UX and Food: Making the Choice to Have a Choice
I recently took on the challenge of changing my life and undertaking a journey into the world of UX design through the intensive program at General Assembly. I expected to be pushed to new limits, but I didn’t expect it to occur over the course of one week. A week where I was challenged to take on a new perspective in the design process where research molded my concepts.
The first big project for the course was to take the lessons on user research, synthesizing, rapid prototyping, and wire-framing that we just learned during our first week, put it together, and create a concept around an assigned topic. For me, it was simply: food. Just food. No direction to go in. No narrative to start with. So, of course, the first thing that came to mind is: what am I supposed to do with this? Thankfully I was in the company of people in the same situation which is where my process starts.
Starting the Conversation
The biggest goal for UX Design is centered around designing around user needs in a way that progressive. The only way to find out how to go about doing this is to talk with people and get their insights on what currently exists. So a conversation was started in the classroom amongst 4 people. This conversation is where I would unknowingly start my process toward my final idea call Co-Operate. Themes and topics came up such as knowing where your food comes from, diets and restrictions on what someone can eat, and above all being able to have the time and money to make healthy choices about what you eat. This was where I also heard the term “co-op” for the first time.
Community and Food
When I conducted my first interview after the group conversation, the concept of community made itself known. My interviewees told me about the struggle of having a rotating work schedule and making the choice to eat better. One of the pain points they touched upon was that their lunch had a timer attached. The time factor more often affected their meal choices as the healthy options were either a) expensive or b) had long prep/wait times. More often than not the choice to get something cheap and unhealthy was easier than the alternative. One of my interviewees did however hit on a point that got me thinking: cooking with the help of someone else.
My next step in my process was to decide whether I had enough information to move forward. I sat down and transcribed my interviews which, in addition to giving me a written guide to the conversation, allowed me to revisit the conversation. After looking over what I had, I realized while I did have ideas I could move forward with I was uncertain about their validity moving forward. So I did something that few people would and asked a complete stranger for a few minutes of their time. Almost immediately I was given a quote that would help me tie in what I had already learned in my previous interview with the concept that I eventually came up with:
“…that’s a really deep question cause food is very important for me because it reminds of my family, and togetherness and community.”
The words family, togetherness, and community stuck out to me as they were also mentioned in my previous conversations where people stated that making healthier choices would be easier with support from another person. Through this interview, I also learned about food co-ops and immediately thought “this sounds too good to be true”. The idea that people came together and decided to take control over where their food came from, how it was produced, distributed, and ensuring that the people who worked toward that were fairly compensated was hard to believe.
Mapping Out the Journey
I next started affinity mapping out the information I acquired from the people that I interviewed in order to take a look at everything:
I mapped out the themes that stuck out to me: work, time, health, source, and dietary restrictions. After sorting them out on the wall above my desk, I looked for a connection. I looked for what the common problem was amongst the people that I spoke with, what their thoughts were on the topic of food, and the methods that they employ in their lives to navigate it. Overall, choice played an important factor. Specifically, making the choice to prep and cook a cheaper, healthier meal amidst a busy schedule. I thought “ If people were able to have access and the opportunity to make healthier choices, then they will.” It’s straightforward and covered everything.
Co-Operate
The idea I came up with was called Co-Operate. It essentially is a community-driven app that connects people to local co-ops and also quick easy recipes to give you the choice to make healthier decisions. Co-Operate would operate as a social platform where users contribute their recipes and the user would have the ability to navigate, select, and save the ones they like. There also is a time-saving component of allowing the user to input ingredients they have on hand and search for recipes in the database. The final component was a map that would connect you with local co-ops. I mapped out the user flow to highlight these features in a low fidelity prototype.
Next Step
This is where my process stopped. I didn’t give myself enough time to fully form this concept amidst a looming presentation. My next step would have been to go back and get feedback from users on the prototype I created through user testing. With that data in hand, I would have been able to confidently present my idea knowing that I have the research to back my findings.
Overview
While I am new to the world of UX Design, I am slowly learning to separate myself from my visual design state of mind. UX is centered around speaking to users, gathering data, taking a look at it, and if necessary looking at it again. Visual design cuts straight through to creating a final product with no input from outside sources. The process I went through to for this project essentially was to assure myself and any possible client that my solution is viable. It’s a long process but the results end up speaking for themselves when a user is able to benefit from integrating it into their life.
