FoodFight Case Study
Designing a food app to influence our food shopping habits for a more sustainable tomorrow.
Role
UX Designer |Storyteller
Timeline
3 weeks
Team
Sumera Ahsan Sheikh | Project Lead
Niles Binns-Davis | Research & Liaison
Nolan Simmons | Accessibility & Usability
Vida Torres | Content
Gunnar Morgan | Craft & Interaction
Justin Peterson | Research
Design Tools
Figma | Adobe XD
about the project
63 million tons of food is wasted by weight every year. The issue at hand is much bigger than just supply and demand or food waste and sustainability. Good news is the pandemic has forced consumers and businesses to streamline food-waste, supply chains, and user experience.
How does our app become part of a better food system for tomorrow?
The solution is to change our business models around food and make it less about commodification and more about feeding our loved ones. Nurturing our neighbors with nutrients. Which takes time, community thinking, and care. Food is the most powerful common denominator that we have.
What better way to connect with each other and ourselves than with food?
Overview
Users & Audeince
After our initial client interview we were able to select key target audience demographics: college students and budget minded family members. Having a couple of specific users in mind helped us narrow down the scope of the project and have specific user tasks in which to design and test for.
Roles & Responsibilities
Wearing our “perspective lenses” kept us accountable to each other as a team. We held client meetings, discovery workshops and many voting sessions to aid in unbiased decisions for UX requirements.
Project Goals
Using scrum, agile, and sprint methodologies, we strategized to narrow down business and user experience requirements:
Ensure that:
- any user is able to choose which vendor they are buying from based on what food items are available.
- all users can complete a food order quickly and with ease.
- users are getting surplus food at an affordable price.
How might we use America’s surplus to help sustainable and budget minded individuals?
Solution
We set out to design an app to connect surplus food from restaurants to hungry consumers looking to save money. In the end we found that this was a subject matter people were passionate about considering we were all facing financial hardship during the pandemic. We found that food plays an essential role in our lives to build communities, to bring us together as social beings, as well as a basic need. The potential for this product went beyond a mobile application. We looked at how this product could build communities through a feature that highlights local vendors and farmers that practice sustainable business methods. We looked at how to inform folks in how to meal plan creatively with existing ingredients in the pantry. We even explored how ordering take out could be a sustainable supplement to grocery shopping. The possibilities, it seemed, were exciting and motivated us to design an app to lead in this sustainable food supply movement.
Discovery and Research
During the discovery phase we devised and implemented a research plan complete with user scenarios, user surveys and user interviews. From these research methods, we were able to produce deliverables to guide in experience and idea mapping (storyboard, empathy maps, journey maps, user scenarios, personas).
Storyboard -->
Persona
Empathy Map
Persona
Journey Map
50%
Only half of participants considered themselves as someone who practices sustainability.
80%
It was surprising to find out that 80% of participants would buy “surplus” food from vendors for a discounted price.
85%
85% of users do not have a budget for eating out.
Information
Architecture
Card Sorting
As a team, we conducted a card sorting exercise to get a better idea of mental modals and expectations of content
Early iteration of site map.
Later iteration of site map.
Final iteration of site map.
Early iteration of site map.
Site Map
We went through several iterations of site maps as we gathered further data from user research and usability testing. We found we needed to simplify the flow and user interface of the checkout process and added a function for delivery as not everyone drives.
Content Strategy
We came up with some user scenarios to help with experience mapping and content strategy. We kept in mind our key target audience: college students and budget minded family members. We had other demographics in mind, such as young professionals and single older users, but we decided to focus on just the main two to narrow down scope of the project at this point in time.
For example a college student’s main objective might be to find fast food nearby. This user is budget minded, has little time to cook and might first pick a vendor closest in location and then pick items based on breakfast, lunch or dinner. Whereas a budget minded family member will choose from deals first. Either case, budget is a major factor.
Student User Flow
In this particular user flow we noticed the opportunity to add both pickup and delivery options as not everyone wants food delivered.
Family User Flow
In this particular user flow we noticed the opportunity to add windows of delivery and pickup times.
Heuristics Evaluation
We tested some of our our app functions using Optimal Workshop. Of the 4 usability test participants who completed our treejack activity, 3 users successfully completed the tasks of locating specific features of the app. A high percentage of participants were able to navigate the app without problems. Users tested commented that they would like to see more messages about sustainability and how using the app would benefit local businesses. Users questioned the sequence of enabling notifications, wanted to see their location in relation to the restaurant selected and how much surplus a vendor had to make informed purchasing decisions.
Whiteboard
Heuristics Evaluation Comments:
"Only 1 out of the 2 screens have messages about sustainability."
"Why do I need to enable notifications right now?"
"I don't see my location relative to the restaurants on the map."
"If I knew how much surplus a place had, it would help in my decision to order."
"Cart is too cluttered."
"The message makes me feel good about the purchase I was making."
The Evolution of Food Fight
An iterative process:
As a team we made changes to address usability issues that came up during testing. The food genre carousel was a pain point. We added dots below the genres to signify that you can swipe. The checkout page seemed a bit cluttered. We changed the sizing and spacing within the user interface to address that issue. We wanted to make sustainability more apparent by adding a positive message at the end of checkout with the exact amount of food waste being saved by the user's order.
Low fidelity wireframe of mobile application FoodFight version 1
Low fidelity wireframe of mobile application FoodFight version 2
Low fidelity wireframe of mobile application FoodFight version 3
Low fidelity wireframe of mobile application FoodFight version 1
“People need to know that they are helping save food from the landfill by using this app.”
Final Low Fidelity Wireframe
Conclusion
Next Steps
We have opportunities to improve Usability Heuristics by applying such principles as: visibility, minimalism, flexibility and freedom. Users want a more customizable experience. They want to be able to search for vegan menu items. Users with dietary restrictions voiced a need for accommodations. Folks wanted more options for payment at check out such as Paypal or gift cards. A section for reviews would help guide folks who rely heavily on recommendations to make decisions. Even biographies on staff at the different vendors would add a personal connection in these socially distant times.
Final Thoughts
The larger picture of this kind of product has possibilities that reach beyond mobile application.
Strategic Recommendations:
SUBSCRIPTION
Market research into current and future projections of consumer trends indicate folks being open to subscription services.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Research shows that including recipes and information on different kinds of ingredients and meals will invite the consumer to think about meal planning differently.
WEBSITE
Research indicates there are other ways to showcase what local businesses do to practice sustainability. A corresponding website can bring awareness and provide more information.
INTENTION
More intention on where our food comes from. Highlight local farms, better food systems, encourage community of vendors, and nutrition.
U.S. MARKET
Changing our relationship with food (more nurturing and nutrition, less process and mass produced).
INCLUSIVITY
Wider scope of food system issue: Food is a basic necessity. Should be affordable for all.
Every Year..
63 million tons
Food wasted by weight
$218 billion
Financial waste
100%
We can turn it around