Primary
Age Group: 30-50 years old
Responsibilities: Manages home affairs, from groceries to finances.
Motivation: Driven by the desire to save money and provide healthy meals for the family.
Goals: Aims to minimize waste and set positive examples for their children.
Secondary
Age Group: 18-25 years old
Living Arrangement: Resides in dorms or shared apartments.
Financial Attitude: Budget-conscious, may not cook daily.
Values: Highly values sustainability and makes informed choices.
research
My role
Tool
14 weeks, fall 23
Figma, Illustrator
Research, UX Refinement, Storyboarding, Mobile UI, Mobile Prototyping
timeframe
visual design
design system
Task: Liam wants to reserve the discounted chicken through the app and pick it up for his dinner tonight.
design progress
❝
Liam
❝
USER FLOW 1
USER FLOW 2
USER FLOW 3
Liam, a budget-conscious individual, abhors food waste. As he ponders his dinner options with dwindling groceries, a timely notification pops up on his phone. A new app he's installed informs him of a tempting offer: chicken at a substantial discount due to impending expiration at MarketPlace Mart, conveniently located nearby. Excited by the prospect of saving money and minimizing food waste, Liam is eager to capitalize on this deal.
Age: 29 years old
Location: San Francisco
Occupation: IT Manager
Hobbies: Cooking, cycling, sustainability projects
01:
Liam ponders his dinner options with dwindling groceries...
05:
Liam just got a notification from a new app he downloaded. It's telling him there's a big sale on chicken breasts at MarketPlace Mart close to him because they're almost out of date.
03:
Liam has turned on the location services and chosen nearby stores.
04:
As Liam ponders his dinner options with dwindling groceries, a timely notification pops up on his phone.
02:
He's installed a new app called EndsEat. It can receive notifications of many big sales.
Result: Liam reserves the discounted chicken through the app and pick it up for his dinner tonight.
06:
Liam placed a successful order for the discounted chicken breasts using the EndsEat app.
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Ada
❝
Ada, a 42-year-old housewife with two children and a household to run, she wears many hats. From managing household finances to ensuring that her family gets nutritious meals, Ada's days are packed.
The full pantry and fridge are testament to her dedication, but they also hide a problem: keeping track of all the expiration dates. Despite her best efforts, some food items inevitably go past their expiry, leading to waste. This bothers Ada deeply. As someone who keeps a strict budget and hunts for the best deals, throwing away food feels like a double loss.
Age: 42 years old
Occupation: Housewife
Family: Married with 2 children, aged 15 and 12.
Role: Manages household finances, primary grocery shopper and cook, active in community events and parent-teacher meetings.
Result:
After the user sets the reminder, the user can receive the reminder before food due to impending expiration.
Click on "Add Item" on the home screen.
Enter the “food item's name, purchase date and expiration date”.
(It also can take a photo of the food item or its expiration label.)
A few days before an item's expiration date, the app sends a reminder based on chosen notification settings.
Items nearing their expiry are highlighted on the main dashboard under "View Expiring Soon".
Task: Ada wants timely reminders about upcoming expiry dates, allowing her to plan meals effectively and minimize waste.
Result: Ada receives timely reminders about upcoming expiry dates, which helps her plan meals effectively and minimize waste.
01:
Ada is very upset because the food expired without being noticed.
Despite her best efforts, some food items inevitably go past their expiry, leading to waste.
05:
After the user sets the reminder, the user can receive the reminder before food due to impending expiration.
03:
Ada has turned on the camera to take a photo of the food item or its expiration date to upload into the app.
04:
All of the information has been uploaded into the app.
02:
Ada has set her notification preferences, such as notification times, and has enabled push notifications.
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Beli
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Beli, a Ph.D. student with a passion for sustainability and the environment, has a hectic schedule. She seeks timely notifications about food swaps to ensure she doesn't miss trading opportunities amidst her busy research.
Age: 32 years old
Location: San Francisco
Occupation: Ph.D. Student
Age: 32 years old
Location: San Francisco
Occupation: Ph.D. Student
A survey shows that 42% of people are somewhat comfortable buying near-expired items. Another 26% might buy more often if enticed by deals. Additionally, 20% want notifications about expiration dates, and 12% are interested in finding local deals on such items.
Demographics of Consumer Preferences on Near-Expired Product Purchases
Open the EndsEat app on the phone and log in.
App can scan the user's location in real-time and dentifies nearby stores with close-to-expire deals.
User can receive a notification about close-to-expire items based on proximity, it displays essential details (item, discount, store name, distance).
User can click 'Order' to reserve.
Result:
User reserves the discounted food through the app.
User can search for discounted ‘chicken’.
Task: Beli wants food swaps in her area and successfully arrange an exchange of her unused food items with a neighbor.
Open the EndsEat app on the phone and log in.
User can log any excess food items have and would like to swap, record the expiry or best-before dates for accurate matching.
The app continuously scans for matching food swap opportunities based on user listed items and preferences. It can take into account proximity, ensuring swaps are convenient for user.
User can choose to 'Swap'.
Result:
The user successfully exchanges unused food items with a neighbor.
User can receive a notification about the potential food swap.
Result: Beli receives food swaps in her area and successfully arrange an exchange of her unused food items with a neighbor.
05:
After that, she accepted the offer to swap food.
03:
Beli has uploaded photos and described the item (condition, expiry, quantity) in the app.
06:
Finally, she got the food she swapped for and felt happy.
04:
She received a message about a successful match for swapping food and must act immediately.
02:
Beli wants to exchange it for her favorite food before it expires.
01:
Beli is worried about how much food is left uneaten.
Wireframe
USER Testing
Before
after
Fix:
Apply a softened background to enhance the sense of hierarchy in the overall design.
Fix:
The order page features an animation to announce the confirmation of people's orders.
The 'Done' button is designed with effects like a drop shadow for a more visually impressive appearance.
Fix:
Change the color scheme and avoid using too many colors.
Combine 'Store Pickup' and 'Delivery' into one category and rename it.
Redesign the navigation bar and update its color scheme.
Button
Font
Logo
Icons
HEADER 1
HEADER 2
Inter, 36px
Inter, 24px
Aa
Inter
Buttons
Colors
#0057BD
#EE1B80
#DB6A01
#BCEA04
Button
Button
Food waste is a huge problem worldwide, with about 1/3 of all food for humans thrown away, costing nearly $1 trillion a year. A big reason is confusion over food labels like "best before." A study found 70% of people waste food because they don't understand these dates.
BACKGROUND
“How might we create awareness and educate users about the impact of food waste through the platform?”
EndEat
Open the EndsEat app on the phone and log in.
Beli’s flow
Ada’s Flow
Liam’s Flow
Thank you for watching.
© 2024 by Yuchen Chen. All rights reserved.