Design Thinking Case Study: Harvest App “From the farm to the table”
In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of consuming local and organic produce to embrace a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle.
This movement was born out of the fact that consumers are increasingly concerned about the ethical aspects of supply chains. It is well known that supermarket chains and big food corporations benefit more from the rise of the organic food market than the local producers. So, instead of fixing the problem, they are harming the environment with unsustainable models. In addition, another critical aspect of this shift is that organic food is not accessible to everyone, and is often only available to people who can afford it.
So, as a group fo UX/UI designers (Ana, Maïa, Dora, Merlin and I), we had to conduct research and ideation to find a solution to the following wicked problem:
How might we help people access local seasonal produce, while also fostering fair and honest relationships between producers and customers?
Background research & Interviews
Since all members from the group were from across Europe (UK, France, Germany and Spain), we mainly focused on European data. During the last 20 years, there’s been an increase in the consumption of organic food in Europe, reaching 54,5 billions euros of annual revenue for the sector.
After doing some more research, we found out that 78% of Europeans agree that organic farming is more eco-friendly, 70% know that it is healthier and 72% agree that the quality of organic food is better. Despite this, many European supermarkets continue charging a premium that makes organic food 89% more expensive on average!
We interviewed and surveyed a total of 45 people between 25 and 34 years old to find out about their consumer behaviors, preferences, pain points and concerns. Most of the participants (86%) showed an interest in organic food and buying local, had a positive attitude towards limiting food waste, and were willing to pay more for organic food (75%) — however, for some, this might depend on the budget of that week/month — .
User personas: Core needs & Pain ponts
From our research and the behaviors and motivations of the people we interviewed, we built out two personas that reflected our users core needs, frustrations, and desires.
User 1. Olivia Roberts (28), is a content marketer based in Manchester, UK. Olivia is often racing against the clock which makes one of her core needs to be able to buy quality fruit & vegetables from the most convenient source. In addition, while she is willing to pay more for local and organic produce, keeping costs within her budget is a big deal.
User 2. Tom Christensen (36), is a musician living in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tom wants to eat healthier food but he is very price-sensitive and feels like he doesn’t know where to start when it comes to sustainability.
This was such an interesting process and we as a group had a lot of fun creating them! It really helped us to approach a better understanding of their needs and frustrations in order to make better product decisions.
So, what are the main insights?
- Limited Access: Residents have to travel long distances to reach specialty stores or farmers’ markets offering local and organic produce.
- Cost Barriers: Organic produce is often perceived as expensive, preventing many community members from incorporating it into their diets.
- Lack of Awareness: Some residents are not aware of the benefits of consuming local and organic produce, contributing to a lack of demand in the community.
Our next step after this was building out specific user journeys for both Tom and Olivia to really get to the crux of what their pain points are, and where we could find opportunities to improve their experience.
Get Laia’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Ultimately, all of this work helped us narrow down our ultimate problem statement to this:
Busy young professionals need to find a way to have more convenient and cost-effective access to local and organic fruit & vegetables because they are limited by both time and lack of transportation methods.
Our solution
Our solution aims to empower busy young professionals by providing a seamless and cost-effective platform that offers convenient access to locally sourced and organic fruits and vegetables.
Through our service, individuals constrained by time and transportation challenges will enjoy the ease of ordering fresh produce online and having it delivered directly to their doorstep. By bridging the gap between busy schedules and healthy eating, we strive to promote well-being, support local farmers, and simplify the process of incorporating nutritious, organic options into the hectic lives of young professionals.
So, after much brainstorming and ideating (Crazy 8s), we finally came up with a potential solution: our dearest HARVEST App!
Harvest is an app that matches users with local farmers to be able to buy fruit and vegetables directly from them. If you can’t get to the farm, we can bring the farm to you ;)
Some key features include:
- Profiles of each farmer to help tell their story and have a deeper connection with the consumer.
- The requirement to not use plastic wrapping (so cloth or paper bags for example).
- Multiple options for receiving the products — so either pick-up or home delivery.
- With regards to delivery, the app would partner with local delivery service to provide this option to users.
Wireframes & Testing
Since we designed our first wireframes with Figma instead of drawing them on paper, we inevitably started with a mid-fi type of wireframe. Once we had all of the screens designed we tested the mid-fi version prototype with 5 users who gave us some feedback to improve our interface.
So, what’s next?
Well, of course, the next step is to test, test, test! All that would follow up this project would be testing our solutions and continue developing ideas for the app.
Our collective experience as a group was truly great. We had a very enjoyable time working together because we each had complementary skills we could bring to the table. It was not merely a collaboration but a synergy, where diverse talents seamlessly intertwined, creating a dynamic and harmonious workflow which enriched the outcomes of our efforts.
Personally, as a visual designer with a huge passion for UI design, the prototyping phase was without a doubt the most enjoyable step of this project; and while the challenges were many, it was the materialization of our hard work :)
