Reducing food waste in the grocery shopping experience using AI
My role
User research, lo-fi and hi-fi prototyping, UI design, UX research and UX analysis
Tools
Figma
Google Suite
Microsoft Office
Food waste is becoming a global issue
According to statistics, one-third of edible food intended for human consumption is thrown away globally. Individuals require a better way to reduce waste by developing better meal plans and making better use of what they already have.
Background
This project was completed by talking to many consumers who needed a digital way to keep up with their produce and recipes. It was assumed that they would need extra help keeping up with what is about to expire, when in reality consumers are very good at knowing what they have, but not knowing what to do with the leftover ingredients. They also often get stuck eating the same meals due to lack of time to plan and explore other options.
Product Solution
An app designed to help consumers reduce food waste by keeping track of what they already have in the fridge.
Goal
To create an app that makes it easier and faster for moms and college students alike to create meal plans with less food waste in order to reduce overall cost and waste. Without sacrificing creativity or eating the same meals week after week.
Research
In order to better understand users' pain points when attempting to reduce the amount of food they waste each week, I conducted 25 user interviews using self-drafted surveys with open-ended questions. I compiled all of the data and synthesized the findings into these actionable insights.
Lack of Time: Consumers don’t have enough time each week to plan out variations in meal choices, but are tired of eating the same things all the time.
Organization Difficulties: With so many different responsibilities as a consumer it is hard to keep up with how much of what you have and what to do with the leftovers.
Lack of Creativity: It is difficult to keep up with the recipes you love, and to search for them efficiently.
Pain Points
Solution
Creating an app that creates and suggests meal plans based on what you already have in your refrigerator. The ingredients for the recipes you select for the week will be added to your shopping list by the app. As a result, the in-between step of exploring is eliminated, while "leftover" individual ingredients are kept to a minimum.
Insights
What they really needed was access to new recipes that generate automatic grocery lists, as well as organization of their recipes to make the most of the ingredients they had and make it more sustainable.
a user flow of the app
Information Architecture
Lo-fi wireframes
Hi-fi wireframes
Implementing Reminders for Expiring Foods
Busy people need to be reminded when things in their fridge are about to go bad. The sit and forget is a real problem when you have a million other things on your mind.
Here we have an example of the tomatoes about to expire, and a recommendation for a recipe using tomatoes and squash.
The app reminds the user, and suggests some squash recipes based on what's already in the cabinet.
Usability testing showed users needed an easier way to upload
Users found the idea of entering each ingredient they purchased individually to be too tedious and time consuming.
So, to negate this we implemented AI scanning tech to take a picture of the receipt and enter all your ingredients for you.
This feature extended into the "best by" date, using the bar codes to indicate the expiration date of an item.
