FOODWISE

UX Research & Design

Overview

Myself along with four teammates created the app FoodWise. We were tasked with selecting a Sustainable Development Goal to focus on, and we chose Responsible Consumption and Production, narrowing our problem to address household food waste. Through our research, we discovered that many people, especially busy parents, young professionals, and eco-conscious individuals, struggle to track their food inventory. This often leads to expired items, unnecessary purchases, and wasted resources, highlighting the need for a practical solution.​​​​​​​

Final Prototype

Final Prototype

  • Competitive Analysis

    Conducted a thorough evaluation of existing food waste and meal-planning apps to identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the market. This analysis informed our unique features, such as its focus on leftover-based recipes and ingredient tracking.

  • User Interviews & Thematic Analysis

    Interviewed individuals from various households to understand their food habits, challenges with food waste, and attitudes toward incorporating technology. Insights were grouped into themes like leftover management, cooking habits, and meal planning to guide design decisions.

  • User Personas

    Developed detailed personas, ranging from Julia, a young professional in NYC, to Michael, a married project manager with two kids. These personas encapsulated user goals, behaviors, and pain points, helping to align design choices with real-world user needs.

  • Interaction Scenarios

    Crafted realistic scenarios based on user personas to explore how users would interact with the app in everyday contexts. These scenarios helped to map out key functionalities, like adding ingredients or generating recipe suggestions.

  • Storyboards

    Illustrated storyboards depicting our interaction scenarios using FoodWise, visualizing tasks such as logging ingredients, tracking waste, and navigating the recipe suggestion feature. This step ensured the app's design aligned with users’ workflows and expectations.

  • User Flow Diagram

    Created a comprehensive user flow diagram to map the user journey through the app. This diagram clarified our navigation when beginning to design and prototype to ensure intuitive design.

We worked on a low/mid fidelity design to understand the initial layout we wanted for our app with the onboarding process and the home page to add an item to your fridge manually.

Style Guide

Developed a cohesive style guide to maintain visual consistency and enhance usability. The guide included typography, iconography, UI components, and a color palette with a harmonious mix of green, blue, grey, and red to evoke freshness and sustainability.

Created a final shortened user flow incorporating pages from our final prototype.

Our design rationale for FoodWise centers on reducing household food waste by addressing key user needs identified through research, such as ingredient tracking, leftover management, and grocery shopping. We prioritized simplicity and motivation, using features like recipe suggestions to encourage utilizing soon-to-expire ingredients, a waste tracker with a calendar feature to visualize when items are expiring, and a list page to reduce overbuying. All of these key features aim to empower users to manage their food more effectively and sustainably. Along with this, we incorporated visual graphs and rewards to promote sustainable habits. Our clean, intuitive design, supported by a welcoming and eco-friendly color palette and accessible typography, ensures an engaging and user-friendly experience for all individuals.