Ugly Fresh

Overview

Ugly Fresh is an end-to-end platform that reduces food waste by matching food donors to recipients with food insecurities. I want to solve the ineffective redistribution of excess food by using a logistics solution. The Ugly Fresh Driver app is one part of the platform where it helps food delivery drivers coordinate delivery services and communicate with food donors and recipients.

Problems

Every year 40% of food gets thrown away. The 1.4 billion tons of wasted food can feed as many as 2 billion people with a food insecurities. 

Project process

I began this project by conducting user interviews and looking into secondary research. After synthesizing findings, I defined the problem and brainstormed ideas. From the sketches to the fidelity prototypes, I created the first version of the application. I conducted usability testings to validate the idea and iterated the design based on the feedback.

Research

Interviews & Surveys

To understand the current food distribution system, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 4 farmers, 2 working professionals, and 2 volunteers. I also got 43 survey responses.

Facts & Insights

• 1/3 fresh produce gets thrown away only because it doesn’t look perfect. Farmers want to donate the food that they can’t sell in stores. However, they are too busy to preserve food until they are available to deliver. The food ends up going bad.

• Many companies in San Francisco host events and offer meals. Leftovers ends up being dumped and many employees want to know a way to deal with this.

• Many student volunteers go to various places to get food to give away for people in need and they are looking for more food resources.

• House owners want someone to pick up fruits of the trees in their yard to clean, but they don’t know where to ask.

Three Solutions

Hunger is not due to a lack of food resources, instead, this results from the ineffective food distribution system, which causes food waste. I narrowed down to 3 different solutions to tackle the world-wide problem of food waste.

Solution #1

Ugly Fresh Driver

How I got there

A vision to establish a system

Why food donation is beneficial to business?

Farms: I learned that farmers dump surplus produce away in their yard which accelerates climate change. They told me that they want to do something to save our earth for the next generation.

Business: They can get tax deduction by donating food.

Who can make this connection happen?

I conducted a survey to determine who can deliver food and what ‘s their expected minimum benefit. I got 34 responses from many working professionals and college students saying that they are willing to do volunteer works that fit into their schedule.

Driver interviews

I interviewed 2 college students and 2 working professionals who have experienced volunteer works to understand their motivation and minimum benefits.

I also performed competitive analysis on 4 food rescue apps in order to gain a better understanding of the competitive landscape. I determined lack of visibility and access for people to take part in volunteering. Ugly Fresh Driver can be downloaded through the Ugly Fresh website, Google Play and Apple stores so anyone can use the app and join this project.

Design requirements

#1 Connect two-sided system

Donors and a delivery person should be able to communicate from pick-up to drop-off for a seamless delivery.

#2 Opt-in from both sides

To meet the needs from the two-sided:

1. Donors should have controls to accept or reject a pick-up offer due to a safety issue.

2. A driver should be able to choose a pick-up that fits their schedule within a proper distance.

#3 Time matters most

Food tends to spoil easily. Therefore, urgent pickups should be suggested to quickly set up a delivery.

#4 Be simple

For one delivery completed, the three different groups are engaged. The entire process should be easy and simple. The touch point to activate the features should be carefully considered.

Information architecture

Paper prototype testing

Low-fi wireframe

After the usability tests, I created a low-fidelity wireframe and finally was ready to dive into the visual design.

Design iterations

Home: Map Search

Integrated Search: Home and Search menus needed to be integrated because both provide search pickups. Users should be able to intuitively understand how they change the search mode while they are doing relevant task (search).

Item Weight & Distance: Users want to know weight of pickup items more than exact miles of the pickup location. The final design shows weight of items and distance at one time so users can instantly have more information. 

Simplified Filters: Users want to optimize their search when they want to find specific pickups. The most important purpose of this app is to encourage drivers to take urgent pickups. Therefore, I simplified the filter buttons and display more available pickups on the map.

Pickup Details

Information Hierarchy: Based on test findings, users want to know overall journey from pickup to drop off the most. Therefore, I changed the layout to show the most important information on the top.

Encouraged CTA: Users should be able to instantly learn the most important information (location, time, and weight of item) and take an action. The summarized information is located nearby the CTA.

Scrollable Photos: This is not a food order app so food photos are not a top priority so it’s displayed after CTA. When users want to know what kind of food they will deliver, they can check out the photos and food types on the bottom.

Chat Page

Changed the phone position: Phone call and pickup details are different categories on user’s mental model so I changed the position for users to easily find it.

Expand/Collapse card: Users enable to show/hide the pickup details so they can more focus on conversation.

Camera & Voice Message (optional) : From user testing, users want to have voice message feature so they can use this app while multi-tasking. Donors want to have camera feature so they can conveniently provide more information.

User flows

After 6 iterations based on feedback from the potential users, I finalized the product design. A delivery worker can be called a driver in this platform.

#1 List search > Choose a pickup

#2 Get a confirmation notification > Chat opens

#3 Map search > filter food type > Choose a pickup

#4 Start a pickup > Finish a delivery > Request a certificate

Solution #2

E-commerce Website Build

Responsive website

I designed and built this website by HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and MySQL Databases. I learned 1/3 fresh produce gets thrown away only because it doesn’t look perfect. However, they are perfectly delicious and edible produce so this responsive website offers imperfect produce for customers at low cost.

Solution #3

Marketing & Campaign

Branding

Microsite page design

I designed a website where anyone can sign up to donate food. This website educates visitors and participants on the importance of why we take part in this project. Residents and farmers can request gleaning services and anyone can sign up to offer a delivery service.

Infographic motion video

Food waste reduction is an issue that I’ve always tried to tackle. I made a video in the Spring of 2019 before I expected to have Ugly Fresh. Though my illustration skillset was not what it is now, it’s a reminder that we can make a change together for us and for our earth.

Reflection

Design brings people together

I interviewed 20 people to understand this entire system and have a better understanding from the different groups. I found that there’s strong humanism as a foundation and momentum participating in Ugly Fresh to reduce food waste and hunger for a better community. They just wanted to know a way to do it like I did. I believe that we can make a little efforts to make a big impacts together. As a designer, I found myself passionate about solving a problem by building a bridge between people through this project.