Project Type
A personal capstone that related to a daily problem
My Role
UX Researcher & Designer
Deliverable
Mobile App Platform
Timeline
Feb 2022-May 2022
Fresh is a solution that helps people easily track food storage and eat them as planned.
“Instead of eating, people throw away more than 60% of their food stored in fridges.”
Modern people, just like us, are used to keeping a massive amount of food in the fridge. There are moments when you clean up your fridge, shaking your head because of how much unexpected food you forget there.
Every year :
1.3 billion tons of food produced for human consumption is wasted.
The estimated dollar value of that waste is up to $680 billion.
Every single item wasted from our fridges counts.
As opposed to solving the global food waste problem all at once, I decided to start with the daily issue: the lack of tracking and managing food storage in our own fridge.
This led us to the design question:
Is it possible to help people track their purchased food and reduce the food waste from their daily routine?
Secondary Research
Before touching on anything related to design, I dived into the potential reasons why food is wasted in our fridges
In 2020, the American government published an authoritative report offering a data-driven glimpse into the refrigerators of American homes and providing an essential framework for efforts to decrease food waste.
In the report, they mentioned:
“The household routines of purchasing food, the management of food within the home, and the disposal, increase or decrease waste.”
User Research
Taking the insights as the start point, I would like to talk deeply with potential users to understand what specific actions from the household routines lead to the final food waste in their fridge.
As a result, I conducted 5 in-person observational interviews (2 females, 1 male, and 2 families) in order to understand how they organize their fridges, their grocery buying habits, and how they manage food within their households.
Interviews & Fridge Obersvations
Key Insights
After rounds of user research, I understand deeper about the specific problems our users are facing when dealing with their groceries. So I refined the design question:
How might we help people visualize their fridges and manage food in a more accessible and high-efficiency way?
Personas
Synthesizing research insights, I created two user personas to identify the two different types of target users
Journey Map
In order to visualize the process of how a person deals with their grocery from purchasing to consuming, and dig into the potential needs, wants, and pain points, I created a journey map to present the necessary information.
Through setting the household routines of shopping, storing, cooking, and food disposing steps as high-level stages in the journey, we can discover the following common journey map of Fresh potential users.
POV(Job to be done) FRAMING
By analyzing the journey map, I identified the missions and used scenarios from each persona.
MOLLY SMITH
MISSION STATEMENT
Molly from New York loves buying new foods she never tried. She NEEDS to finish foods in the fridge before making the new purchases BECAUSE she doesn’t want to waste food anymore.
USING SCENARIO
Molly now checks the app first before shopping to make sure if a new purchase is needed. Also, she uses <Fresh> as a reminder to tell her what foods need to be eaten first.
ERIC EMERSON
MISSION STATEMENT
Eric from Texas lives in a big family of six. He and his wife plan meals for the children every day. Eric NEEDS to fast plan the diet day to day based on what’s in the fridge BECAUSE he wants to make sure food can be eaten on time.
USING SCENARIO
Eric now uses <Fresh >to plan the grocery with his wife, make daily recipes, and check food availability in the fridge to decide the next grocery time.
Design Requirenments
Drawing from the insights and target personas, I set the 4 “The Solution Should” design requirements :
Ideating and Wireframes
I started the design process by sketching out ideas and building wireframes to test ideas with interviewees back and forth. I kept in mind everything I had collected so far, including personas, their needs and wants, as well as their concerns and pain points.
After rounds of sketching, wire-framings, and checking with my potential users, I finally came out with a fridge management system that can quickly help users import, track, and learn about their food storage.
Main Flows
Based on wireframing, I decided to stick with the “Food check-in” and “Status checking & Consuming” tasks. They are considered the key components that cause food waste. These three steps also involve the most pain points to be solved.
Food Check-In: People do groceries on a weekly basis. For people who want to keep track of their groceries, it’s almost impossible to record every item accurately. Although they mentioned they tried to write them down on paper or by phone, it’s easy to give up.
Status Checking & Consuming: People are trying to finish all purchased food on time, but they usually can't. The complexity of food storage means they have different expiration dates. It would be helpful if the system could help people prioritize food and make decisions.
The first step is to detail the information flow and how we’d like the features to be arranged on the prototype interface. Considering all the potential needs and pain points, I proceed with the following flows :
Flow Chart 1: Food check-in
Feel free to click and open the bigger picture
Flow Chart 2: Food Status Checking and Consuming
Feel free to click and open the bigger picture
Based on the two flows, I created the high-fidelity prototype with the persona in mind, focusing on demonstrating the following key features:
FLOW 1 : FOOD CHECK-IN FLOW
During the interviews with the potential users, the way they tried of managing their food was to manually write down the items and crossing them off whenever they finished them. The process is annoying and repeats again and again. Unfortunately, none of them really can stick with the method for a long time.
The first challenge for me is to simplify the food sign-up process as much as I can.
01. Import food directly from online grocery platforms
Since more and more people are choosing to do their groceries online, and all the purchased food information data is clear and organized from the third-party online grocery platforms like Instacart, Amazon Fresh, and many others, it will be much easier if users can directly import online shopping food items into the fridge management system.
Based on the insights, I considered connecting the fresh app with the third-party API so that users could add food information directly from the third-party grocery app.
The Win-Win business impact
Connecting <fresh> with online grocery platforms would not only simplify fridge management but also provide an opportunity to frame a new business cycle.
By offering the direct food sign-up process, people would be more willing to purchase food online to reduce the complexity of food management. The function would encourage people to do more online shopping with those apps, which would lead to more business opportunities such as sponsorships between Fresh and other platforms.
However, offline shopping is still an integral part of people's lives, how do quickly add offline shopping information to the system?
02. Scanning Your Receipts
Scanning your in-store receipts can also significantly expedites the process of registering food items into the <fresh> system.
Considering the possible inaccuracy in the scans, the detected item won’t go directly to the fridge, user is also left with the option to edit the recommended input. Adding flexibility to the system could help prevent user errors caused by the system.
03. Edge Case: Generate your own food card
Generally, for people who only purchase one or two items, they can simply search for the food items they want from Fresh data system.
What about those who prepare their own meals or frequently order takeout?
For these edge cases, I would like to introduce the food card customization function. Users can customize their own food cards. The card will be saved in the system for the second use.
FLOW 2 : FOOD MONITORING & CONSUMING FLOW
The environment of the fridge is cluttered. Foods are easy to hide in the refrigerator and finally be forgotten and wasted. How to visualize all the massive information into a readable platform become another challenge.
01. A visualized mobile fridge
Everything you buy will be nicely visualized in the app.
Users don’t need to open the fridge to check their food anymore. They can check all the necessary information on the dashboard all at once.
With the crystal-clean food information listed, people will know there is food left in the fridge no matter where they place their food.
02. Check your food storage in a more flexible way
You can quickly sort your food items to check their availability, to help you plan your diet, and reduce food waste.
Different colors would help audiences separate different food fastly.
Fast checklists would give users a recommended food list
The cellphone-based app makes the system easy to access, users can check the food storage whenever they are, and this will reduce the possibility of repeat purchases or purchases.
03. Shopping from your fridge！
In order to reduce the complexity and create superior user experiences in which the users can focus on their tasks rather than on learning new models, I decided to leverage existing models of the shopping cart for our food consumption process from the fridge.
People used to make meal decisions based on what was in the fridge, but it’s time-consuming to rummage around in the fridge and check.
When checking the Fresh system's food status, people can now simply add food they want to eat to the cart. With only one click, users can clear the cart and remove the eaten items from the system.
* LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING
Improper preservation makes food easier to get rotted. For people who have no experience keeping fresh food in the fridge, I provide a community where users can learn from and communicate with other food experts and preserve their food in better ways.
A good community, on the other hand, would increase user stickiness and encourage them to use the app more frequently.
The Fresh system would also generate a data-driven report to assist users in reviewing their food storage statistics.
Visual Guide
Green is a color that can evoke powerful emotions. It is also a dominant color in nature, evoking feelings of freshness and environmentally friendly living. I took this as the main color of the app to empathize with users.
I also designed the logo of the <Fresh> app, which was inspired by the elements of the fridge and green leaves. It not only matched the main color of the app but also highlighted the key function of the app, “Keep your groceries fresh and live an eco-friendly lifestyle.”
Future Steps
I am proud of what I've made till now. However, the project still has a long way to go. Although it is currently a case study, I believe the project has real-world potential. I decide to continue to dig into it.
Design a simple and easy-access sign-up process
It sounds insanely hard and scary to copy your fridge into an unfamiliar app system. The next most important question I should consider for our first-time users is how to design a simple procedure for logging them into the system—applying the progressive disclosure approach to the sign-up flow design to make the process more accessible? Is there any possible new technology that could help us speed up the whole process? Time to conduct additional research.
More Consumption Options
I spent days developing functions to simplify the food check-in process for the current design. In the app, I provided alternatives and multiple solutions. However, it still takes time to delete the food from the system. Additionally, the everyday grind can quickly exhaust a person's cooking ideas.
Is it possible to combine the meal planner into the system? Or could the system generate daily recipe for users based on the food storage? There are numerous interesting topics we could investigate further.
Usability Testings and Iterations
Although I kept testing my ideas and user flows with potential users back and forth throughout the entire design process, the sample size is small. I would continue to conduct usability tests with participants to identify the potential improvements that could make the design even better.
Key Takeaways
Make an Outline Then Take the Steps
When processing a massive project, making the plan at the very beginning will help organize and clarify the entire program. By cutting the big challenge into small pieces, then following the steps to fill each part, the project will layout nicely.
Testing, Testing, and Testing
Throughout the design process, I encountered various uncertainties and difficulties, and I discovered that the best way to solve those problems is to test them. Visualize all the possible solutions and test them with potential customers. Their responses will show you the best answers.
The Importance of Making a Design System
I built a small design system during the process of the Fresh App design process. The design process became faster and more unified after I completed the procedure. Especially when I decide to change the shape of all the buttons, I only need to change the main components in the system. I sincerely get why a well-set design system is so important. It standardizes the design and speeds up the planning process.