According to the Harvard School of Public Health, food waste is “food that is fit for consumption but consciously discarded at the retail or consumption phases.” Up to 40% of food production goes uneaten and 95% of discarded wholesome food goes into the landfill, which increases the burden on the environment. One way to address food waste and work towards a sustainable future is for everybody involved in the process to address consumption and production issues along the food infrastructure. Food waste should be a concern especially with food insecurity increasing during the pandemic as schools were no longer open to feed kids, people experiencing financial problems, and food scarcity in food desert areas.
An estimation by researchers at Northwestern University states that food insecurity has doubled in the U.S. as a result of the economic crisis. Demand at food banks skyrocketed and continues to rise. A 2018 study from Feeding America, a network of 200 nonprofit food banks across the country serve as the only recourse for many who cannot afford food. The amount of people that go to some food banks has increased by 600 percent since the economic downturn during the 2020 pandemic and it is expected to rise going into 2021. As demand for food banks increases, food banks are having a harder time supplying everyone who goes to their food bank.
While there are systems in place where food donations are made, there are still many obstacles that both donors and receivers face. There are issues with liability, accessibility, and equity. Liability does not cover donating to individual families and not everybody is able to access food banks. There are also concerns about equity depending on location and organization. On the other hand, it is easier for food donations to go to organizations under the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996. This provides limited liability protection for people who make good faith donations of food and grocery products. In order to receive protection under the act, a person or gleaner must donate in goodfaith apparently wholesome food or apparently fit grocery products to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals.
Before diving into designing the application, I examined features from existing applications that promoted food consumption or matters related to food. The primary apps observed were DoorDash and Postmade. What I observed in the mobile application of DoorDash was that users are greeted with a plethora of filters, recommendations, and customizations for the users. This allows users to order from the comfort of their own homes without the need to leave wherever they are and this handiness encourages users to return to the app. Another mobile application that was observed that featured food donation is FoodFight! It is featured in the Postmates app for participating restaurants to have excess food picked up within 20 minutes of request and delivered to local shelters. FoodFight! helps deter food waste and food insecurity but the issue is that it does not directly let people who depend on donors know about the excess food which limits the reach.
The problem is that the lack of communication and resources between restaurants and donations can diminish the efficiency of food donations and increase food waste. The solution is to create an app that acts as an intermediary between organizations or families and food suppliers. The app or website lets businesses post their leftover food or ingredients online that allows organizations to pick up the food. This will help restaurants decrease food wastes, provide organizations with food, and create a local pantry. Additionally, it would be a great opportunity for people to learn about food waste.
The three main insights we used to drive the direction of our app:
There would be two target audiences: families that depend on the food bank daily or meal service programs (SNAP, EBT, etc) and restaurants that want to donate their leftover food. The goal would be to encourage restaurants or shops to donate their leftover food or ingredients by posting whatever they have left on the app and the organization or people picking up their food would put down a name. This would help lessen food waste and the amount of people starving.
There are many pain points that I will have to go through for this app. The first issue is that many restaurants still believe that donating food is “illegal” which would deter many from donating. Another challenge is that it would be difficult for people without access to technology to use this type of application. Another challenge is that some organizations or people might exploit this type of organization.
How might we encourage food donations to food banks to decrease food waste and food insecurity?
The initial direction of Dish Up was from the perspective of food donors and the steps it would take to register to donate food. During a one-on-one meeting with my professor discussing the pain points I wanted to tackle, I came to the conclusion that I was going to pivot the point-of-view to someone who would use the app to get food.
My focus on the app changed to focusing on the people who would use this app to find food as opposed to focusing on food donors. The wireframes focused on how the user would browse the app and checkout food for pickup or delivery. A key feature of the app is that it allows users to browse without needing to create an account or login.
User Tasks
In addition to letting the users explore the app freely, I gave them tasks to do to uncover any usability issues, pain points, and understand the users better. Some of the tasks include:
By observing the users’ actions and asking for their feedback, I learned what I could improve on the next usability updates.
Usability Updates
After multiple rounds of user testing some of the feedback the majority of the issues related to the readability and lack of breadcrumbs in the design. To tackle the typography issues, I increased the leading so the ascending and descending letters would not clash and allow more distinction between lines. The homepage of the app also had issues with clarity due to the lack of space, but I implemented more distinction between sections and a carousel so that users are able to see more without.
Mid-Fi
Dish Up system uses iconic symbols that allows users to understand how the app works regardless of generation. The main color used is yellow orange which hopes to bring out positive emotions to all users. I wanted to have a hopeful and happy color that would encourage more users to come back to donate or take the food with positive feelings.
The final solution is Dish Up, a mobile application that gives another opportunity for food and assists families and individuals to locate food bank organizations with meals. Users are able to keep their anonymity while using the app so it would encourage users who are afraid to give their information to use the app.
Opening and Login
Users are able create an account or login upon entry to the application. They are also able to skip these options if they are looking to casually browse. This would prevent users from being deterred to exploring food options available and prevent potential food waste.
Newsletter and Updates
Before the users browse, they are greeted with a newsletter that would encourage people to volunteer for Dish Up which would help with deliveries and pickups. They would also feature potential updates and information for the users.
Home Page
The users are able filter through the inventory with the bubble filters on located on top of the page. The home page features food banks or restaurants near the users with extra food so that it would be easier for them to either pick up food or have food delivered.
Organization Menu
The organization menu screens features food banks, organizations, or restaurants in a online restaurant ordering format. This would make using the app more intuitively like other food ordering apps. Restaurant information along with menu and the item descriptions make it easier for users to know what they are ordering.
Selection and Confirmation
A card slides up after the user taps on the item. The card expands on the description and provides several actions the users can take. These actions include adding items to cart to canceling to go back to the menu. If the users chooses to add the item to cart, then there would be a confirmation message for the users to know that the item was added successfully.
Cart and Updates
The cart allows users to preview what they have added before checking out their order. If they want to change items in the cart they are able to change the amount with a slide up card.
Anonymous Confirmation
Users that prefer more privacy can use an alias while leaving their number in order to get their order and confirmation receipt. This help the food banks, restaurants, or participating organizations name to the order so it won't be lost or accidentally taken by another person.
Receipt
The receipt acts as proof for the users to show organizers their order. Another function of the receipt is that it can show past orders.
Through this project, I was able to get a better understanding of the UI/UX process and the human-centered approach to research and technology. This project has informed me about many issues regarding the food infrastructure and the lack of communication with data and technology. I hope that Dish Up can spearhead further research and care towards data and design information based on food infrastructure and be more inclusive to low-income Americans, minorities, people with disabilities, and more. Additionally, I hope that this would incentivize restaurants and markets to be more considerate to their impact on the environment and society if this app were to come to fruition.
Next Steps
I would like to explore other potential features that could be included in the application from different point-of-views. These could be the point of view from donors and organizations receiving donations. I would also like to find ways for users to find volunteer opportunities, which would create a more efficient environment that can transform potential food waste to fight food insecurity. Additionally, I would like to implement filter options in the future that would let the users modify their searches faster.
Download PDF of Data and Food Infrastructure Proposal