Seasonal Table App: A Coursera Capstone Project
One of the most overwhelming questions people face today is how they can help with preventing further global warming without making drastic changes to they way they live. Moving towards eating locally sourced and seasonal produce is one of the easiest and best ways to reduce your individual carbon emissions.
Creating a platform to increase the users awareness of what is in season, the app, Seasonal Table, offers information on how to select, store and cook fresh produce. As the user becomes familiar with the seasonal fruit and vegetables, they can build on their repertoire of recipes, moving towards a healthy plant rich diet.
The creation of this app was a part of the Interaction Design Capstone Project offered by the University of California, San Diego through Coursera. The design process was completed in 10 weeks, working to the brief of Change: facilitating personal or social behavior.
THE INTERVIEWS
Interviews took place with the goal of understanding how people shop for fresh produce, select their local produce and eat seasonally.
Interviewing a variety of people located in both rural and city locations, it became clear that they all relied on information provided to them by their supermarkets. If an item was available on the shelves, then it must be in season and should be eaten.
When discussing how they decided on what to cook, people often referenced websites that relied heavily on imagery including instagram, Pinterest and Yummly. Their meal selection was based on what they had tried before and knew, and what looked visually appealing.
This presenting an opportunity to design something that was both visual and educational in nature.
POINT OF VIEW
Make an easy way to connect with local seasonal produce, learning how to make informed decisions on what to buy and how to prepare it.
INSPIRATIONAL WORDS
Clean, Visual, Fresh, Bright, Exploration, Light, Mindful, Accessible
STORYBOARDS
PAPER PROTOTYPING & HEURISTIC EVALUATION
Fast iterations of paper prototyping and in person testing heuristic evaluation highlighted the need to simplify and stay true to the point of view. Additional functionalities were removed and the idea sharpened, so the user received the direct message of seasonal eating.
WIREFRAMES
IN PERSON AND ONLINE TESTING
Now with wireframes, further evaluation through in person and online testing, highlighted two major aspects of the functionality that needed addressing.
The produce informational section had become very text heavy resulting in the user becoming disinterested quickly. As a result, the produce pages turned into visual slides, guiding the user with images and text.
The second was the recipe page which looked condensed and difficult to read when the user would carry out actions. A clear hierarchy of information was created through the use of typography and separating the bookmark, share and shopping list buttons.
CONCLUSION
It’s time to bring back seasonal food to our tables. Seasonal Table is an app that allows the user to explore what is new and fresh that week and that season.
Thank you for reading and learning about my first adventure into UX design. I look forward to many more.