Overview
As the User Experience Designer and Researcher for this project, I addressed the challenges of promoting sustainable food habits and reducing urban food waste through an innovative, accessible, and inclusive approach. EverFresh is a smart, sustainable subscription service designed to revolutionize urban food consumption and waste management. At its core, the service features a reusable and detachable compartmentalized storage box for fresh produce, made from recycled PET (rPET) and tracks the freshness of produce through sensors attached to each compartment, detecting ethylene gas emitted to provide an accurate measure of freshness. Paired with a companion app, EverFresh addresses these key challenges:
Easy access to fresh, local produce, fostering inclusivity, food equity, and reducing carbon emissions.
Reduces food waste through real-time freshness tracking and actionable insights tailored to user actions.
Minimizes packaging waste by reusing the boxes.
Encourages sustainable habits with freshness and composting tips, food recipes, sustainability metrics, and rewards.
The box is made from recycled PET which ensures durability and Eco-friendliness, reduces environmental waste and promotes circular material use. Most importantly, EverFresh prioritizes accessibility through multi-sensory feedback for tracking freshness, which includes visual (LED indicators), auditory (tones/vibrations), and tactile (texture feedback mimicking a Braille display) cues. This ensures inclusivity for users with diverse abilities, including those with visual or auditory impairments. This holistic, inclusive, accessible, and Eco-conscious solution empowers individuals to take charge of their healthier, waste-free and sustainable food journey which contributes to a green and more inclusive future.
Design Question
How might we transform patterns of food usage in metropolitan areas to promote both individual health and environmental sustainability?
Impact of EverFresh
EverFresh is committed to transforming the way people consume, manage food and practice sustainable choices. This smart solution is making a significant difference in addressing the climate catastrophe in these key areas.
Research Methods and Insights
I conducted a survey and 9 semi-structured interviews to identify pain points and opportunities for sustainable food utilization solutions.
Surveys
Over 170 participants were reached to collect valuable quantitative data on meal planning habits, food purchasing preferences, food consumption patterns, and waste management practices. The study also explored awareness of and interest in adopting sustainable food practices.
Click here to view survey questions.
Survey Insights
Only 15.5% were aware of sustainable food options and 35.9% checked packaging materials.
51% of participants (ages 25-35) cooked daily and 85% of them prioritize fruits and vegetables which eventually lead to higher food waste.
67.7% of participants ate leftover, and only 6% of them donated leftovers.
55% of participants find sustainable food expensive, and 33% had lack of knowledge about it.
Semi-Structured Interviews
I conducted 9 interviews of 15 – 25 minutes at grocery stores, farmers markets, and online. These explored motivations and frustrations behind food purchasing, sustainable habits like composting or buying local produce, barriers to sustainable practices, and desired changes they want to see to make their food utilization journey better.
Click here to view interview questions.
Interview Insights
Common challenges people usually mentioned were about unclear packaging label and food waste due to overbuying, poor planning, and lack of composting options.
Sustainable habits like reusable bags were often abandoned by people due to cost or inconvenience.
Participants expressed interest in tools for tracking food freshness, sustainability education, and improved meal planning.
Accessibility to local produce was a priority to participants.
User Personas
To ensure the solution addresses diverse user needs, I created detailed user personas capturing their motivations, frustrations, favorite shopping places, food values, factors which influences their shopping habits, and behaviors related to food consumption and sustainability.
Design Goals and Requirements
To address the challenges and insights identified through user research, interviews, and personas, the following design goals and requirements should be included in the service design.
Access to Local Produce: Provide a convenient delivery service for fresh, organic, and locally sourced produce using reusable and sustainable packaging.
Inclusive and Accessibility: Ensure the design is accessible to users with diverse abilities and it is easy to use for everyone.
Freshness Updates: Integrate AI sensors and a companion app to offer real-time freshness tracking and updates.
Food Waste Management: Include app features such as disposal methods, composting tips, expiration alerts, freshness-extending tips, and a feature to motivate users to continue practicing sustainable habits.
Ideation Journey and Sketching
To include the design goals and requirements, I brainstormed and developed multiple design concepts. Each solution was sketched to explore diverse approaches that address user needs and promote sustainable food consumption.
Subscription-Based Food Box - This solution delivers customizable local/seasonal food boxes with reusable packaging, recipe guides, and a gamified app for Eco-friendly actions.
Freshness Tracking App - A grocery receipt-scanning app that tracks food freshness, provides expiration alerts, storage tips, and disposal guidance to reduce waste.
Food Hub Service - A local produce hub with convenient drop-offs, donation options, and composting of unsold items for a sustainable purchase-donate loop.
Fetching produce from farm - This solution provides a farmers market delivery service that aggregates local produce orders for pickup at nearby collection points.
Sustainable Packaging Design - Sustainable packaging with scan-able codes offering product details, disposal methods, and Eco-education through an app.
EverFresh : A Combination of Solutions
EverFresh is a holistic solution that integrates innovative features to tackle urban food consumption and waste management challenges while promoting sustainable practices. It combines reusable, compartmentalized food boxes and a companion app for user engagement, inspired by the Subscription-Based Food Box model. AI-enabled sensors monitor food freshness, providing real-time notifications for expiring items, drawing from FreshTrack. While not directly replicating the Food Hub Service or EcoLabel, EverFresh promotes sustainability with reusable packaging and compostable tips. Additionally, this inclusive design, featuring visual, auditory, and tactile feedback by sensors, ensures accessibility for visually users with diverse abilities, including those with visual or auditory impairments.
Target Audience
EverFresh targets busy urban professionals seeking healthier lifestyles, fresh produce delivery, and sustainable practices. It’s ideal for those looking for convenient delivery of fresh, healthy produce, reducing food waste, and adopting eco-friendly habits without major lifestyle changes.
User Scenario and User Flows
These user scenarios and flows illustrate EverFresh’s overall service process, breaking it down into distinct stages. These include managing freshness through IoT-enabled compartments, turning sensor and app notification data into actionable steps, and handling fresh, local food by providing preservation tips, recipes, and proper composting methods to responsibly reduce waste and practice sustainable choices.
Service Blueprint
The EverFresh blueprint maps the user journey from on-boarding to reordering, integrating reusable IoT-enabled produce boxes and a companion app. It combines front stage actions like personalized delivery and freshness updates with backstage logistics and AI tracking. Supported by sustainable sourcing and reusable workflows, EverFresh ensures convenience, reduces waste, and fosters eco-friendly habits.
Technical Drawing
Prototype
The first stage of the high-fidelity interactive prototype for this product and service includes the following steps: users sign’s up, places an order through the app, and receives the delivery at their doorstep. Upon receiving the subscription box, user interact with the companion app and monitor the freshness status using the color-coded lights:
Green light: The produce is fresh, and user explores freshness tips and recipes.
Yellow light: The produce will go bad in 2–3 days, prompting user to look for preservation tips.
Red light: The produce has gone bad/ got expired, and user checks for composting tips.
In the second stage of the high-fidelity interactive prototype, user check’s their sustainability score and redeems reward points while placing their next order. They can also learn about the service, why it is sustainability features and how their sustainability score is calculated.
Interact with the prototype by clicking here.
Usability Testing
The purpose of this test plan was to observe the behaviors of a subset of representative users while performing tasks on both desktop and mobile platforms. I created high-fidelity prototypes in Figma and designed three tasks. After participants completed all the tasks, I conducted a short 5–10 minute interview to gather feedback on the overall service and collect suggestions for improving the user experience.
