Type of Project
- User Experience Design Mater of Arts
- Major Project
- 2020 6 months
- Major Project
- 2020 6 months
Skills
- Individual Work
- Secondary Research
- User Research
- Generative Research
- Service Design
- Behavioural Design
- Wire-Framing
- Secondary Research
- User Research
- Generative Research
- Service Design
- Behavioural Design
- Wire-Framing
Background
Food Waste
The food industry accounts for 26% of all carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. In the UK we waste around 1/3 of our food, we use land the size of Wales to grow all the food we waste in a year. Early research demonstrated people want to be more sustainable with their food. However, there are many factors preventing them from solving this intention-action gap. The way their lives are structured, and their habitual behaviours make it difficult to stop waste, I worked to design a service to help them change their behaviour.
An Important Issue
This matters not just for the environment, but also for people. The world needs more balance as 795 million people are undernourished. The graphic below shows that prevention is the best method of stopping food waste.
Nourish's Customers
The target users are young adults living with their parents. 27% of 20-34 year olds were living with their families in 2019, and this has been increasing over the Covid-19 lockdown. Insights found that these had particularly strong pain points from conflicting needs within the family.
Design Approach
Design Approach - Double Diamond
I used this process to ensure I was basing my design off solid data and research. In the first diamond, I gathered a wide range of data. I used the 'How Might We' (HMW) technique to help create a User Experience Vision to help solve the problems discovered and improve the people's experience. The second diamond focused on creating ideas, and continually refining these. This was done while co-creating and testing to ensure the final services will be used and enjoyed by the customers.
Design Approach - Design for Behaviour Change
I intended to change wasteful behaviour over time, and combined the double diamond processes with a behaviour change processes that considered ethics.
Design Approach - Starting at the Surface, Then Diving Deeper
I used a range of primary research techniques, starting off gathering surface level information rapidly to inform more in depth research to improve it's efficiency and effectiveness. Research techniques included:
- Contextual interviews, followed by a follow-up interview to allow for reflection.
- Cognitive mapping, to discover how people make sense of their complex problems.
- Remote ethnography, to gain empathy with participants’ pain points and behaviours.
- Remote card sorting to understand participants’ priorities.
- Service design co-creation, in order to understand what they would dream of having.
Discover Through Research
Eco-anxious food shoppers
I focussed on millennial eco-anxious food shoppers who were always pushed for time. These had very strong intention gaps and vivid feelings of guilt and powerlessness. They wanted to change their behaviour, but life was keeping them stuck in their food habits.
Data Collection and Research Methods
- Cognitive Mapping to understand the complex food shopping choices.
- Contextual interviews to explore problems with eco-alternative.
- Remote card sorting to understand priorities (over covid-19 lockdown).
- Remote video diaries for remote ethnography, developed empathy and revealed problems.
- Remote service design co-creation to understand what they dream of having.
Cognitive Mapping
Cognitive Mapping
Reflective Interview
Contextual Interview
Card Sorting
Remote Ethnography
Remote Food Diary
Remote Generative Service Design Co-creation
Define The Opportunity
My research gathered a broad range of data. I used multiple analysis techniques to find patterns and inspiration in the predominantly qualitative data. I wanted to find why behaviours were occurring, for the target customers and discover attitudes to food and eating.
Affinity Diagram
The Affinity diagram is to question preconceived ideas, find patterns and make sense of all the data.
AEIOU
Observing and analysing Activities, Environments, Interactions, Objects and Users (AEIOU). This was particularly useful for analysing remote ethnography information.
The information was then reviewed and clustered in a Mural to reveal higher level themes and patterns. As the research revealed very different circumstantial pain points, the data was divided into individual participant types. This helped me to generate context specific insights to help narrow down a target user group for the second stage of development within the double diamond.
Key Insights
1. When buying food, people have no idea how many total calories are in their food and then either eat it and put on weight, or throw it out and feel guilty.
2. Eating and cooking alone can feel unpleasant if you're feeling lonely. Therefore quick decisions can be made not thinking about health or environmental sustainability.
3. Decisions for food to eat between groups or couples makes the problem complicated, for example decisions happening remotely on the way home from work can lead to increased waste poor or communication.
4. The convenience of the supermarket travels home into the fridge with pre-processed snacks, causing guilt around weight and packaging. This can also result in waste food though excess calories. People feeling out of control.
5. Young adults (20-34) are increasingly living with families (around 25%). Often young adults want to shop sustainably (vegetarianism or other) but differences in habits and desires causes tension and conflicts, but families want to enjoy food together.
Define - 'How Might We'
I combined 'How Might We' ideas into a single idea. I developed this into my opportunity statement to help my design process.
'How Might We'Opportunity Statement
Persona
I created a persona to ensure the design process was user-centred, that was continually developed as the representative target user became clearer. The persona was based on an aggregate of research participants. It helped to identify undesirable human behaviours to target.
A Common and Devastating Issue: Food Waste
Leah, the persona, is not alone in overbuying food. Within the UK, over shopping is a wasteful problem.
- Food accounts for 30% of a household’s carbon footprint, and 25% of this is wasted.
- The committee on climate change have stated that large changes to behaviour are required.
- Supermarkets use psychological tricks to make us buy more than we need.
- The UK is obsessed with convenience, which results in excessive waste.
- The committee on climate change have stated that large changes to behaviour are required.
- Supermarkets use psychological tricks to make us buy more than we need.
- The UK is obsessed with convenience, which results in excessive waste.
There is a need to change the way we shop in order to meet climate goals by reducing food waste. Supermarkets push for this overconsumption, and our needs for convenience facilitate this. Our behaviour when we shop needs to change dramatically if we are to reach the UKs goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Target Behaviours to Improve
To help Leah meet her goal of being more sustainable, I wanted to help her to change her own behaviour through a service that can support her. I specified three behaviours to help her change (target behaviours) and three new behaviours to try and help her achieve.
Define - UX Vision
Define - Design Principles
- Collaborative
- Optimistic
- Accommodating
- Sustainability Focused
- Optimistic
- Accommodating
- Sustainability Focused
Ideate for the UX Vision
Ideation - Crazy 8s
Ideation - Journey Map
Ideation - Evidence Based Behaviour Change Grid
Develop
Develop - Initial Wireframes
I created wireframe designs for the screens to try and figure out how behaviour change could work, and how the app can help them access their food service. These were built into a low fidelity prototype to test with participants.
Develop - Cycles of Iterating and Testing Designs
Initial service ideas were refined and tested, going through iterative design sprints and gaining feedback though co-design with participants. This was conducted remotely or in person where safety allowed under the Covid-19 lockdown.
Develop - Brand Design
User testing included asking participants their preferences on brand styles and images after their use of the wireframe, low fidelity prototypes. The mock ups then incorporated the brand image for further feedback and refinement in testing.
Develop - Remote User Testing
User testing was conducted remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Though sharing a click-through prototype and asking questions over video, I gained feedback on the behaviour change methods, service concept, brand design, and usability. Feedback was recorded, assessed and prioritised into changes that could be implemented within the time-period.
Deliver
Business Model Concept
The output from this work was a concept for a service, the business model canvas was intended to show how a service could be setup in the form of a business, as participants expressed an interest in 'having everything in one place' with relation to their food. The service would need to allow for food purchased by other means.
Nourish Service Concept
Food waste is a common problem for households, especially for different age groups living together.
It becomes hard to manage what to buy, how much to buy, when to buy it, where to store it, how long it will last. And for people trying to improve their environmental damage, it can feel very difficult!
Waste food is a huge problem, but it doesn't have to be like this.
The service delivered sustainable food and it differs from competitors such as: Hello Fresh, Gusto, Supermarkets and Refill shops as it allows for:
- Collaborative shopping between Housemates / Families / Partners etc.
- Planning for food eaten together and making individual tweaks for meals to cater for different needs.
- Learning how to change behaviour to become less wasteful and more environmentally friendly.
- Having options to be more sustainable with food choices.
- Food deliveries are enough for a week, as a supermarket might be, but system can allow for other purchases from other sources.
The images below show how the service could be accessed through an app. People hear about a new food service that helps them to prevent food waste and help them to make meals. These screens were the latest iteration in user testing, but further development and expansion would be required to accommodate the full service.
Service Introduction
_____
- These introduction screens highlight the main features of the service for people that are signing up or joining in with their household.
- The digital element allows families and households to easily collaborate when ordering their food.
- The service has a focus on reducing food waste and being sustainable.
Onboarding
_____
- Onboarding allows for others in the house to quickly join with a join code.
Browsing The App
_____
- The app allows the home to see what meals they can make with what they have.
- Their supply of food and roughly how long it will last them.
- Meals and food added by everyone in the home for the next order.
Modifying orders - Prompted with behaviour change
_____
- The app allows adjustments to be made to food orders.
- It helps prompt them into making more sustainable choices, reducing waste. through over eating, and choosing more environmentally friendly options.
Food is delivered in reusable packaging, the delivery driver takes back the old packaging. The right amount of food is delivered, with all their calorific and nutritional needs.
Future Steps
Plans for future developments
- Testing the effectiveness of behaviour change.
- Incorporating meals and food purchased from other places.
- Allowing for Takeaways and eat out lunches without cumbersome tracking
- Iterative development cycles to adjust for potential pain points that arise with service
