and cooking for myself during my two years of study in Denmark. I found that managing food was not as simple as I expected. Through user research, I also realised that many young adults lack basic food storage knowledge and often forget what they have in the fridge. This inspired me to design a functional app that makes fridge management easier, more visual, and more engaging.
Chill Kitty
Chill Kitty Demo
Chill Kitty Prototype Walkthrough
A short walkthrough video demonstrating the main features and user flow of the Chill Kitty prototype.
Chill Kitty is organised around five core top-level functions: Fridge Cat Home, Refrigerator, Upload, Encyclopedia, and Profile. Together, they support food input, fridge management, gamified guidance, storage learning, and personal data tracking.
Fridge Cat Home
Users can check in, complete daily tasks, view their level, and unlock outfits. The cat’s mood changes based on user actions and fridge status, reminding users to manage their food.
Refrigerator
Users can check food freshness, update item information, record consumption or waste, preview future freshness changes, and generate recipes from current ingredients.
Upload
Users can add food by uploading an image or scanning a receipt. The built-in AI identifies the ingredients and estimates their initial freshness.
Encyclopedia
Users can unlock food entries and learn storage methods and practical tips for different ingredients.
Profile
The profile page records consumption and waste data, achievements, and personal settings.
Fridge Cat Home Interface
Refrigerator Management Interface
Recipe Generation in the Fridge Management Interface
Food Upload Interface
Encyclopedia Interface
Profile Interface
These diagrams present the core system mechanics of Chill Kitty, including the 7-day task flow, fallback task system, Fridge Cat mood system, Achievement system and AI-assisted food freshness decay model.
I also conducted a two-week user test with five target users. During the first week, they recorded their food waste without Chill Kitty, and during the second week, they used the app and continued recording for comparison.
The test showed generally positive satisfaction and some improvement in food waste behaviour, suggesting that Chill Kitty has the potential to help young adults manage food freshness and reduce avoidable waste in daily life.
The Royal Danish Academy supports the Sustainable Development Goals
Since 2017 the Royal Danish Academy has worked with the Sustainable Development Goals. This is reflected in our research, our teaching and in our students’ projects. This project relates to the following UN goal(-s)
