HARVEST APP

MOBILE APP

PROJECT SUMMARY

Today’s health-conscious shopper struggles to provide organic food for her family and prefers not to shop at chain grocery stores. With the help of Harvest, Our user will benefit from the option to pick a variety of fresh local foods that can be conveniently delivered while also supporting the local economy.

We wanted to create an app that allows our users to get local farmers market items delivered to their door.

Product Designer

User Research, Visual Design, Prototyping & Testing

Timeline

~3 Weeks

Year

November 2020

THE DESIGN PROCESS

Over three weeks, Anna Curl, Kate Ellis, Al Schmidt, Ali Villareal and I, worked together to create an easy-to-use app that allows users to get local farmers market items delivered to their doors.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everyone's lives, but it hit small local businesses especially hard. So we wanted to create an app that would connect local farmer and small business owners to customers who wants an alternative to shopping chain grocery stores, but the convenience of online shopping.

User research and competitive analysis were really important to our ultimate design. We worked together to complete our user interview and research, definition, and ideation. I sketched a lo-fi prototype of how I envisioned Harvest. We used a lot of features from my lo-fi sketches to create the hi-fidelity prototype. I designed the 'Add to Cart' and 'Checkout Process' screens of the Harvest app. I also helped with alignment, formatting, and wireframing. We completed five user tests with the first iteration of our high fidelity prototype. After incorporating some critical feedback, we iterated the process again for our final product.

RESEARCH

We conducted five user interviews and collected 77 survey responses to understand user's shopping habits, pain points, and motivations. We wanted to know how important local produce and farmer's markets are for health-conscious shoppers to gauge the viability of our app, especially during the COVID pandemic.

Our user research found that shoppers did not like to spend more than an hour or two shopping. We also noted that most shoppers are willing to spend more at one store than frequent multiple stores to find discounted and cheaper items.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Most apps and services were based in and solely serving large metropolitan areas. Apps were not engaging or intuitively designed. Competitor adjacent businesses offered packaged meal plans, produce, and grocery items, directly connecting with local farmers.

USER INTERVIEW

Research showed pain points related to crowds, product availability, and sourcing products/goods at more than one location.

GOOGLE FORM SURVEY

Surveys highlighted commonalities in feelings towards the grocery shopping experience and time spent shopping. It also showed discrepancies within diet and food choice lifestyles.

98.7%

of users spend 1-2 hrs shopping

61%

of users buy groceries weekly

71.4%

of users frequent 1-2 stores

USER PERSONA

DEFINITION

To understand the user and prioritize key features that would improve the user experience.

PROTO–PERSONA

After organizing our user insights into an Affinity Diagram, we created a proto-persona of Gwen Martin before finalizing our user persona.

Gwen is a young mom that is constantly busy with work and family but still very health-conscious, especially with a one-year-old.

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IDEATION

To generate ideas and solutions for the redesign

We brainstormed using the 'I Like, I Wish & What If' Diagram and the Feature Prioritization Matrix. We were able to develop some ideas and features to incorporate into the app to make shopping at farmers markets more convenient and enjoyable.

FEATURE PRIORITIZATION MATRIX

After brainstorming, we voted on which features would make the most impact and improve the users' experience. We narrowed it down to three features–

Providing an option for meal kits crafted by local farmers and chefs
Giving reward/loyal points/discounts for frequent shoppers
Suggestions based on dietary needs.

STORYBOARD

We created a user storyboard to ideate our shopper's experience.

We are designing for today's health-conscious shopper struggling to provide organic food for her family and prefers not to shop at chain grocery stores. With Harvest, our users can choose a variety of fresh local foods while supporting the local economy.

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USER FLOW

It was important that users could browse and shop before creating an account. In our competitor analysis, other grocery delivery apps did not allow users to access the app until they created an account, which was frustrating and stressful.

STAY CONNECTED

PROTOTYPING

After defining the user and ideating different solutions, we independently sketched how we envisioned Harvest. Below are my lo-fi sketches. I hand-drew 18 frames to visualize the layout and design of the app.

LO-FI Wireframes Sketches

WIREFRAME PROGRESSION

After lo-fi prototyping independently, we reconvened and discussed which features and layout would best resolve our users’ issues and frustrations. We integrated all of our sketches to create our hi-fi prototype.

Wireframe Progression

Onboarding Screen

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Add to Cart Screen

Track Runner Screen

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TESTING

To identify any usability problem, collect data, and determine user satisfaction with the product

After designing the lo-fi prototype, we completed five usability tests. We analyzed our data and isolated three main issues.

Addressed the following user issues–

Message Vendor as well as Runner
Reward System Breakdown
Accessibility to Create an Account for New Users

FINAL PROTOTYPE

We worked together to build our hi-fi prototype. I designed and wireframed the 'Add to Cart' and 'Checkout' Screens and transitions. I iterated the process 2-3 times for continuity and uniformity in our app design.