Uneaten

Re-imagining food access through a digital service that connects surplus groceries from retailers to consumers in underserved communities.

User Research, Usability Testing, UX, Interaction Design, & Visual Design

Background

Underserved communities' access to affordable and healthy food is usually restricted by the absence of grocery stores within 5 miles. On the other hand, food retailers face overstock and a massive waste of perfectly edible food.

PROJECT DETAILS

Individual project – Five months
Designed at the UX Certificate Program, School of Visual Concepts, 2021

DEFINITIONS

Surplus or Imperfect Food: Food that is still good to eat but retailers cannot sell due to overstock, cosmetic imperfections, packaging defects, or trends.

Underserved Communities: Populations at a disadvantage because of lack of access to services (food, education, healthcare, etc.) or other disparities (because of race, religion, language group, or social and economic status).

Food Deserts: An area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. Considering price, proximity, type, and quality.

Approximately
17% of global food
production is wasted.

Either lost in production or
tossed by consumers.

— United Nations

the challenge

At the same time, there are communities facing barriers to getting fresh food. For these communities the closest grocery store is usually further than 5 miles from their house, which means they have to account for additional transportation and time on top of other systemic disparities.

THE OUTCOME

Uneaten is an digital service created to connect surplus groceries from retailers to consumers in underserved communities at a lower price. The service offers community engagement, inspiration, and events to get consumers to rethink how we consume, cook and discard food to create a more sustainable and just food system.

the user

I ran a small UX research study to understand the challenges users face when acquiring groceries, what they value, their shopping habits, and their perception of surplus food.

STUDY DETAILS

Methodologies: User Interviews (5 participants), Surveys (35 participants)
Age: 21-70
Location: US, urban areas
Income: $39,000 - $59,000
Behavior: Must be the ones buying groceries in their house hold

key insights

STIGMA & ACCESS:

Users feel buying surplus food labels them as having economic issues or as if they’re failing to provide for their families.

COMMUNITY & INSPIRATION:

Users enjoy grocery shopping not because of the activity per se, more so because they get to socialize with their community and find new ingredients.

LACK OF TRUST
IN ONLINE SERVICES:

Even though online food services are everywhere, most users feel distrustful and wary about how orders are handled.

DESIGN DIRECTION

Transparency &
User Control

Educational component: Information about what makes food surplus.

Events, workshops, and stores where users can personally pick their products (home delivery and pick-up in store options).

User onboarding: Information about surplus groceries

Options to pick-up products at physical stores

Recipes created by the community for their community

Users can add recipes, blogposts, and events

Blog featuring neihborhood chefs, farmers, retailers and users.

Content reflecting each neighborhood's personailty

user-generated content for each neighborhood

Users' recipes, tips and events are featured every week to inspire the community to try new ingredients, re-think consumption habits and connect.

Content is curated to match each neighborhood's vibe.

FEEDBACK LOOP

Instructions feature to help users and shoppers communicate on order specifics.

To prevent shoppers from missing a user's note and automated call will be triggered if a note remains unread after 10 minutes.

User and shopper interaction

Automated call triggered if a user's note remains unread

BEHIND THE SCENES

To validate my design concept I conducted a remote usability study with 12 participants. The focus was to test whether I addressed user’s distrust in online grocery services by adding and instructions feature and an option to pick-up in stores.

Tested Wireframes – Add instructions feature

Tested Wireframes - Pick-up in store option

Course correction

While the “add instructions” feature was useful for the majority of participants, a few still showed hesitancy about whether their preferences would be respected.

NO MORE communicating
to a void

To address this concern I added a feedback loop for users and shoppers to be in contact.

If the shopper doesn't read the request after 10 min. they'll get an automated call to check the app.

NEXT STEPS

Moving forward I want to better address users’ distrust, since this will be the biggest barrier in getting them to adopt and keep using the service. I’d like to refine the interactions between shoppers and users.