Ample Case Study

Food Waste Case Study

By Graham Heldreth

Roles

UX/UI Design Research Prototypes Branding Wireframing

Content

The Why
Research Insights
Design
The Takeaway

Constraints

Three Week Sprint Create A Mobile MVP Focused Scope Food Safety Issues Regulations

Project Goals

Uncover the extent of the food waste crisis and explore its reasons by investigating consumer behavior and business practices. 

Determine the role of personal experiences and motivations in shaping food waste habits. Evaluate the feasibility and benefits of selling food at a discounted rate as a solution from a business perspective.

Develop an app allowing users to purchase meals from restaurants with an overproduction of food for the day. This would save food from the trash and allow restaurants to recoup some food costs.

The Problem

Researched the perspectives and practices surrounding food waste by examining two key user groups: community members and business owners.

• Market Research
• Competitive Analysis
• User Interview

Define

Identified user pain points, and motivations of consumer habits when looking for restaurants, we discussed the depth of knowledge around food sustainability.

• Empathy Map
• POV & HMW
• User Personas

Ideate

Accessed common themes across user preferences. I designed unified branding, messaging, and educational materials informed by user research.

• Idea Generation 
• Wireframe
• Branding

Prototype

Prototyped two task flows and drafted user testing scenarios and usability tests. I then implemented iterations to the designs based on feedback from our users. 

• Prototype
• Testing
• Interate

Results

I implemented changes across the design based on testing results. Analyzed data and conveyed results and learnings.

• Key Takeaways
• Moving Forward
• Final Thought

The Problem

Millions go to bed hungry daily in America, while billions of pounds of food go to waste yearly in restaurants. 

The root cause of this paradox is the overproduction of food by restaurants to avoid running out during service, combined with tight food safety regulations that don’t allow the donation of this food, resulting in much of this surplus going to waste.

The Solution

One solution lies in creating a platform that connects restaurants with surplus food to those in need safely and efficiently. By reducing food waste and feeding those in need, this project will tackle the issue of food insecurity head-on and make a tangible impact on the community. 

The app will include features that educate users on the impact of food waste and offer donation options.

How Might We....

Involve the community in reducing food waste at restaurants and providing for those in need?

The Problem

According to the USDA, more than 34 million people, including 9 million children, in the United States are food insecure.

At the same time, US restaurants generate an estimated 22 to 33 billion pounds yearly of food waste.

User Interviews

Five user interviews and a multiple-choice survey were carried out. I primarily focused on food waste knowledge and participants' dining habits.

Competition

I did a complete competitive analysis, looking for strengths, weaknesses, and current food waste reduction offerings.

The Numbers

• Food waste represents 25% of methane emissions.
• 21% of landfills volume is filled with unused food.
•18% of cropland grows food that we never eat.


The Why

Wasting food has irreversible environmental consequences: it impacts to water, energy, and other vital resources used to grow the food.

The Competition

There are three main competitors that I focused on: Too Good To Go, Phenix, and Flash Foods. 

Some key UX-friendly features needed to be included in all the competitors. A clear mission and education of the public.

A review system should be implemented to hold participating restaurants accountable.

View Worksheet

User Interviews

I conducted five user interviews and a survey with 46 users delving into their eating habits, sustainability, and food waste habits at home. One of my participants was an industry professional who helped me better understand business logistics and gained some great feedback.

Four key themes were the basis for constructing the interview questions. 

View user personas

Motivations

Talk to users about their personal food waste experiences and their motivations.

Dining Choices

Gained a better understanding of our users' dining habits, restaurant selection, and decision-making.

Knowledge

I wanted to know how educated our user base was surrounding food sustainability and the food waste crisis.

Businesses

What motivates businesses to waste food? Where is the heart of the problem, and how can we address the pain points?

Define

The affinity and empathy maps were consolidated to pinpoint pain points, focusing on users’ awareness of accessibility icons, features, and their engagement with assistive technology.

This approach proved valuable in creating informative personas that served as references and informed design choices throughout the project.

Affinity/Empathy Map

I utilized the affinity map to organize and group user feedback and insights, allowing patterns and themes to emerge. The empathy map allowed me to connect to the target users more deeply.

User Personas

Overall, user personas are one tool for creating user-centered designs that meet the needs of specific user groups. I referenced them during my design process, but I believe they shouldn't be the only guiding factor.

Research Insights

I found some overall themes interesting when consolidating my affinity & empathy maps.

A food app that combines charity with budget-friendly options, eco-consciousness, and informative reviews has the potential to tackle the food industry’s challenges and fulfill users’ needs for purpose, savings, and sustainability.

Insight One

To address food insecurity, users felt a duty to contribute time or resources. This suggests a potential "donate" feature in the app.

Insight Three

Reviews play a significant role in restaurant selection, highlighting the need for a robust review system.

Insight Two

Users are concerned with restaurant packaging waste, offering a chance to highlight eco-friendly establishments.

Insight Four

There's a gap in knowledge about the environmental impact of food waste, providing an opportunity to educate users in a non-shaming manner.

The Design

I started with some low-fi drawings and moved into the digital wireframes. I created two user flows purchasing a meal before it goes to the trash and donating money for people to buy meals in the app.  

I looked at food ordering apps and competitors to identify trends and design patterns that users were familiar with.

Taking the key insights from my interviews and survey, I translated them into the most important features for users.

Clear discount pricing, social reviews, and impact scores were added to my wireframe’s first iteration.

Onboarding Education

Home(V1)

I tried to encompass all user feedback from interviews and survey data and reflect those into features of the design. 

I linked up interactive components and micro animations throughout my prototypes. Users expressed excitement when interacting with these features so I know I was on the right track.

Restaurant Details

Iteration

I drafted and conducted a usability testing plan with five individual users and received valid feedback on my first design decisions.

Users expressed the restaurant page was too busy. They didn’t know where to focus their eyes. 

One

Simplify the restaurant page information section. Apply more visual hierarchy to the elements making for a better experience. 

Two

More emphasis on dish labeling and purchase discount. Users felt the text was too small and felt squished.

Prototype

Simplify the restaurant page information section. Apply more visual hierarchy to the elements making for a better experience.

I also conducted accessibility checks throughout the design and found a few touch targets that needed to meet the WCAG standards.  

Micro -Animation

I explored creating micro-animations and gained invaluable insights into the intricacies of prototyping, including the appropriate usage of these elements in the design.

View Full Prototype

Key Takeaways

My project set out to explore the food waste crisis, a problem rooted in overproduction and strict regulations preventing food donation. Our goal was to create a platform that bridges the gap between restaurants with surplus food and those in need.

The resulting app is more than just a donation platform. It’s a tool that empowers people to make a positive impact in their communities by reducing food waste and addressing food insecurity. It’s a place where people can learn about the issue, understand its impact, and take meaningful action.

Through user research, I discovered that people want to help, consider restaurant reviews important, care about packaging waste, and have a gap in knowledge about the environmental impact of food waste.

What's Next

I am proud of the development of the consumer-focused application as part of this case study. However, there is still much work to be done in terms of refining the user experience and building out additional screens. The next step is to enhance the app’s functionality, making it easier and more intuitive for users.

Additionally, to fully realize the potential of the application, we must develop a comprehensive business dashboard, onboarding process, and analytics system. Our aim is to scale the impact of the project and reach as many people as possible, starting with onboarding businesses to increase accessibility in various markets.

The ultimate goal of this project is to eradicate food waste and ensure that everyone has access to the food they need, creating a world where food waste is a thing of the past.

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