Salvage
Adaptable Ideas for Reducing Personal Food Waste
Role
Research, Ideation, Information Architecture, Design & Branding, Prototyping, Testing
Project Type
Personal project, Proof of concept
Constraints
80 hours over the course of 4 weeks
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Adobe Illustrator, Maze
OVERVIEW
Salvage is a mobile app designed to help budget & environmentally conscious adults minimize their personal food waste by offering adaptable suggestions for using food they have on hand before it spoils.
THE PROBLEM
🗑️ 30-40%
Estimated percent of food supply that is wasted *
💸 $218 BILLION
Amount of money Americans waste each year on food *
Food waste is an issue in the United States that has far-reaching negative impacts on both the environment and the economy. A vast problem to solve - I set out to determine a focus within the problem space.
🚗 37 MILLION
Wasted food in US is equivalent to emissions of 37 cars *
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PRELIMINARY DISCOVERY
Waste conscious people want to reduce food waste at a personal level since that is where they feel they can have the most impact.
I started researching the primary drivers of food waste. Studies suggest that routines related to food such as shopping, cooking and cleaning, as well as food preparation may be leading factors. *
I checked in with a few people in my network - those who I know are conscious about waste of any kind. When they wasted food, why? What type of product may help them most? It all led to a similar sentiment regarding personal behaviors.
USER RESEARCH
1/3 of the project time was dedicated to conducting and synthesizing research through competitive analysis, survey and interviews.
The goals of my research were to:
Learn how people's everyday habits like grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning affect food waste.
Find out what drives people to reduce their own food waste and where they encounter difficulties.
Understand how much time and energy people are willing to invest in reducing their own food waste.
KEY TAKEAWAY #1
A prime opportunity lied in providing users recipe suggestions based on food they have on hand.
KEY TAKEAWAY #2
Users want to reduce their personal food waste to save money and reduce their impact on the environment.
KEY TAKEAWAY #3
Users are conscious of trying to purchase only what they truly need, but aren’t sure what to do with the food they have on hand / don’t have the time to prepare full meals.
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INSIGHTS
After a thorough process of market analysis, surveys, and interviews I was able to validate that…
Reducing food waste is important to adults
Adults are willing to use an app that would help them reduce personal food waste
3 key themes presented themselves as the output of my research.
🌎 REDUCE IMPACT
Financially by spending less on food & saving money
Environmentally by reducing the harmful effects of food waste
🧭 PROVIDE GUIDANCE
Users want to use food they have on hand before it spoils but don’t know what to do with it
Support needed on how to use food on hand in a way that is quick, easy, & delicious!
🫙 PRESENT OPTIONS
Users don’t alway have the time or motivation to cook and may need other ways to save their food
Variety in meals & flavor profiles is important
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DEFINING THE USER BASE
I gained a clear understanding of my potential users through my research synthesis - Autumn and David. Defining their current experience and goals were key to ultimately landing the solution for Salvage.
AUTUMN
Goal is to creatively use food she has on hand before it spoils
She’s driven by reducing her impact on the environment
DAVID
Goal is to use all of the food he purchases in easy & delicious ways
He’s driven by saving money
THE SOLUTION
• Name: Salvage
• Who is it for? Environmentally and/or budget conscious adults 20+
• What does it accomplish? Helps them creatively use food they have on hand before it spoils, saving money & reducing their carbon footprint
• How does it accomplish this? Provides users with suggestions and directions for cooking or preserving food based on specific ingredients
• When would users be using this app? When noticing food they have on hand is about to spoil, at least once per week
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MID FI PROTOTYPE
I wanted to make sure the solution was on the right track, so I pressure tested the first round of the design with few budget & earth conscious adults. A few key changes were made after receiving quick feedback, prior to creating a wireframe prototype of key screens for further testing.
Display tips vs. recipes on home page to set users up for success off the bat.
Provide a better understanding of when to cook vs. preserve.
Users don’t need to understand quantity & impact at this stage, but do need to understand if ingredients are safe to eat.
Added ingredient quantity to recipe page + ability to add ingredients to count toward impact.
UI of ingredients & directions adjusted to reduce visual clutter and provide a more seamless experience.
UI adjusted on impact page to reduce visual clutter and provide a more seamless experience
USER TESTING + HIGH FIDELITY
I opted to complete user testing with my low fi prototype in order to incorporate my findings into the high fidelity design. I had spent a considerable amount of time working through the wireframes (and the clock was ticking).
I utilized Maze for user testing with 8 people like Autumn & David to…
Determine how effectively (or not) users are able to complete a cooking “idea” after searching for a particular item
Discover opportunities to adjust design to ensure the high fidelity wireframes are as user friendly as possible
Understand how current copy choices are resonating with users and where there is opportunity for improvement
Understand how well the current solution is resonating with users
KEY TAKEAWAYS
100% of participants indicated that Salvage is a product that would be useful to them based on their personal habits
Provide clearer view into impact on homepage
More easily accesible seasonal recipes
Copy adjustments need to be made for clarity
Revisit relationship of elements on idea page
Display stats & highlight seasonal recipes on homepage.
Added suggestions for when to cook vs. preserve & adjusted copy/UI for “is it safe to eat” to “when to discard”.
Adjusted button copy for clarity. Added cooking techniques & difficulty levels for greater flexibility.
Adjusted button copy for clarity. Clarified relationship between step by step / summary directions and made the “add ingredient” flow more clear.
Final Product
OUTCOME
🏆 Biggest Win… Salvage resonated with people like Autumn and David - and they could see this product being useful in helping them to reduce their personal food waste
🏔 Biggest Challenge… trying to create a UI design system from scratch within the time constraints
📖 Biggest Learning… spending time on extensive research up front helped ensure I developed an idea for a product people would actually use
🔄 What I Would Do Differently… a few more hours fleshing out the details of my user flow would have been beneficial to expedite wireframing, I also would have utilized an existing design system
⌛️ If I had more time, I would have… completed another round of user testing and iterations on the high fidelity design