Fooditech - Tackling Food Waste through Smart Pantry Management
Users can efficiently coordinate their grocery lists through intuitive pantry tracking and timely expiration alerts, whether for family shopping or event planning.
Conducted extensive research using diverse methods, formulated data-driven hypotheses, and executed usability tests to inform user-centric design decisions for the food inventory app.
Addressing the Food Waste Dilemma
In today's fast-paced world, keeping track of groceries and their expiration dates becomes a challenge, often resulting in avoidable food waste. Duplicated purchases by family members or event attendees further contribute to this wastage. There's a pressing need for an organized system to monitor and share food inventories, promoting efficient consumption and reducing waste.
Objective: Tackling the Food Waste Issue Head-On
Before creating a solution, it's crucial to understand the core of the food waste problem. With that clarity, we can strategize a method that minimizes waste, optimizes savings, and supports environmental conservation.
The Scope of the Problem: Food Loss and Its Impact
Every year, a staggering amount of food ends up uneaten post-harvest. The USDA's Economic Research Service cites various factors, including cooking losses, natural shrinkage due to moisture loss, and spoilage from mold, pests, or unsuitable storage conditions. The implications are vast: annually, over 66 trillion gallons of water are consumed to produce food that eventually goes to waste. This translates to a 20% wastage rate, meaning we're depleting one-fifth of our resources. Alarmingly, 45% of all fruits, vegetables, roots, and tubers are discarded, underscoring the severity of the issue.
Current Pantry Management Methods
While we might not have control over all aspects of food waste, it's imperative to exercise choices that can reduce wastage. A glance at existing methods employed by individuals showcases varied approaches:
Mindful Storage: Adopting a strategic approach to grocery shopping can reduce waste. Instead of buying in bulk, consider purchasing based on immediate needs. For items bought in larger quantities, vacuum sealing and freezing can extend their shelf life. - Jennifer McClellan, "Tips to reduce food waste in your kitchen"
Pantry Challenge: This method involves consuming what's already in one's pantry before procuring more. It ensures that no food goes unnoticed or unused. - Jessica Fisher, "Take the Pantry Challenge"
Tracking and Donating: Improving various aspects of food handling, from storage to cooking, can prevent waste. When there's surplus food, donating it to organizations helps in feeding those in need. - USDA, "Food waste FAQ"
Tech-Assisted Management: Digital tools can be handy. There are apps designed to assist in food inventory management, ensuring that food items are consumed in time, and wastage is minimized. - Jeff Flowers, "10 Apps to help you organize your fridge & pantry"
Competitive Analysis: Learning from Existing Pantry Management Apps
An analysis of the few available pantry management apps was undertaken to grasp the current landscape and identify areas of opportunity. This review provided critical insights into their strengths and weaknesses, setting the stage for potential innovation and improvement.
No waste
Strengths:
Excellent user experience (UX) with an intuitive flow.
Efficient sorting and filtering options for items.
Weaknesses:
Issues with barcode scanning functionality.
Overall: Among the three, it stands out as the best in terms of user interface and functionality
My Fridge
Strengths:
Ability to not just record inventory but also generate recipes based on available ingredients.
Weaknesses:
Limited recipe choices.
Inaccuracies between matched recipes and actual inventory.
Difficulties faced when trying to unsubscribe.
Overall: Offers a unique recipe-match feature but with some notable constraints.
Pantry Check
Strengths:
Records pantry inventory and enables the creation of shopping lists from local markets.
Displays prices of items and total bill estimation.
Weaknesses:
UI design lacks polish.
Limited categories available.
Inaccuracies in displayed item prices on the shopping list.
Overall: Provides an integrated shopping list feature but falls short in design and price accuracy.
User Research: Understanding Food Wastage Patterns
To tap into the root causes of food wastage and to discover how users currently manage their food inventory, I launched a screener survey via Google Forms. This survey helped shortlist individuals for in-depth, in-person user interviews.
Purpose of the User Interviews My primary goal during these interviews was to dive deep into understanding:
Why participants waste food.
Their existing strategies for managing their food inventory.
Insights Gathered: Affinity Mapping
To make sense of the data gathered, I used affinity mapping, grouping responses to pinpoint recurring themes and concerns. This visual representation allowed me to identify the most pressing pain points related to food management.
Affinity Mapping to pinpoint recurring concerns
Main Causes of Food Waste
Forgetting After Buying: 70% of participants mentioned buying items and then forgetting about them.
Ignoring Leftovers: 60% said they often overlook leftovers, letting them spoil in the fridge.
Overbuying: 40% indicated that they sometimes purchase too much of one item.
Shopping on a Whim: Another 40% said they often buy items based on what catches their eye or what they suddenly feel like eating.
Persona Profile: Pamela
Leveraging insights from prior user interviews, I crafted a detailed persona to better understand and address user needs and pain points.
Background: Pamela is someone who values organization and coordination, especially when it comes to food inventory.
Current Method: Relies on paper shopping lists and routinely checks in with family members before heading to the grocery store.
Goals:
Maintain an organized inventory.
Save money for her dream: purchasing a new home.
Achieve a balanced work-life harmony.
Frustrations:
She often finds herself without her shopping list as it's not always on her.
Consistently needing to call family members to confirm their grocery needs.
Quote: "I'm proud of the way I organize my food inventory. I love feeling organized and content."
Addressing Pain Points with Innovative Solutions
Barcode-Assisted Inventory Input:
By leveraging technology, users can easily log details like the name, category, expiration date, and storage location of food items. The camera's barcode scanning further optimizes this process, reducing manual entry.
Real-Time Shared Grocery Lists:
Ditch the paper and constant back-and-forth calls. With the app's real-time sharing feature, everyone in the household can view and update the grocery list, ensuring that shopping trips are coordinated and no item is bought twice.
Expiry Notifications:
No more surprise spoiled items in the back of the fridge! The app intuitively brings items nearing their expiration to the front. Coupled with proactive alerts, this ensures that food wastage due to expiry is minimized.
Enhancing Pamela's Experience:
With these features, Pamela is liberated from the constraints of a physical shopping list. She can now collaborate with her family in real-time, ensuring effective coordination and fulfilling her aspiration for a well-organized food inventory.
Information Architecture
To ensure that the app delivers a seamless and intuitive experience, a well-thought-out information architecture was established. This architecture lays out the structure and organization of the app, ensuring that users can easily navigate through features and functions.
Key User Flows of Pantry, List Sharing and Shopping List
Key Features:
Home Dashboard: Displays a summary of the pantry with a quick view of items nearing expiration, recent additions, and frequently accessed categories.
Inventory Management: Allows users to add, edit, or delete items from their pantry. They can also categorize items, view details, and set expiration reminders.
Shared Lists: A dedicated section for creating, viewing, and managing shared grocery lists. Family members can add or remove items and synchronize changes in real-time.
Barcode Scanning: A built-in scanner to quickly add items to the inventory or shopping list by scanning product barcodes.
In-depth Usability Testing: Ensuring Intuitive Interactions
To guarantee the best possible user experience and validate design choices, an in-person usability test was conducted.
Goal: To identify problems and frustrations, assess task success and time, gauge behavioral UX metrics, evaluate product usability, and get feedback on appearance.
Key Insights:
Clearer Item Removal Process:
Problem: Several participants were unsure about how to remove items once they were consumed.
Recommendation: Introduce a more intuitive interface with clear instructions or icons indicating how items can be deleted or marked as consumed.
Item Added By:
Problem: Participants felt that knowing who added a particular item to the inventory list could enhance coordination among household members.
Recommendation: Display the name of the person who added the item to the inventory list, ensuring better accountability and aiding in discussions about specific items.
Relevance of Purchase Date:
Problem: Some participants felt that the purchase date might not be necessary since there's already an "added date" for items.
Recommendation: Consider either removing the purchase date, while ensuring that the "added date" is more prominently displayed.
Mid fidelity prototype for usability test
User Interface - Typography and Colors
The interface should prioritize clarity and ease of use, ensuring that users can effortlessly navigate through the app, add items, and retrieve information about their inventory.
Typograph chosen based on readability
Colors chosen contrast and aesthetic
High-Fidelity Screens Overview
At this stage of the design process, we've transformed our preliminary sketches and wireframes into detailed and polished high-fidelity screens. These screens accurately represent the final appearance and feel of the app, incorporating the carefully chosen typography, colors, and elements, ensuring the best possible user experience.
Pantry (Homepage)
The central hub displaying all pantry items. Users can quickly search or filter by category for easy navigation. Items nearing expiry can have visual highlights for prompt attention.
Shopping List:
Members can add items. Tap an item and input its expiration date to restock the newly bought items.
List Sharing:
Share pantry or shopping lists with family. Create party or catering lists with friends.
Takeaways
Usability testing showed me the power of understanding users. Creating a user journey map was a highlight, letting me see users' paths and feelings clearly. This helped me think of helpful features. I'm also proud that my work can potentially solve real problems. The project taught me a lot about food waste, a big issue many overlook. I enjoyed working on this and learned about its environmental impact.
