Case Study: Neverwaste app development & design
A prototype app to help households inventory their food so they can reduce waste and save money.
Team:
Ryan Blackwell, Michael Long, Kira Gallagher and Rayna Jeremias
Duration:
Four Weeks
Tools Used:
Adobe Illustrator, Figma, Google Docs, Keynote, Miro, Sketch and Sketchbook
Task:
Build a prototype app to help families reduce food waste
Photo Description: Our group collaborating on possible app names in Miro. While I liked the name “Spoiler Alert” for our app, we had decided as a group to choose the name by majority vote and ultimately went with “Neverwaste.”
The Problem:
American households waste nearly 40 million tons of food every year, which totals $161 billion (source).
The Solution:
Our team set out to design a solution to help modern American households monitor and manage their food consumption and disposal habits.
Research:
We created a research plan that included a Google Survey and 1x1 interviews. We wanted to understand household demographics and the impact of income on waste habits. We found that 67% of survey respondents said income plays a role in their purchase habits and that 71% waste up to 5 lbs of food per week.
We also took a look at the available products and services to help families that were already on the market. Other products that try to help people waste less food are apps and the Samsung smart fridge, which helps people manage their food inventory. One app that aims to help people eliminate food waste is Foodfully. Primary research data revealed that a majority of families want to reduce their carbon footprint, but lack the tools necessary to monitor and easily manage household food inventories.
The Process:
Research plan
1x1 interviews and survey
Affinity diagrams
Empathy map
User persona
Insight/Problem statement
I like, I wish and feature prioritization
Storyboard
Journey map
Competitor analysis
User flows
Sketch wireframes
Digital wireframes
Clickable prototype
User testing plan
User testing
Analysis
Iteration
Mid and hi-fi wireframes
Empathy Map:
Our fictional user, Jordan, feels guilty that he and his family waste food on a weekly basis. He is looking to develop healthy, sustainable eating habits to help his family save more money and waste less food.
User Persona:
Jordan is a married college professor with two children. He’s passionate about sustainability, organic cooking and reducing food waste. Jordan’s income limits the amount of food he can purchase, so making every penny count and not wasting needlessly are important.
Competitor Analysis:
We created a competitor analysis to look at products already on the market and how our idea brought something new to the table.
User Flow:
We wanted to make it easy for our users to inventory and manage their household food items. To do this, we mapped out the respective paths a user may take while onboarding, uploading the inventory, interacting with a food item and finding a suggested recipe.
Sketches & Wireframes:
Our initial sketches provided a framework for where we wanted key features and an overall concept of how we wanted our app to look.
Prototype:
While not a complete working prototype, our group did design some high-resolution prototype screens to give an idea of what the final product would look like.
Moving Forward:
Our group’s timeframe for this project was four short weeks. While we achieved a lot, we also had ideas for how Neverwaste could be further built upon. Each group member had input on what they would like to see implemented had time permitted or if we were to move forward with development of our application.
