My role

Research, analysis, user-testing, prototypes, wireframes, product design, design systems, motion graphics

Methodologies

User interviews, competitor analysis, usability testing, heuristic analysis, user story mapping, design systems, opportunity solution tree

Timeframe

December 2022 - February 2023

Introduction

Overview

This project was undertaken as part of a university course with the goal of identifying a sustainability problem that could be addressed through UX design. After researching various aspects of sustainability, I decided to focus on reducing household food waste. I conducted secondary research and user interviews to create an app that allows users to track their food expiry dates, learn about their food habits, and get tips on improving their sustainability practices.

Problem

Households are the biggest contributor to food waste due to food-related behaviours. In a time where almost a billion people go without food, it is a problem and a waste of the labour, water, energy, land, and other resources used to produce that food.

Through my research, I found that people's rigid schedules often prevent them from prioritising food, leading to unnecessary food and money wastage. Users also found it difficult to remember what they have in their kitchen and when it expires.

How might we...

How might we encourage households to adopt more mindful food-related habits in order to reduce food waste?

Solution

My solution was to develop an app that allows users to track their food inventory and encourages more sustainable practices by offering recipe suggestions, reminders, and insights into their habits. The solution was designed with the end user in mind, through user interviews, user testing and tutor feedback.

Stage 1

Research

Through research I learned as much as I could about food waste in order to find ways to reduce it and to improve sustainability practices. I began by reviewing existing literature to learn about the food waste impact on sustainability and the issues surrounding it. This shaped the development of user interview questions to identify user pain points.

Through these interviews, I gained valuable perspectives on the challenges people face with food waste, which helped me form a clear problem statement that guided the design stage.

Initial research takeaways

While learning about the problem space, I came across several potential problems. Yet, one problem stood out: household food waste, which is the leading cause of food waste in the UK. This finding sparked my curiosity about the root causes of this widespread problem, motivating my research further.

Households contribute up to 70% to food waste, while this is a slow downwards trend, it still represents a major part of the food waste problem.
Many yet do not acknowledge food waste as an issue relevant to them or are not yet concerned enough to act.
There are many factors that can influence household food waste, including a range of behavioural and technical interventions and shifts in demographic profiles and economic conditions.

Problem statement

Identifying pain-points through user interviews

To gain deeper insights into people's challenges with reducing food waste, I conducted five semi-structured interviews. These interviews provided firsthand perspectives on the challenges people face in reducing their food waste. This approach helped bridge the gap between theoretical understanding and practical insights from people.

Participants were more concerned about wasting their money than the food itself, which was the primary motivation behind their efforts to minimise food waste.
Time management and forgetfulness were also key challenges, as many participants struggled to use food before it expired or forgot about the food altogether, resulting in food waste.

Consolidating the insights into 3 distinct personas

Three distinct user personas were formed from the themes and insights discovered during the research phase. Throughout the project, these personas were carefully considered to ensure that every decision was closely aligned with the needs of the end users. The personas' goals and characteristics influenced the features that were eventually integrated into the product.

Stage 2

Designing

The design stage was planned with a focus on the end user experience, starting from the moment they first opened the app until they finished using it. The app was designed to be a practical tool with features that would enable the user to reach their sustainability goals, based on prior research, the solution was tailored to address the three primary themes, ensuring that the end result aligned with the users' goals and needs.

To further involve users in the design process, the product was user tested halfway through. The feedback ensured that the final product met the user's goals and was appropriate for their needs.

Ideation

While it was clear what themes the end product would have to address, it was not immediately clear what the final product would look like. To avoid jumping to conclusions, I went through the ideation stage and referred back to the research to ensure that the design was tailored to the user's needs.

User story map

During the ideation phase, it became clear that the product would need to allow the user to track their food items and expiry dates. This would allow the user to reduce their food waste by reminding them of expiry dates and the foods that they would have. Story mapping was used to demonstrate how these features would function down to the interaction level.

Sitemap

When designing the sitemap, the goal was creating efficient pathways for users to seamlessly achieve their objectives. During this process, the various contexts in which users would interact with the app was considered, such as tracking items in a store or searching for specific recipes at home. It was critical to ensure that users could easily find and access what they needed, regardless of their situation.

Forming ideas

Initial wireframes were created following closely with the information architecture and user story maps in order to see how elements would interact with one another. Working in this way also allowed me to be lean and to iterate quickly new ideas.

Creating mid-fidelity wireframes allows me to see how elements are spaced and aligned with one another. Large images, icons, and typography sizes were considered throughout the design process to improve ease of use and accessibility while keeping things visually appealing.

Through interviews, it was discovered that people struggled to keep track of items and their expiry dates. To address this, a feature allowing users to view all their items and their expiration dates directly on the home screen was designed.
Because forgetfulness was also a problem to people, users would be reminded about the items and their expiry dates through notifications.
To promote users to reduce food waste and emphasise the financial impact, users can view insights on their sustainability habit.
To further minimise food waste, users would be able to access recipes that would include the ingredients found in their inventory.

Final prototype

User testing results

The main concerns during user testing of the prototype were the discoverability of elements and features, as well as whether users' mental models matched what they expected to see on the next page. While the results were mostly positive, some changes were made to address visibility issues with carousels and buttons.

FAB (Frequent Action Button) was also added into the design to address issues with adding new items and creating new lists. The button included four of the most important actions, such as creating new lists, adding new items, scanning receipts and scanning barcode.

Inventory Manager