I was challenged with re-designing an interface in my kitchen in order to avoid more food waste. I chose a fridge to design my interface on...

 

Problem:

The fridge is a great way of reducing food waste, it keeps things cool so they keep for longer. However I have a habit of buying lots of yummy food when I see it in the shops and then I completely forgot about it so it will sit and rot - if I could see it going off then I'd be for sure to use it up - but that's the problem. I also sometimes buy things that I don't need, forgetting that I already have a perfectly good broccoli at home - does anyone know a recipe for 3 broccolis? 

 

In summary...

- I don't know what's in my fridge

- I buy too much when I'm shopping

- Things go off that I'm unaware of

 

 

Ideas:

I've already had a few ideas about how the fridge could be improved to reduce food waste, this being something which affects me a lot. With the rise of the cost of living and the state of the environment - I absolutely hate having to throw away food. 

The idea that resonated with me was a way of knowing what's in your fridge, keeping track of the expiry dates and a shopping list - all accessible from your fridge and phone. 

 

In summary...

- I don't know what's in my fridge - problem solved

- I buy too much when I'm shopping - problem solved

- Things go off that I'm unaware of - problem solved

 

 

 

 

Storyboard Prototyping:

I've never prototyped with this approach before so I found it pretty interesting and I found it useful as I was thinking of new ideas and challenges with every frame.

The idea of getting home and adding the shopping to the fridge contents list seemed quite time consuming. It's hard to get people to change when we have our habits and some are so limited to time, a new solution might be great but if it isn't easy to implement then we won't use it.  This gave me my next idea; the ability to scan the barcodes so the name, category, expiry would auto upload. 

 

 

Paper prototype:

Again with the next prototype I was thinking of more and more ideas every time I sketched, in fact there was a sketch before this version.

 

 

Digital prototype:

You'll notice how I've switched from mobile to tablet - this is because I wanted to focus on the MVP, the fridge - I definitely imagine the same being reflected on the mobile app too. I decided to spend a little less time on this phase and I have only designed two key screens as I believe the shopping list feature isn't as key as the fridge contents - it's the main solution to the problem.

 

 

As a perfectionist I was already thinking of ways the protoype could be improved, documenting points below. However I believe I shouldn't worry about getting it perfect and I should focus on real user feedback rather than assuming my thoughts are correct. 

 

My next steps are to see if the above points come up from a user and of course to prepare user testing. I'm not there yet in the course so will update this project soon.