- Conducted User Research
- Rapid ideation to come up with potential solutions.
- Lo-Fi and Mid-Fi prototyping.
- Analysis of usability test data.
Kshitij Anand, Ishani Pandey, Harpriya Sodhi
Figma, Figjam, Adobe Illustrator, Canva
48 Hours
Students Transitioning into post-secondary school from high school are not quite sure on how to tackle a completely different lifestyle away from home. Allocating time for a social life, physical activity, extra-curriculars, academic studies, personal care, which include sleeping, eating, and having leisure time becomes difficult for them.
A mobile app that simplifies post-secondary students' lives and help complete their quest for sustenance .
000 : Background
Transitioning to post-secondary school can be difficult and overwhelming, especially for students who are not used to being away from home. Balancing social life, physical activity, academics, and personal care can be challenging, and some students may feel insecurity and fear of missing out compared to those who seem to have quickly adapted to the new lifestyle.
Narrowing down the problem space
We decided to focus on the pressing issue of Food Insecurity and daily challenges of students. The students tend to skip their daily meals due to time constraints, lack of sufficient funds and no knowledge of cooking. They also have a FOMO - fear of missing out, when they cannot keep track of various events happening around them.
001 : Secondary Research
We thoroughly examined the problem of food insecurity among post-secondary students by reviewing articles and forum discussions, and examining existing solutions to understand their effectiveness.
Main Findings
- Students struggle to find a balance between managing their schoolwork and food, often failing to achieve their ideal balance.
- As students struggle to adapt to their new environment, they may skip meals, leading to a stressful and pressurized lifestyle.
- Students feel that the university resources do not provide reliable suggestions or leads and do not trust the systems available to them.
002 : Primary Research
ANALYSIS OF DATA
We gathered primary research for our project through a survey with 30 responses and interviews with 4 students. I analyzed the data collected through the survey, and we used affinity diagrams to identify themes in the qualitative data.
Main Findings
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003 : Devloping Empathy
MEET Stella !
We developed a fictional persona, named Stella, who represents our target demographic. To enhance this persona, we identified her desires, needs, and obstacles to better understand her perspective.
EMPATHISING
We created an empathy map to understand the various ways in which users might respond to a situation, including their thoughts, feelings, actions, and words. This helped us to gain a more holistic understanding of their experience.
004 : Journey Map
To understand the challenges and opportunities for improvement in a student's experience with food insecurity, we created a journey map that follows the temporal progression of their experience. This allowed us to gain insight into their pain points and how to support their needs.
PROMINENT PAIN-POINTS
Based on the user journey, we understand that Stella needs a way to :
005 : Problem Identification
Framing The Problem
Based on our research findings, our team developed "How Might We" statements that framed the major problems we identified :
HMW design a solution for post secondary students to help them find reliable food leads, offers, and economical options to ensure they meet their sustenance needs ?
HMW design a solution for post secondary students that help them make good connections so that they don't have a fear of missing out ?
006 : Ideating Solutions
Every idea has value !
Using the identified problems and HMW statements as a guide, my team brainstormed potential solutions. We then evaluated these ideas using a prioritization grid to determine which ones would have the greatest impact and be feasible within our time constraints.
Finalized ideas
The ideas that served as "Food for Thought" framework !
007 : User Flow
Creating pathway for the users
To visualize the paths users take through the app, we created a user flow starting from the home page and continuing through the various categories in the navigation bar .
008 : High Fidelity Designs
GOAL
Given the time constraints, we decided to begin with high-fidelity wireframes after devloping our mid-fi. These wireframes were based on the user flow previously described and were used to guide the design process.
ONBOARDING SCREEN
DISCOVERS
PLANNERS
010 : User Interface Style Guide
STYLE GUIDE
Our team has chosen a fun and youthful color palette and simple typefaces for our style guide, which will be applied to the final prototype of our app in order to accurately convey its essence.
011 : Meet Food For Thought
ONE STOP SHOP
The Home feed offers a convenient, comprehensive overview of all the best events, daily meal plans, activities, and upcoming events, so you can stay informed on the go.
DISCOVER BEST OFFERS AND EVENTS
The Discover feature allows students to find information about free food events in their area, register for and obtain tickets for these events, get discounted food, and keep track of their upcoming events.
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JOIN FOOD COMMUNITIES
The Community feature helps students connect with others, expand their social circles, chat with new friends, and discover groups and communities with shared interests and food preferences. This helps students avoid missing out (FOMO) on social opportunities.
012 : Next Steps
USER TESTING
Due to the limited time available, my team was unable to conduct usability testing to validate our solution. In the future, I would like the chance to test the solution with a small group of users to ensure that it meets its goals in a user-friendly and enjoyable manner.
CONSIDERING ALL USE CASES
In the future, I plan to carefully consider all possible use cases for this project, keeping any restrictions in mind. I will work to ensure that the app remains functional under these varying constraints.
Making it accessible
Our future goal is to improve the accessibility of the user interface for users with disabilities or special needs.
013 : Learnings
Making Intentional Design Decisions
It can be challenging to limit the scope of a solution and decide which ideas and features to prioritize during the ideation phase. It is tempting to consider all possible use cases and features, but it is important to focus on the ones that will have the most impact and benefit for the target audience.
Communication
Communication is really important while designing. It is crucial to effectively convey your ideas and consider the perspective of the user when designing a solution. Empathy towards the user is an important aspect of successful design.
TIME MANAGEMENT
Effective time management is key to ensuring that tasks are completed on schedule. One way to do this is by dividing tasks among team members and setting internal deadlines for each phase of the design process. Without proper organization, it can be easy for things to become disorganized and chaotic.
