Reducing Food Waste with Fun Donations Aligned to Needs
Nina stands in despair at a food bank, her basket empty of vegetables, while just blocks away, a woman urgently needs to empty her fridge of fresh produce before a trip.
How can we close this heartbreaking gap between surplus and scarcity?
Product Type
Award-winning
To C
Mobile App
Team
2 Product Designers
Design Supervisor
Timeline
01/2022-03/2022
My role:
As the Product Designer behind the design of food donor side for Foodo, I engaged in the initial user research, led the incentive strategy, designed wireframes for the food bank interface, executed multiple usability tests, and co-iterated the final prototype.
About Foodo:
Foodo is a mobile app designed to align donor supplies with food bank needs, maximizing food donation efficiency.
Awards
Muse Creative Awards 2024 - Sliver
Vega Digital Awards 2024 - Gold
NY Product Design Awards - Sliver
Impact & Solution
Use AI to match donations with food bank needs; Incentivize users to encourage continuous donation behaviors
Impact
Food Problem in the U.S.
1 in 6 (49 million people)
received charitable food assistance
61% of food waste
contributed by households
Every night, tons of food are wasted, while just down the street, people go to bed hungry. Foodo is here to bridge that gap, turning excess into access. We aim to reduce food waste from households and help 49 million people gain access to enough nutritious food.
During the final usability testing phase, we received a user satisfaction rate of 85%. Additionally, we were pleased to receive exceptionally positive feedback from our testing participants and food bank staffs.
Annie
Testing Participant
“I love love love this app. I think it is super meaningful. I would definitely want to donate through this app. Let me know when it will be available!”
"OMG, this is so amazing! Thank you for making this. I can really see how this app can help us grow our donor community and increase donations from individual donors!"
Jeff
Manager@UD Food Bank
Donor Side
Use incentives to encourage continuous donation behavior
Fast and easy donation reservation through AI to help match food bank needs
Food Bank Side
No worries! Zero complications in managing and tracking data
How did I get to the final solution
Discovery to Idea
Our initial focus shifted from accelerating food distribution to resolving insufficient inventory due to donation-demand mismatches
The girl standing in despair at the food bank in the opening scene of our Foodo story is actually our classmate, Nina(pseudonym). Her true experience sparked our journey to create Foodo, a revolutionary app designed to support the food bank system.
We knew we wanted to support the food bank system, but back then, we weren't sure exactly what problem we could tackle with technology. So we did some research.
Initial Research
01 Field Research at U-District Food Bank in Seattle
Identify opportunities to help fight hunger
Recipients manually fill out the menu order
Staff collect forms and recipients wait in a line
Staff pack up foods based on the menu order
Our observations revealed a key issue causing lengthy waits: staff spent considerable time verifying the availability of requested food items and negotiating replacements.
02 User Interviews, with 1 food bank manager , 2 donors, and 2 potential donors
Delve deeper to identify previously unknown struggles from both sides
I found out 3 key insights through user interviews:
Donors don’t know what food is in need
Underestimation of the Need for Monetary Support
Lack of Motivation and Awareness Among Potential Donors
User Journey Map
We mapped out the entire user journey and noticed that for when it came to discovery food banks and making their donations, they expressed numerous concerns.
Consequently, After mapping out the user journey and synthesizing their feelings and demands, it became clear to us where the problems lie in:
Discovery: Users are concerned about how the needs will be displayed.
First time donation: Users are concerned about a lengthy reservation process and having to manually input the items they have.
Future donations: Users might loose interest or motivation to use the app to donate.
Problem Statement
After the initial research phase, we have determined the problem we trying to tackle with Foodo:
Problem Statement
How might we design a food bank donation mobile app for both staff and individual donors that streamlines donation communication and encourage continuous donation behaviors?
Ideation
Build effective, efficient, and enjoyable donation process
We began by sketching our ideas, using storyboards to illustrate scenarios where donors would interact with our app.
White-boarding with my teammates
Storyboard
After the whiteboard session, three primary design challenges emerged which informed my design strategy:
Our Key Features
Incentives to motivate individual donors towards continuous donations
Fast and intuitive donation reservation
Online donor and food bank community for effective communication
Iteration
Build effective, efficient, and enjoyable donation process
Food Donor Side Lo-Fi wireframes
Total 13 Donor Side Usability Testings: 10 unmoderated tests & 3 moderated tests
After completing the lo-fi prototype, we aimed to validate effectiveness in encouraging consistent food donations and to identify usability challenges and potential enhancements. To achieve this, we conducted 10 unmoderated tests on UserTesting.com and 3 moderated tests via Zoom. Using both methods allowed us to gather extensive data points while also probing deeper into user behaviors and uncovering underlying issues through follow-up questions.
Foodo works!
13/13 participants mentioned that they would definitely consider to donate their spare foods through Foodo!
11/13 participants expressed their love for our incentive system!
Incentives
Encouraging Continuous Donation Behavior
HMW encourage users to continue donate?
User pain points
Lack of Motivation and Awareness Among Potential Donors
Underestimation of the Need for Monetary Support
Goal
Encourage the habit of donating surplus food to reduce waste and support those in need through a compelling incentive system.
Originally
I propose collaborating with supermarkets to provide coupons for donations and contributions as tangible rewards, an idea that was loved by 11/13 participants. This strategy offers several key benefits:
Encourages Regular Donations
Promotes Sustainable Purchases
However
Surprisingly, 7/13 participants mentioned a need for emotional incentives to help donors understand the real impact of their contributions in aiding people, which we had not considered before.
“I'd love to know how my donation can help those in hunger; this might motivate me to continue donating.”
-One participant suggested an emotional incentive
Solution
Testing result showed a need for an emotional incentive, one that helps donors understand the real impact of their donations in aiding people.
Before
After
Example: Contribution
Using contribution as an example, we originally just ask user how much they want to contribute. But round 1 testing participants mentioned that they feel less motivated to contribute how can their mony help food banks.
After implementing changes in the high-fidelity prototype, we received compliments on our design decisions.
This is great! Now I can see how my money helps people directly!
-A compliment from potential user
Home screen
Immediate recognition of food and money fundraising status
HMW efficiently display food in need while also displaying information about money fundraising?
User pain points
Donors don’t know what food is in need
Underestimation of the Need for Monetary Support
Food Status Visualization
When we design the home screen, we explored different ways to display the information:
Progress bar ❌
Fixed endpoints confuse users
Ineffective user of space
Hard for food bank to update food status
Produce
Urgent need
Meat
Dairy
Enough
Produce
Food Status Ring ✅
Instant recognition through three-color coding of food status
Space efficiency
Tap to each rings to se detailed food items
Produce
Hygiene
Funding
Meat
Bakery
Ready to eat
Dairy
Dry & Can
Home screen iteration
Donation Flow
Easy and enjoyable donation to encourage continuous donation behavior
HMW create a fast donation reservation for donors for points?
Goal
Create a positive donation reservation experience to accumulate points for the incentive system.
Donation Flow
During the research phase, we identified that users were concerned about the lengthy reservation process and manual item input. To address this, we implemented AI technology to scan food items and automatically match donations to the nearest suitable food bank based on needs and distance.
Start donation iteration
Reduce donor cognitive load by prioritizing the AI feature and separating donation and contribution into two flows.
Our testing revealed that 9/13 participants found the lo-fi donation screen confusing. This confusion arose because participants felt they needed to manually categorize and input food items, as the AI feature was not prioritized and explained.
In response, the hi-fi version prioritized the AI scan feature, significantly reducing cognitive load. Users now only need to input item names manually if they choose to do so, improving overall donation experience.
“I feel kind of stressed to input each food item if I have a lot to donate...I don’t know what is add food category and a camera icon means”
-One participant complained about donation screen
Scan foods iteration
Minimizes confusion and reduce cognitive load
Final Result
Helping reduce food waste and ensuring that 49 million food bank recipients have access to nutritious food
With Foodo, countless recipients like Nina will be able to enjoy nutritious food, thanks to the support from individual donors.
The End. :)
Reflection
01
Use content to build trust
One lesson is the significance of word choice in establishing a connection and trust with users. Initially, we used 'Money Donation,' but feedback suggested it might give people an impression that food banks only want donors money. To ensure our language resonated appropriately, we conducted A/B testing with terms like 'Money Donation,' 'Fundraising,' and 'Contribution.' Based on the results, 'Contribution' emerged as the preferred choice, reflecting our commitment to mindful and effective communication.
02
Learn from Imperfection
This is one of my early projects, and I adore it deeply because it felt like I was designing something to combat a real social problem. The process of working on this project instilled in me a profound sense of purpose.
Reflecting back, I realize there are several areas where the project needs more work. One key area is the development of a more sophisticated and fair point system for donors. This system should not only incentivize donations but also ensure equity and transparency in how rewards are distributed. I would also like to explore other innovative ways to incentivize users, foster a sense of community, and ensure long-term user retention.