Avo - Smart Food Management
Designing an app to track and extend the shelf life of household foods.
OVERVIEW
In Spring 2023, I collaborated with Rumi Sait on designing Avo. Our goal was to develop a solution that would help individuals adapt to new environments by focusing on food management and reducing waste. I was a designer and researcher, and deeply involved in every stage of the app’s design.
Timeline
Spring 2023
Team
Tools
Figma
FigJam
Adobe Illustrator
My Role
UI & UX Design
User Research
Visual Design
PROBLEM
30-40% of all food produced is wasted and 18-24 year olds, including college students, are the largest demographic of food waste contributors. How might we track the shelf life of household foods for college students in order to minimize food waste?
SOLUTION PREVIEW
Crafted an intuitive food management interface in Avo, enhancing user experience through streamlined navigation and color coordinated food tracking.
Core Pages
When unloading groceries, open Avo, tap 'Plus', and start scanning items either by Barcode or through Receipt.
At the grocery store, Avo notifies you of soon-to-expire fridge items.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
Harvesting Insights: A Dive into User Needs and Food Management Trends
Unpacking User Experiences Through Interviews
We conducted user interviews with pre-developed questions and direct observations, aiming to uncover insights into their food management behaviors.
This involved accompanying interviewees on shopping trips, observing their entire journey from departure to unloading groceries, to understand their habits and challenges.
Key Finding
Convenience Store Spending: Users spend more on forgotten items.
Long Shelf Life Preference: Preference for items with extended shelf life.
Opportunities
Shelf Life Tracking: Tracks item perishability to plan purchases.
Recipe Suggestions: Suggest recipes based on pantry items.
Receipt Scanning: Maintains grocery receipt history to act as reminders.
Shopper's Compass: Creating Archetypes
Competing Carts: Competitive Analysis
App: Cooklist
Effective Onboarding: User-friendly introductory experience.
Food Waste Prompts: Promotes eco-conscious shopping.
Receipt Scanning Preview: Convenient purchase tracking.
Overwhelming Options: Too many choices, confusing.
Navigation Challenges: Difficult to navigate.
Limited Quick Actions: Missing quick-access features.
App: Fridgely
Simplified Layout: Clean design.
Receipt Scanning Interface.
Shopping List Conversion: Converts lists to shopping items.
No Call-to-Action on Pages.
Onboarding Lacks App Overview: Inadequate introductory explanation.
Manual Item Entry: Unintuitive entry sequence.
Design Imperatives: Key Insights
Simplified Decision-Making
Quick, informed choices on food purchases and storage.
Proactive Waste Reduction
Facilitate habits that preemptively address food waste through efficient tracking.
Adaptive Convenience
Create an adaptive interface that caters to diverse user shopping and cooking habits.
IDEATION
Creating the MVP
Blueprinting Interactions: The Wireframing Journey
We picked 8 screens to focus our attention on from our User Flow, starting with a sketch and digitizing it into a low fidelity wireframe.
Overview: Highlights urgent items, easy search, and quick pantry additions
Connection to Archetype: Generous and Single Surplus Co-Shoppers — efficient ingredient management
Competitive Analysis: Addresses a feature gap in Fridgely
Overview: Visual product overview with adjustable expiration date feature
Connection to Archetype: Convenience Minimalist — shows longevity of products at quick glance.
Overview: Quick item addition with expiration date input for long receipts.
Connection to Archetype: Joint-Just Enough & Generous Co-shoppers — more items to import due to roommates.
Overview: Simplifies managing multiple expiration dates with easy edits.
Connection to Archetype: Surplus Shopper archetypes — shows true overview of how many items they purchased.
FINAL DESIGNS
The Final Checkout: Presenting Avo
Expiration Status Tags & Item Card on Review Screen
Pantry at a Glance: Home Dashboard Overview
The main dashboard offers an instant overview of stocked items, highlighted by color-coded tags for easy prioritization. Enhancing accessibility, we've incorporated intuitive icons alongside color cues to assist users with color vision deficiencies
Scrolling Through Your Grocery Universe
Item Detail Exploration
Accessing an item's details lets users adjust expiration dates, storage options, and view tips for usage for each item. This feature enhances user control and personalizes their food management experience.
Navigating Individual Item Insights
Search for a Particular Item
The user can narrow down farther using the search function. Opening search also reveals a way to filter by Good, Going, and Gone.
Swift Filter on Top of Page
Scan to Stock: Receipt-Based Item Entry
Scanning receipts adds multiple items quickly, accommodating long receipts. The process concludes with a total list of added items, categorized by food type and expiration date.
Capturing Long Receipts Made Easy
Item-by-Item: Barcode Scanning for Individual Items
Scanning each item's barcode enables quick entry of quantity and expiration dates. The format for expiration date entry mimics real-world labels, ensuring a seamless and low-effort process.
Effortless Entry & Edits with Barcode Scans
REFLECTION
Dear Diary,
Product Result
Future Possibilities
Born from a shared passion and crafted in our downtime, Avo has grown beyond just an idea between friends. As we reflect on its potential, we're open to exploring partnerships, transforming our project into a tangible reality.
Key Takeaways
Taking Breaks
During the project, we often found ourselves engrossed in work for hours. This led to a point where we'd start disliking our designs and thus introduced 'snack and wiggle' breaks, allowing us to step back, refresh, and return to Avo with a clearer perspective.
Sacrificing Ideas
Initially, we envisioned Avo as playful and sticker-filled, aiming for a fun, animated experience. However, as the project progressed, the timeline stretched, leading us to streamline our ideas. While we don't regret this decision, the charm of those early playful elements is something we still fondly recall.
Maximizing Through User Testing
One aspect we couldn't explore was user testing on our final prototype, mainly due to time constraints. Looking ahead, I'm eager to revisit Avo, conduct thorough user testing, and refine our results based on real-world feedback.
