The app connects donors, sellers and recipients seamlessly-whether sharing leftover food, finding a meal, supporting a charity or selling leftovers at a very minimal rate.
Design Brief
This project is a design challenge by NetBrahma, a UX/UI global design studio.
Food waste is a global issue, with vast amounts of unused food being discarded in hotels, weddings, restaurants, and other places. Tackling this challenge requires a multi-faceted approach, including encouraging food donations, building trust, ensuring transparency, and potentially monetizing the process.
The brief was to design a cost-effective mobile app solution that helps reduce food waste on a large scale.
Industry
FoodTech
Timeline
1 week
Role
UX Research, UI Design
MY DESIGN APPROACH
(01)
My design approach places a strong emphasis on the platform’s core feature by considering various factors like easy listing of donation and purchase items, and also easy item booking.
Speak with target groups to identify their needs, and their hesitation to use the app, if any.
I also had to identify ways that could help the users build trust on sellers and donors of extra food.
CHALLENGE
(02)
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM
The restaurant industry is one of the major contributors to food waste in India. According to the Food Waste Index Report 2021 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), India generates about 68.7 million tons of food waste per year, out of which 11.9 million tons come from the food service sector.
SOLUTION
My goal was to create a platform where anyone can donate their excees food which might go to waste, and people around their area can find and pick it up for themselves.
This impacts our ecosystem, by reducing the amount of food waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with food waste and also saves money.
FoodLoop Users
(03)
WHO ARE THE STAKEHOLDERS
The target audience have been catagorised into three: Doners, Sellers, Receivers/Donees
Donee/Buyers/Receivers
College students, other individuals
Tight on cash individuals, individuals staying in hostel, individuals without access to homecooked meals.
Organization, Charity workers
Certified donation centres working to feed the needy can buy food at a minimal rate or receive as donations.
Pet shelters, individuals
Individuals who want to feed street dogs clean food can avail the extra food.
Doner/Seller
Restaurant Owners
Leftover food can either be sold at a minimal rate or donated.
Caterers and Event Planners
Leftover food can either be sold at a minimal rate or donated.
RESEARCH
(04)
I spoke to 7 users including college students, event planners, working professionals, restaurant owners and caterers. I then analyzed the information to work on the feature prioritisation.
Everyday, a lot of food goes to waste, while people have trouble finding affordable meals.
No proper channel to connect donors and donees so that extra food do not go to waste.
A platform can bridge this gap by reducing waste and hunger.
Authenticity of the donors and people looking for donations can cause a setback.
DEFINE
(05)
Problems: What am I solving?
Large amount of food gets wasted in restaurants, events and also at home.
Affordable food for tight-on-cah individuals.
The food listed might not be fresh and give you food poisoning.
Chances of miscreants misusing the platform
Donees, including charities and donation centres, get to know about the extra food very late.
Solution: Feature Prioritisation
Users can post food details easily and donate and sell extra food using the account.
Recipients can find nearby food through a map or a list view.
Users can check the package when collecting it.
Verification of sellers and donors to build trust.
Doners can create events to announce the events and the possibility of available extra food.
Constraints
Delivery services are complicated to organize and require a lot of resources.
USER FLOW
(06)
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
(07)
LOW FIDELITY SKETCHES
(08)
HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
(09)
Problem 1
Large amount of food gets wasted in restaurants, events and also at home.
Solution
Users can post food details easily and donate and sell extra food using the account.
FEATURE 1
Single Hompage
A seamless experience where donors, sellers and receivers use the same app to share, sell and receive extra food effortlessly, fostering community and reducing waste.
FEATURE 2
Listing of products
As a doner or seller one can easily list their extra food online.
As a receiver or a person looking for food, one can view the products from the list.
The listed items have been catagorised separately into the 'Purchase' and 'Donation' for easy navigation.
Furthermore, the items have also been compartmentalised into sub-categories for better experience of the users.
'Pet friendly' food items are clearly mentioned for donees or receivers wanting to buy food for street animals.
FEATURE 3
Donate
You can easily make a donation of your extra food by uploading the details.
The doner has to mention their phone number for calls and updates and also put a picture of themselves for identification purposes.
The doner has to make sure that the extra food is not spoilt.
FEATURE 4
Sell
You can easily make a sale of your extra food by uploading the details.
The seller has to mention their phone number for calls and updates and also put a picture of themselves for identification purposes.
The seller has to make sure that the extra food is not spoilt.
Problem 2
Donees, including charities and donation centres, get to know about the extra food very late.
Solution
Doners can create events to announce the events and the possibility of available extra food.
FEATURE 5
Create events
Doners and Sellers can create events and announce it on the app. All the details of the future events can be listed through this process.
Browse and save events
FEATURE 5
The donees can browse the events and save it for later.
They can contact the doners and sellers to book the extra food on the day of the event.
Problem 3
Chances of miscreants misusing the platform
Solution
Verification of sellers and donors to build trust
FEATURE 6
Doner Selfie verification
As a first time doner or seller, one must verify themselves first.
Only after a selfie verification can one proceed to donate or sell.
FEATURE 7
Doner fingerprint verification
As a first time doner or seller, one must verify themselves first.
Only after a fingerprint verification can one proceed to donate or sell.
Seller selfie verification
A seamless experience where donors, sellers and receivers use the same app to share, sell and receive extra food effortlessly, fostering community and reducing waste.
Seller fingerprint verification
A seamless experience where donors, sellers and receivers use the same app to share, sell and receive extra food effortlessly, fostering community and reducing waste.
Problem 4
Affordable food for tight-on-cah individuals.
Solution
Recipients can find nearby food through a map or a list view.
FEATURE 8
Donation
As a user looking for food in the app, one can search the donation list under which all the food that is up for donation are listed.
This listed food are free of charge and one has to book the food and go in-person to the address mentioned to collect the food.
Donation Edit
You can edit the booking details to add or subtract the food items after the booking confirmation.
You can also cancel the booking confirmation.
FEATURE 9
Purchase
As a user looking for food in the app, one can also search the purchase list under which all the food that is up for purchase at a minimal rate are listed.
One has to book the food, go in-person to the address mentioned, check the food and to collect the food.
One also has the option of rejecting the food if it is spoilt
Purchase Edit
You can edit the purchase details to add or subtract the food items after the booking confirmation.
You can also cancel the purchase confirmation.
