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Foodtracker is an application that helps curb food wastage by helping people track and manage their food better.
The Problem
About 40% of the food waste comes from household consumption alone. Incorrect and wasteful food management practices, stemming from a lack of awareness & information, are key contributors.
A Solution
A mobile application that reminds you of food nearing expiry, and recommending ways to consume leftovers.
FoodTracker reminds people of what food they have and how to consume it, to target two major pain points:
- People buy redundant food items, not realizing what they have is going bad.
- People do not know how best to consume leftovers- hence end up throwing them away.
App Highlights
Measuring Success
I would monitor stats like the number of downloads and active users, and long term behavior change by monitoring how much people speak of reduction in food wastage.
Defining scope & audience
I started by analyzing where food waste occurred- at different points across the food ecosystem. I studied how farmers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers consumed food. I then turned to consumers as the primary target audience – as I could access them more easily, and that there were fewer solutions.
Insights from research
To get a sense of what users thought about food waste, 3 techniques were used: Surveys (43 responses), semi structured interviews (6) and contextual inquiry with 2 people.
Validating & nullifying assumptions
The survey pointed to three key themes:
- People cared about food waste, so our initial assumption was validated.
- There was more interest in expiry reminders than food donation banks.
- Food preservation was rated more important than recycling and composting.
Understanding Preferences
The second and third themes were more interesting. This is where in-depth interviews and contextual inquiry helped provide deeper insight.
Lack of information
People buy things that they do not know what to do with, and therefore do not prepare it in time.
Redundant food items
People do not have a system to keep track of the food inside their fridge, that leads to buying excessive food.
Donation has it's limitations
Although
people did have an interest in donation, we found that most people
could not donate prepared food, as food banks only take processed food.
That leaves out perishables.
Redefining the problem
How do we help people keep track of their food and use it wisely, in order to prevent wastage?
Persona
We created a primary and secondary persona, based on our priority of needs.
Assessing Ideas
I explored different ideas, and regrouped with my team to assess value, feasibility and viability. I used a 2X2 matrix for this purpose.
The winners - Recipe recommendation and visual inventory
We decided to build out the idea involving a visual inventory scan, since it met both the criteria – being useful as well as well as viable.
Wireframes
The idea that finally made the cut: Visual inventory of contents in the refrigerator, using an onboard camera. The app would also provide recipe suggestions based on food in the refrigerator.
Insights from testing
The app was tested for Navigation, understandability of concept, interaction design and Information architecture. Key Findings included:
Lack of orientation
People had trouble getting oriented with the application, as it was not something they had seen before.
Unclear labeling
People failed to distinguish between MyRecipe and the recipes suggested based on the individual items. They thought MyRecipe represented items they had favorited.
Lack of clear images misled users
People could not relate to the camera view in the initial wireframe. We then modified it by adding an actual image.
Reflections
One challenge I faced was getting everyone agree to each other’s views, and ultimately, execute an idea based on consensus. Differing opinions made it hard agree on what a good solution was.Collective voting and user data helped resolve this.
I also learned that not ALL of the findings from Usability testing could be implemented (resource and time constraints). I negotiated with the team and prioritized fixes based on frequency and severity.