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Fooditech
Pantry Manager

#ux #ui #mobiledesign #studentproject #ios

Fooditech is the ultimate solution for pantry management. With this app, you can effortlessly keep tabs on your food inventory and easily share it with your loved ones.

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Overview.

A solution to Food Waste

Problem Discovery

From my own personal observations, I have noticed an alarming amount of food waste within my household. In an effort to combat this issue, I have taken the initiative to conduct research on potential solutions. As a part of my ongoing efforts, I have implemented a monthly routine where I clean out both my fridge and pantry. By doing so, I am able to more efficiently and effectively manage the amount of food waste in my household.

Objective

First, it's important to comprehend the issue, then brainstorm a viable solution that not only cuts down on food waste but also saves money and preserves the environment.

Project Learning Focus

This project focuses on the design thinking process and learning different methods of research, ideation and testing, etc.

My role

UI/UX designer

Duration

2 months

Secondary Research.

Food loss along the food chain

The Economic Research Service (ERS) of the USDA defines food loss as the amount of edible food that is available for human consumption post-harvest, but is not consumed due to various reasons. This includes cooking loss, natural shrinkage caused by moisture loss, as well as loss due to mold, pests, or inadequate climate control.

Why should we care

Each year, more than 66 trillion gallons of water go toward producing food that’s lost or wasted.

About 20% of the products are wasted, which means we’re wasting one-fifth of the land and water used to produce them.

About 45% of all fruits, vegetables, roots, and tubers are wasted.

Existing Solutions.

Storage

“..He limits what he buys at the grocery store. Rather than a bag of oranges, he buys two oranges. If he happens to have something in bulk, he’ll vacuum seal it and put it in the freezer...“


- Tips to reduce food waste in your kitchen - Jennifer McClellan

Pantry Challenge

A pantry challenge is a focused time when you use up what you have before buying more food.


- Take the pantry challenge - Jessica Fisher

Track and Donation

Waste can be avoided by improving product development, storage, shopping/ordering, marketing, labeling, and cooking methods. If excess food is unavoidable, recover it to donate to hunger-relief organizations so that they can feed people in need.


- Food waste FAQ, USDA

Apps

If you have a smartphone, tablet, or computer, you can install one or more of the following apps to help you manage the rotation of food inside your fridge so that you can avoid throwing away unused food.


- 10 Apps to help you organize your fridge & pantry, Jeff Flowers

Key Points

  • People are limiting their grocery shopping

  • Use up what they have in the fridge

  • Needs help with pantry management to avoid food waste

  • Better shopping/ordering habits

Competitive Analysis.

There aren’t that many pantry management apps

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Screener Survey, User Interview.

Why are they wasting food & how do they keep track?

Google Forms | In-Person | 5 Participants

In order to identify potential users for my food inventory app, I conducted user interviews with participants I found through a screener survey using Google Forms that I prepared.

Interview Goal

During the user interview, my aim is to understand the reasons behind food wastage and the methods used by the user to manage their food inventory.

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Affinity Map, Pain Points.

Lack of management and control over food inventory

Upon completion of all the interviews, I utilized an affinity map to identify commonalities and patterns amongst the participants. The method proved to be instrumental in gathering valuable insights from my intended audience.

Why is this happening?

70%

Buying and forgetting about it

60%

Waste a lot of leftovers, often forgotten in the fridge

40%

Buying too much of a certain item

40%

Buy what they see or what they want in the store.

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Persona.

  • Pamela strives to keep her inventory organized, but faces difficulty coordinating with her family members, resulting in unsuccessful outcomes.

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User Journey.

It is essential to empathize with the user and understand their perspective at every stage of the shopping experience.

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The journey of Pamela buying grocery for the family

Tasks

Emotions

Opportunities

Before she leaves

  • Calling each member of the family to see what they want from the store

  • Bring the shopping list

  • Double checks her inventory

Troubled

  • Family members don’t use the shopping list

  • Family members keep buying things

Annoyed

  • No one pick up their phone

  • Easy to use product for recording inventory for everyone in the household, Pamela won’t have to call everyone before she goes shopping

When she arrives

  • Holding the shopping list in hand while shopping

  • Skeptical about purchasing because she doesn’t know if someone at home bought it already

Confused

  • Not sure what she has at home

Frustrated

  • Trying to call family and ask about items

  • A shopping list that can be shared

When she gets home

  • Unloading her groceries

  • Putting items into storage

Annoyed

  • Finding expired items at the back of the fridge or pantry

Upset

  • Someone bought the same item

  • Record with expiration date

Think outside of the box

The fun stuff

  • Grocery stores rejects your business unless all food is consume (very unrealistic)

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  • Fridge will be lock when its full, user must select and item to consume to unlock it

  • A trash can that rejects food

  • Fridge with compartments inside, needs to deregister(consume) to unlock each compartment

  • Restrict grocery shopping on credit card (how much and how often)

  • Mail your shopping list to the grocery store

  • Barcode Scanner on the fridge to record items

I opted for the app solution as it is highly convenient for smartphone users and also more affordable.

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How might we...

HMW help with keeping track of their food inventory?

To keep track of your food inventory, simply input the name, category, expiration date, and storage location. You can even use your camera to scan the barcode for faster recording.

HMW access the grocery list everywhere?

With the list sharing feature, users can conveniently access their lists from their household members without the need for constant communication while grocery shopping.

HMW remind them about expiring food?

To ensure that users are alerted to expiring items as soon as they enter the app, it is important to place these items at the top of the inventory list. In addition, notifications will be sent out when an item is nearing its expiration date.

How do we help Pamela with these solution

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Pamela can conveniently access her shopping list without the need for a physical copy. Additionally, her family members can also view the list at any time, allowing for easy coordination of household needs.

Information architecture.

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Usability test

In-Person | 5 Participants | Direct Tasks

Goal

  • Problems and Frustrations

  • Task Success and Task Time

Behavioral UX Metrics

  • Product Usability

  • Appearance

Attitudinal UX Metrics

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Metrics

  • 7/8 participants who used the prototype said they were happy with the experience
    8/8 participants like the appearance of the UI.
    6/8 participants think that they can reduce food waste by using the app.
    6/8 participants think the app is easy to use.

Major improvements

  • Unsure how to remove items once consumed

  • adding the name of the person who added the item to the inventory list

  • Purchase date might not be necessary because it already has the added date

User Interface

Ensure good contrast and readability

Typography

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Colors

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Pantry

The homepage contains all items in the pantry list. Users can search for items or filter by categories

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Shopping List

All members on the pantry list can add items to the shopping list. Replenish the pantry by tapping on the item and entering the expiration date

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List Sharing

Sharing pantry/shopping list with household members. Creating a party or catering list with friends and family.

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Final Comment

I am always amazed by the results of usability testing, which makes understanding the users an essential part of any project. Creating the user journey map was particularly enjoyable, as it helped me visualize every touchpoint of the user's journey and their emotions. This made it easier to ideate solutions and decide on useful features to address users' pain points. 

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It brings me satisfaction that the product I created can solve a problem. Finding potential users for the product was easy because food waste is such a common issue, yet many people do not take any action to address it. Working on this project was a lot of fun, and I gained valuable information about food waste and the serious environmental problems it causes.

*This project was develope during the Springboard UX design coruse

Let's get social

I'm open to work!

Send me an e-mail:

christychan04@gmail.com

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