Sur+ | TL;DR
An app to help reduce food waste & save you money
What if . . .
we could give people the option to save the environment by reducing food waste and save their money by spending less at restaurants & markets ?
Project
Team Size: 3
Role: UX Researcher
Tools: Figma, Google+
Time Frame: 1 week, Part-time hackathon
Overview
Skills
Competitive Analysis
Survey design & analysis
Personas
User stories & flows
Ideation
User testing & analysis
Problem
HMW offer a sustainable alternative to everyday food purchases with a quick & efficient app?
Steps to Solution
Team ideation session
ID Research Methods to execute
Data Analysis & Team collab 🤝
User Testing for next steps
Present product to stakeholders
Background
This was a project for a weeklong design hackathon through Thinkful to solve a real world problem with the outcome of a low-fidelity prototype. Our team decided to delegate responsibility & tasks based on each individual’s specialty:
research > design system > interface design
We all participated and collaborated throughout the whole of the project in each area to give feedback & direction as needed.
Being the researcher, I planned the research process as follows . . .
Questions to Answer . . .
We were given the task to solve a real world problem with business partners. With this in mind, we needed to gain generative data for the problem & solution:
What current solutions are out there for reducing food waste by purchasing surplus food?
How do these solutions compare to each other & how could we improve on them in our own product?
What is the desirability of our product & which features do users desire to be available to them?
Oh dear, so much to do in so little time . . .
Thinking of where to find data within the scope of this project . . . 🤔
Our project constraints:
1 week, part-time timeframe
Volunteer, $0 budget
Research team of one (me 💁🏼♀️)
SWOT
Why this method?
1 week completion
$0 cost
Compare real competitors
Survey
Why this method?
1 week completion
$0 cost
Survey real, potential users
User Test
Why this method?
1 week completion
$0 cost
Review POV of real users
What’s currently out there?
SWOT Analysis
Why this method?
See live solutions to ideate & build around while finding opportunities in current pain points.
How did we do it?
I prepared a GoogleSheet for quick, visual data collection to answer key questions such as Strength & Weakness of competitors to answer “What current solutions are out there” & “How do these solutions compare” as well as Opportunities & Threats of gaps in the market our product could fill to answer “How could we improve on them.”
What was the outcome?
We found four top competitors exist currently in the solutions space for our problem. I uncovered areas of opportunity and direction to guide my team.
Collage of Competitor Analysis
But is it desirable? By who?
Survey
Why this method?
Get insight from multiple perspectives in both quant & qual data sets of desirability
How did we do it?
Create GoogleForms survey for easy sharing via social media for efficient & quick turnaround timeframe.
Why these recruits?: The team’s peers aligned with potential users & could provide accurate insight into the key question: “What is the desirability of our product & which features do users desire to be available to them?”
What was the outcome?
39 useful responses with demographics to form our user personas. Primary features desired for this MVP were discovered to shape & guide the design of this product.
Our initial user survey was easy & efficient with mobile access.
Does it work?
User Testing
Why this method?
Learn from real users’ POVs through moderated usability test.
How did we do it?
I developed testing guide with context questions, scenario, tasks, & follow-up questions & had users complete two tasks:
Filter results to see only grocery items
Find deals that are expiring soon
What was the outcome?
Two participants matching our personas developed from the survey completed testing which uncovered their individual and collective pain points to reveal next steps in design iteration.
Our designers delivered a low-fidelity prototype used for testing.
Screenshot of opening slide from presentation given to our stakeholders
Presentation
Our team co-created a presentation with our process and findings to deliver to stakeholders in a 15-minute presentation.
Outcome
Findings in generative research led to team design of a MVP to deliver to stakeholders
What current solutions are out there for reducing food waste by purchasing surplus food?
4 competitors in SWOT Analysis
How do these solutions compare to each other & how could we improve on them in our own product?
Focus on 6 of 16 current features found in other apps
Add 2 new features in opportunities with Sur+
What is the desirability of our product & which features do users desire to be available to them?
Survey results showed user interest
User testing results showed user needs & availability
This project was left behind once the design hackathon ended, but our team won third place in the competition from stakeholders based on our ability to conduct User Testing with our MVP.
Next Steps
If our team would have the chance to pick up this project to take it further into a live product, I would suggest the following next steps to get the project moving forward:
Iterate design based on user testing results
Continue research for next iteration of design with same & different methods such as:
A/B Testing
Card Sorting or Tree Testing
Desirability Study
Mobile Diary Study
User Interviews
Develop further design iterations based on continued research & insights gained.
What I would do different. . .
Competitor / SWOT Analysis
Spend more time in user reviews of competitor apps
Collect qualitative & quantitative data points for data-driven design feedback
Spend time in open forums with users of competitor apps
Talk more with potential users to ask questions for insights. Public forums like Reddit would be a great place to go search a question that users have answered or search for similar subreddits about competitors.
Spend more time in the competitor apps using their current features
Share feedback from a UX perspective with design team
Explore public research repositories
Find data related to potential users
Survey
This exploratory survey & significant data set served it’s purpose of guiding persona design and designating features to focus on in the MVP. I would not have done anything differently for this survey in this project.
User Testing
Schedule 3 more participants
2 participants matching our personas was a great turnout for our project scope of $0 budget & one week deadline, but having 5 participants would be a more comfortable research data set for usability testing with the MVP design & guidance for the next design iteration
Project Snapshots
User stories based on competitor analysis & survey results
Information architecture & design sketches
User personas based on survey results
MVP Figma Prototype
Wireframes
Industry Takeaways
There are so many opportunities out there when drawing inspiration from other existing solutions to real world problems. You just need to know where to look to fill the gaps.
A lot can be accomplished by one researcher in one week, but there’s so much more to be explored when work is spread across a team or with a longer timeframe
Personal Takeaways
I’m always finding areas to improve and spaces I can discover to seek more data points from actual users. The things I would do differently upon reflection with my current UXR maturity show I was unaware at this point in my journey of where I could go to find deeper insights.
Short-term projects such as passion projects & hackathons are great practice, but nothing compares to real world team experiences developing & delivering a tangible product.
Reflection
Sur+ was a project completed within a week-long Design Hackathon through Thinkful. This project taught me the best practices of working on a team in design and the importance of consistent & reliable remote communication. The fast-paced environment required to complete this project and participate in this Design Hackathon gave me the confidence that I am capable of problem solving quickly & efficiently. I now know I am creative in discerning data and reflecting my analyses and thought processes in a professional and engaging manner. My team took home 3rd Place in the Hackathon—a proud moment in our design careers.
