Fresh Look
Enhancing fresh produce identification skills for novice grocery shoppers
OVERVIEW
Have you ever gone into a grocery store and ended up spending too much time selecting fresh produce? Are you frustrated with your fruits and vegetables spoiling quicker than you expected? Fresh Look is an image recognition app designed to help users evaluate the freshness of their produce, discover optimal storage methods, and efficiently manage their inventory.
MY ROLE
User research, interviews, illustrating and logo design, wireframing, prototyping, user testing
DURATION
Sep 7 - Oct 13 2023
TOOLS
Figma, Figjam, Miro
PROBLEM
Peeling back the layers of the problem
How might I create a mobile platform that empowers both novice and experienced grocery shoppers to build their confidence in identifying the freshest produce at the grocery store and maximizing the freshness of their selections?
RESEARCH
The start of fruitful beginnings
To begin my research, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 6 individuals who are new to produce shopping or are unfamiliar with navigating the best ways to choose fresh produce efficiently. Using affinity mapping, I categorized recurring details and pain points from the interviews. My objective was to gain insights into participants' current methods of selecting fruits and vegetables and to understand the challenges they face when making these choices.
Participants:
18-23 years old
Interviewed via phone call
Interviews were 15 minutes long
Key Insight #1:
“Recently I was wondering how fresh one of my gingers was. I would never want to eat anything that is spoiled or not fresh because I worry about the aftereffects”
Key Insight #2:
“A lot of stuff at the grocery store looks the same, so I end up just grabbing whatever because I’m not sure how else to differentiate”
Key Insight #3:
“I like when fruits are a little sour, but I always end up choosing the ones that are too ripe”
Key Findings:
Competitive Analysis
To gain a better understanding of the current market within this field, I analyzed 3 of the most popular apps on the market that primarily focus on providing information about produce or food inventory: FoodKeeper, NoWaste, and Pantry Check.
Additionally, based on the user interviews, I identified a common challenge among participants: difficulties in consistently assessing the quality of produce due to confusion about the relationship between visual appearance and freshness. To address this issue, I decided to explore the potential of image recognition features as a solution. Although existing NoWaste and Pantry Check offer scanning features, they are limited to barcode identification. To expand my understanding on the idea of image recognition, I conducted a competitive analysis on PictureThis, an app known for its image recognition capabilities in the context of plants.
Pain Points
Feature Observations - Image Identification Scanning
Simplify and expand
FoodKeeper, NoWaste, and Pantry Check serve their primary purposes such as providing storage information, organizing an inventory, and displaying expiration dates. However, none of them offer a comprehensive solution, lacking in more than one purpose.
There is an opportunity to create an app that integrates all of these functionalities into a single platform and enhances the user experience with a produce-scanning feature
USER STORIES + JOURNEY MAP + TASK FLOWS
Freshening up the experience
Based on the user interviews, I crafted 2 user stories representing distinct individuals who have different levels of grocery shopping knowledge, frustrations, worries, and goals, but both of whom would benefit from Fresh Look.
Jasmine, first year in college
No experience grocery shopping
Jasmine faces challenges in navigating the grocery store, where she spends considerable time researching how to tell if something is fresh. She is particularly uncertain about the 'softness' rule for ripeness and conflicting storage advice for items like onions. She wants a reliable solution to her produce-related concerns, and once she finds out about Fresh Look, she's enthusiastic about the app's scanning feature and how the reference photos provide her with a convenient way to assess different levels of freshness.
Tommy, college graduate
Has been grocery shopping for 5 years
Tommy meal preps and buys groceries in bulk every week. Despite always having a stocked-up fridge, he eats out with friends often and his groceries pile up. This makes him forget about items in his refrigerator and pantry, and he feels guilty about his food waste, actively trying to improve his habits. Discovering Fresh Look, Tommy appreciates the app's ability to organize his pantry and set reminders for produce nearing expiration, helping him minimize food waste and stay on top of his kitchen inventory.
Journey Map
Opportunities
Structured scoring system for measuring produce freshness
Offer both a scanning and search bar option for finding produce
Inventory feature that shows users what items they currently have
Offer tips on how to store produce and maximize freshness
Inform users on potential health risks associated with consuming spoiled produce
Provide timelines for how long produce can last
Provide sample photos that help users identify the various levels of ripeness/freshness
Task Flows
From the user stories and insights from journey mapping, I created 2 task flows that would enable Jasmine and Tommy to accomplish their goals: create an account and scan an item, and organize an item into an inventory.
Scan an item and organize it into an inventory
Tommy’s goal: minimize food waste and stay on top of his kitchen inventory by organizing his pantry
Task flow 2 - in order for Tommy to accomplish this goal, he needs to:
Create an account and scan an item
Jasmine’s goal: learn how fresh her produce is and how to store it
Task flow 1 - in order for Jasmine to accomplish this goal, she needs to:
IDEATION + DESIGN
Putting pen to paper
After pinpointing key features and functions desired by users, including an intuitive image-recognition scanning feature and a comprehensive database for learning about produce storage, I designed pages and functionalities that were consistent with the insights from my user interviews and stories.
Low-Fidelity Sketches
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
After constructing my sketches into mid-fidelity wireframes, I conducted user testing with 6 users in order to gather early feedback and ideas about the design and identify potential usability problems. Below are just a few of the key screens.
Users are able to read through the informative onboarding slides or click “Get Started” as a shortcut
When searching for produce, users have the choice of a search bar or browsing fruits or veggies in the category of interest
When produce is identified, users are shown a measurement bar that rates freshness, and adding item texture and smell increases accuracy
When users scan or search for a particular produce item, I aimed to consolidate a wide range of information onto a single page
I implemented a “Tip of the Day” so that users can learn new information about produce freshness everyday
I separated the inventory into three categories so that users can easily organize and find items
TESTING + IMPROVEMENTS
Green and growing: sprouting improvements
As the foundation for my user testing, I defined two tasks to 6 users: creating an account and scanning an item, followed by organizing an item into an inventory. My goal of the testing was to pinpoint any areas of friction or difficulty for users during task completion, while also gathering insights and recommendations to enhance the app.
As users completed the tasks and interacted with the app's interface, they expressed satisfaction with its overall flow and minimalist design. However, they encountered challenges particularly related to the inventory page layout, and suggested improvements to the variety of information Fresh Look offers. Taking these concerns into account, I identified several points for refinement in my design and progressed with the following iterations:
1. Enhanced Inventory Organization
Users expressed confusion about the item lifespan rings and found inefficiencies with horizontal scrolling, noting difficulty finding a specific item in a long list
To address these concerns, I implemented a sorting button so that users can order their inventory according to personal preference and added vertical scrolling to improve efficiency in item navigation
2. Addition of a Search Guide
Initial feedback suggested that users wanted a quick way to get help for situations where they are in-store and need immediate shopping advice
In response, I created a search guide where users can quickly access relevant information and produce shopping tips, improving their shopping experience and minimizing confusion
Crisp enhancements and fresh perspectives
Following the iteration of my wireframes, I conducted further user testing where additional concerns were brought to light:
“Sometimes something looks fresh, but random brown spots make me feel like it’s not good”
“I worry about eating bruised fruits because I can’t tell if it’s rotten or just bruised”
“I’m confused about the difference between sorting by lifespan or expiration date”
Using this feedback, I brainstormed strategies to enhance the clarity and usability of Fresh Look. Aiming to minimize user confusion and improve explanatory capability, I implemented the following changes to my design:
1. Blemish Detection Assistance
Initial feedback indicated that users faced challenges discerning specific areas of concern on produce items
To address these concerns, I implemented a feature that highlights and describes different imperfections to help users learn to recognize them
2. Inventory Organization Clarification
Initial feedback indicated that users experienced confusion regarding the sorting difference between lifespan rings and expiration date
To clarify this confusion, I added an info icon explaining the difference between the two methods and provided further details in the item info page
FINAL SOLUTION
Ripe and ready🥭
After making iterative improvements to my design based on user feedback, Fresh Look was complete!
TASK - Create an account and scan an item
TASK - Scan an item and organize it into an inventory
When participants expressed difficulty in identifying problem spots, I implemented a feature that provides examples of different types of imperfections.
The item info page offers details on scanned items and helps users choose the best storage option, featuring shopping tips, item timeline, storage suggestions, and consumption precautions
APP FEATURE - Home page
I aimed to make the onboarding process quick and seamless, keeping in mind users may be at the grocery store when creating an account.
Users are directly led to the scanning page which includes:
Animation that demonstrates how to scan an item
Freshness meter
Description about how to use the “Texture” and “Smell” sliders, where users can provide additional information in order to get a more precise freshness detection
On the Home page, users can perform various functions:
Set up notifications to be reminded of upcoming produce expirations or new tips
Tip of the day is an educational tool that introduces users to helpful information
The Search guide provides users with shopping tips based on their desired level of freshness
Users can search for or browse items using Quick find
APP FEATURE - Inventory page
During user interviews, participants expressed a need for a simple way to remember their kitchen inventory, aiming to reduce food waste.
Individual lifespan rings show how long it will last in the specific inventory section
The status and location of items is easily adjusted
CONCLUSION + REFLECTION
Such a fun project and enjoyable experience!
Fresh Look was my second project and it has been such a fun experience creating something that has the potential of helping so many people. I wanted to design a product that would be able to ease the stress off of novice grocery shoppers and although Fresh Look is not an official app for download, positive feedback from users indicates its potential utility. This process has been a valuable learning experience and I've been able to grow my skill set.
Key Takeaway
Regularly seek feedback and focus on the main goal. Something I noticed was the longer I looked at my work, the more I tended to overcomplicate it. I often found myself worrying that my designs were not complicated enough, leading me to fixate on minor details or potential additions. However, engaging in conversation with others and listening to user feedback was extremely beneficial. Such perspectives helped me identify opportunities for improvement and prioritize enhancements effectively. I learned that in most cases, simple is better and it is more important to focus on what has the biggest impact on the overall user experience.
Further Development
If I had more time, I would have liked to have added a barcode scanning feature to provide users with multiple ways of identifying produce. Additionally, offering recipes for soon-to-expire produce in the inventory could increase the versatility of the app and help inspire users to use their items.