food delivery app
design challenge
Overview
Project :
Solo Project
Duration :
2 weeks
Role :
New features design, Research
Food waste is a relevant global problem. Approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted per year. Measures to reduce food waste have been continuously established over the years due to the damage and potential future risks food waste poses. One of the largest driving forces in food waste is the consumer. The fact that people are in a position where they can afford to waste food, raises the food waste problem to an ethical level.
Design prompt
Design a checkout process for food delivery mobile app to help teenagers reduce food wastage.
Productdesign.tips Challenge – Groceries
My solution
Designing a checkout system in such a way, that appeals to need of teenagers to be instantaneous, increasing their attentiveness in the food searching process, so as to help them set their food requirements more effectively and efficiently, and offering them an opportunity to be of service to the community, reducing any possible food wastage.
( I chose Swiggy food delivery app for the challenge )
Features
- A checkout process where the user is prompted to donate leftover food. This feature connects non-profit, community welfare organizations, that are willing to serve the needy, to the service and the organization would take care of picking up of food, if the user chooses to donate.
- Providing choices in portion sizes for items, rewarding with incentives for ordering each portion, encouraging teenagers to avoid excess ordering.
- An AR system for helping teenagers to better plan their food, and giving the restaurants a chance to communicate appropriate serving-sizes and portions with their customers.
A major part of my project was based on research, that included desk/secondary research, followed by customer interviews and insights.
What was the process?
There was no straight process or approach. I started with a single step and one thing led to the other. To begin with…
Researching
Open google.. type doubt.. get results.. take notes.. repeat
Before diving into anything else, I always prefer getting a base knowledge about my topic and research around the “whats” and “whys” of the challenge or issue I’ll be dealing with.
For this, I went through many pieces and articles on the internet. Some points that I found noteworthy:
- Young people waste more food than older people, but to claim that all millennials (18-24) waste food, will be fallacious, since the entire generation can’t be held accountable.
- There are many factors that influence food behaviours in general, which include social norms, culture upbringing and lifestyle.
Taking interviews
It was hard.. teenagers are confusing and answers from them is tricky
Once I had a ground understanding to start off with, my next step was to analyse the socio-demographic data and eating habits of young consumers. Focusing on individuals and their awareness of their actions and consequences.
I decided on interviewing a few teenagers with the aim to analyse young consumers behaviour towards food wastage. (Average age : 17)
Roleplaying and storytelling:
There can be points or hints that might get possibly missed when extracting insights from interviews. So I worked out a role play session with one of the interviewees :-
( She was a friend of mine who lives only a few blocks away)
Aim: to analyse the ordering process
• How do we decide on what to order?
• How much the quantity?
• What are some constraints? Like money, excess food, etc
• What are some driving forces? Like offers, discounts
We mutually decided on the order. To be honest, it didn’t really feel like a Q/A session, rather it was more like a discussion between two friends that flowed naturally. I tried to keep the conversation in a way, that would made the interviewee more at ease and in their natural habitat when they order.
Analysing the findings
I created an affinity map from all the data collected to get a clearer objective and understanding..
Summary
- Challenges: Teenagers have a level of carelessness and spontaneity in their lifestyle. How can they be encouraged to waste less food when the issue of food waste hasn’t been ingrained in them through the education system, unlike “climate change” and “recycling”.
- Opportunities: To raise awareness about the global issue that is food wastage, among teenagers, and giving them opportunity to provide help.
Ideating solutions
( I personally prefer taking my decisions based on elimination process, because it gradually reduces options and the cognitive load as well. Listing out all available options and cutting out the unnecessary and less viable, with each elimination having a valid reason to back it up )
Hence I used the provocative method for ideating solutions. Thinking of out of the box, radical, and unrealistic ideas. Somewhere, while going the unconventional way, may emerge a new idea that could be your call.
The Final Verdict
Ideas I (didn’t) and ideas I (did).. why/why not?
Low-fidelity wireframing
Designing the donation feature
While this is not a checkout feature, yet, if the customers happens to have some food left by the end of their meal, they can check back in the app, and choose to donate the food. This especially works when the customer doesn’t wish to save that food for later consumption. The service and the organization would take care of picking up of food, if the user chooses to donate.
Designing the portion feature
This next feature comes when the customer is choosing and finalizing their order and are about to proceed for the payments. Providing choices in portion sizes for items, rewarding with incentives for ordering each portion, encouraging teenagers to avoid excess ordering.
Although I did not list the “AR approach” for not being a feasible approach, as not all restaurants associated with the food delivery partner can afford such an option. But considering a slight possibility, that if, even a few restaurants are willing to take this feature into action, this can really be a good investment.
Taking an attempt on the AR idea
Teenagers are the most tech-savvy of all, and a feature like this would attract a good amount of attention and excitement from them. The main point being, this will also help the restaurants communicate their serving-size well with their customers.
Giving an identity to the wireframes
Hifidelity mockups
Designing the donation feature
Designing the portion feature
Taking an attempt on the AR idea
Takeaways
Opportunities are endless.. the market is huge
- Through this particular challenge cum project, I learnt that by remembering that teenagers are an important group worth marketing to, redefining teenage demographics, familiarizing yourself with trends in teenage internet use, and targeting content specifically for teens and teen issues, you should be able to create a successful content marketing strategy that yields increased profits.
- Customers are becoming more demanding, thanks to the growing reach of smart devices and the internet. Existing food delivery players need to be working round the clock to boost their delivery and enhance user experience.
Behind the scenes
- Project : Solo
- Challenge : Productdesign.tips ( Category : Groceries )
- App design : Swiggy Food Delivery App
- Tools used : Adobe XD and Zapworks
- References : Initial research (Google search, articles and blogs)
Thanks for reading!