Market Research

I started with market research to gain a general understanding of the problem at hand — food waste. As of 2018, data shows that Americans waste about a pound of food per person each day, with people who have healthier diets rich in fruits and vegetables being the most wasteful.

Competitive Analysis

While there are existing apps that offer basic features like food tracking and recipes, I found that they lacked comprehensive inventory management and proactive food utilization. Moreover, the UI is dated and perhaps they haven’t been maintained over the years.

Interviews

To learn more about users, I conducted interviews at a local cafe with 5 individuals about their experiences with grocery shopping and food storage.

• Number of Participants: 5
• Gender: 2 male / 3 female
• Age: 21–25 years old

Empathy Map

With the notes from my interviews, I synthesized my research findings by creating an empathy map. It was clear that none of the users currently use any method to organize their shopping or groceries at home aside from making a mental note.

Persona

Next, I created a person “Cameron” to represent the findings from the empathy map. Reflecting Foodfull’s target demographic, Cameron is a busy young professional who is hoping to minimize her carbon footprint. She allowed me to empathize with users while designing.

Insights

1. Users are trying to cook regularly to ensure the full-usage of ingredients bought.
2. Users look at groceries to decide what to buy and what is avabilable in the fridge.
3. Users will forget about food and have to throw it out when it looks like it went bad.

Needs

• Users need to cook meals based on what is in their fridge.
• Users need to see every item that is in the fridge and pantry.
• Users need to use items in the fridge before it goes bad.

Brainstorming

I used the Crazy 8s method to doodle ideas per each of the following “How might we…”

1. Provide Cameron with recipes based on ingredients that she already has?
2. Track what groceries Cameron has in her fridge and pantry?
3. Remind Cameron of her inventory stock?

Product Roadmap

This product roadmap is to prioritize several key features aiming to solve Cameron’s needs. I chose features to prioritize based on how relevant they were to solving the problem and keeping in mind what similar features other apps had to minimize the user learnability.

Priority 1

Weekly meal planner – the ability to plan out meals before the week

Discover recipes – find recipes by searching 1-2 ingredients

Priority 2

Snapshot image of items – photo with date taken of the fridge after grocery shopping

Zoom-in – interactive function to look more closely at items in the image

Search – search feature to find items that might be in the fridge

Items list – inventory list of ingredients in the fridge

Priority 3

Daily news/updates – status updates on the food items that are currently in the fridge and regular shopped items

Reminder – a customized setting for reminders when food is close to going to waste

Food info card – cards with quick-views of general information of the item

App Map

I created a sitemap to visualize the information architecture of the app. This helped me determine where the best placement and user flow the app should provide for users.

Sketches

I began designing the UI of the new features by sketching out various screens that I intended to add.

Branding

Before creating high-fidelity wireframes, I established the branding for Foodfull through the process of a mood board and the creation of a logo that would represent the app as a fun and knowledgeable app.

High-fidelity Wireframes

With the established branding, I updated my wireframes to be colorful and visually appealing.

With the high-fidelity wireframes, I created a mobile prototype in Adobe XD to gather usability data from potential users.

Usability Testing

Objectives:

1. Test if users can accomplish tasks given successfully
2. Identify areas of inconsistency within the design
3. Determine the overall usability of the new feature

Tasks, Errands:

Scenario 1: You’re new to the app and you’re getting set up. Walk-through the onboarding steps.

Task: Open the app and create an account with your email.

Scenario 2: You’re looking to learn more about pineapples

Task: From the homepage, look for a how-to article on pineapples.

Scenario 3: Input details about your newly bought strawberries.

Task: Add strawberries to your ingredients.

Results:

I conducted usability testing at local cafes with 4 participants who have a similar background to our persona, Cameron. From direct observation and audio recordings, I collected valuable usability feedback from target users.

Affinity Map

I created an affinity map to synthesize the usability findings and to identify reoccurring behaviors and feedback. This allowed me to better understand the usability of the current design. The synthesized data indicated that minors adjustments would provide for more legibility in the overall design.

Revised Wireframes & Prototypes

With the information I gathered in the affinity map, I revised the wireframes and prototype.

UI Kit

While prototyping, I completed a UI kit to document UI elements and patterns for future reference.