Sensifi is a mobile app that helps in managing food inventory at home through smart tag's food freshness detection system. It was born out of our incapability to manage food efficiently as part of a classroom project during my MS HCI program at IUPUI.
Primary Research
Conceptualization
Visual Design
User Testing
2 Design Researchers, 2 UX Designers
September' 22 - October' 22
Food waste impacts the environment. Although, the majority of people consider food as biodegradable, and a common misconception exists that if one person wastes, it won’t impact the environment as much but in reality, the impact is big as it accumulates. Food waste not only impacts the environment but also society as well.
A mobile application that provides real-time updates on the quality of food inventory at home through smart tags and suggests efficient utilization mechanisms.
View Final Design
Literary reviews were conducted to understand how food waste impacts various facets of the world, why it is happening and where is it prominent and what are the current solutions in the market.
Impact/Environment
Impact/Society
Impact/Home
To understand the customer base, their awareness, shopping, storage and wastage patterns, a survey was conducted. It received 38 responses. We understood that, contrary to our belief, the problem affects people from all age groups.
A quote that hit us most was
We conducted user interviews (questions) of 8 people with diverse backgrounds (students & working professionals) and age group to understand their viewpoints and current food inventory management mechanisms. Following that, observations were conducted at homes, and grocery stores to see their storage habits and supplement the former research.
We found that people end up buying more than what they want and get busy with lives that they forget about the items.
Some of the common reasons identified for food wastage at home are:
Customers need to quickly prepare food for required proportion based on what is left in fridge and its shelf life without any stress.
Due to their busy schedules, customers often tend to forget to check upon their food inventory at home, leading to spoilage of them.
Customers tend to buy more than required due to several factors and struggle to store food properly and consume within the required time.
One of our major insights was that we believed the issue will exist for the younger population we uncovered that it could affect any age group either due to improper planning, busy schedules, excessive buying behavior or forgetfulness.
Based on the insights, archetypes were created based on the customer’s awareness on the impact and the readiness to act upon. The project primarily focuses on the Essentialists and the Enthusiasts as they are willing to adopt new technology.
How might we help users to manage food inventory and reduce the food wasted at home?
How might we help the users to effectively reuse the leftover food at home?
How might we help the users to recycle the food waste at home in order to help the environment?
Based on the statements, 2 ideation sessions (with the team & with the target audience) were conducted. Further, the final idea was selected through several internal discussions and votings based on desirability, viability, and feasibility.
Following the brainstorming session, 3 ideas were finally shortlisted and validated against their desirability, viability, and feasibility. 2 solutions focused on donating food items and encouraging recycling food. The 3rd and final solution is to reduce food wastage at home and effectively utilizing it.
Every food releases gasses during its oxidation process and chemical sensors sense these gases (Reference). Based on it, the food expiration date can be predicted, and users can be notified via the app through near-field communication.
Think-aloud sessions were conducted for the application with 8 participants. 4 tasks were provided to the participants to perform:
1. Connect food item to a tag
2. Track the added food item
3. Identify how to use it through recipes
4. Remove the food item
1. Progressive Onboarding
New onboarding helps users' to understand how the app works and how to use the sensor to connect food items
2. Better visual cue & matching mental modelThe interactions that are unconventional were changed to the interactions that matches user's mental model.
2. Improved UX copyThe UX copy was improved and updated to remove any confusions to the user and convey the accurate message.
A progressive onboarding welcomes users the first time they open the app to clear all doubts regarding the sensor + food tracking
Impact:
Help users onboard quickly with minimal hassles and maximum impact and knowledge.
For each day, get a quick overview of the freshness of the food being tracked along with information on how to utilize it
Impact:
Reduce the time to manually check the freshness of recipes and efficiently utilize it through "ways to use"
Based on the food items user's have, get customized recipes according to their specific requirements
Impact:
Reduce food wastage and get easy recipes to utilize efficiently
Connect your food item to a tag to start tracking and see the status of all tracked food items
Impact:
Tag significantly reduces human intervention and lets the app track the freshness of the food items accurately and cheaply
1. Having healthy arguments
There were instances where we didn't agree to each other's points. I learnt that the key is to listen patiently, take time, ask questions and understand their viewpoint and explain your viewpoint and finally weigh both.
2. Listen to your team
While working on a team, it is very essential to listen to what everyone says and to ensure they are included. After 8 weeks, I can proudly say I have got not only a solid team, but good friends.
