Food chain challenge
In this case study, I’ll adress the first UX project I’ve worked during my IronHack UX/UI bootcamp. It was the first time I ver created a User persona or a user journey map. The whole thing was quite challenging, givnng the learning curve, but with the help of my good colleague in this challenge, Valerie and or very experiencec teacher, Nicolly, we were able to come up with something that made us really proud!
Briefing
How to solve the food sustainability problem we face today.
In recent decades, awareness of good nutrition has grown significantly. However, organic food remains inaccessible to many, often limited to those who can afford it. The core challenge we tackled was: How might we help people access local seasonal produce while fostering fair and honest relationships between producers and consumers?
Supermarket chains and large food corporations are reaping more benefits from the organic food market than local producers. Instead of addressing the problem, they are exacerbating environmental harm with unsustainable models.
Technology and Process used
We used FigJam to create boards that encompassed our entire UX study. Here are the steps we took:
1. Secondary Research: We examined the entire food supply process to identify real weaknesses. From this, we formed the following hypotheses:
The lack of clear, easily accessible information is a significant issue.
There are no simple, accessible communication channels between parties.
There is a need for a transparent pricing system and payment methods.
Consumers need more information about what organic products are and their cost compared to conventional products.
There is a lack of information about the origin of organic products.
2. Interview Process: To better understand the real users, we conducted interviews with the following questions:
• Do you live alone or with someone?
• How old are you, if you don’t mind sharing?
• Are you the primary grocery shopper in your home?
• Who does the cooking?
• How did you have your meals last week? Were they mostly cooked at home or bought from outside?
• Do you live in an urban or rural area?
• Do you notice any difference between supermarket products and those from local sources like street markets or farms?
• How much effort do you put into thinking about food choices?
• Do you consider the environmental impact of your food choices?
• Do you have local street markets nearby?
• How do you find out about the timing and location of street markets?
• How often do you visit them?
• Do you enjoy spending time shopping for food, or do you prefer to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible?
• Do you have local producers around you? Have you ever bought directly from a producer? Why or why not? How was your experience?
We interviewed four people from three different countries, gaining valuable insights. Using the Affinity Diagram, we extracted meaningful data and identified the following clusters:
• Price
• Low importance level
• Urban area
• Street market
• Age range
• Healthy choices
• Local producers
• Grocery shopping experience
• Food preparation experience
3. User Persona and User Journey:
And from that, we got 2 “How migh we” statements:
HMW increase the range of fresh local products people have access to?
HMW increase the range of fresh local products people have access to?
4. Problem Statement: Our final problem statement was:
• People conscious about maintaining a healthy lifestyle need a way to access local fresh products, as supermarkets currently offer limited access to these items.
5. Ideation and Final Solution: We used the Crazy 8 method to brainstorm solutions. The winning idea was to create an app that allows local producers to sell their products directly to consumers. The app facilitates scheduling deliveries or pickups, making reservations, and advance payments. It also serves as a hub to connect more local producers with local consumers.
6. Low-Fidelity Wireframe:
Project Timeline
The project ran from February 20th to March 9th, with approximately 20 hours of work per week.
Challenges and Solutions
One of the main challenges was familiarizing ourselves with the UX process for the first time. Coming from a developer background, I was surprised by the level of detail required to develop a solution even before coding began. However, collaborating with a great colleague made all the difference. Through this project, we gained invaluable experience in UX design, which will be crucial for our future projects.
