2023, SYSTEM DESIGN, UIUX DESIGN
7 Minute reading time
I contributed to the overall design process including user research, ideation, prototyping, and user testing. I was primarily responsible for the app's design, including wireframing, prototyping, reiteration, and final MVP. This case study primarily delves into the app's process and its role in the system.
Two designers (Jasmine Xu and I)
April 2023 - May 2023 (6 weeks)
Figma, Procreate, Rhino
An estimated 1 in 3 college students are struggling to meet their nutritional needs. While there are existing resources, students are in a unique position where they often don’t qualify for federal aid like SNAP and have to rely on donation-based food aid like food banks and pantries. However, stigma, inconsistent resources, accessibility, and lack of representation deter student participation in such programs. This made us ask the question —
Groceries that everyone can afford.
Grabbit is a grocery co-op system focused on providing college students access to affordable groceries and building community through food. Through the Grabbit App, students can participate in events, shop at the Burrow Market (the on-campus grocery store), and advocate for changes to its inventory and operations.
Given that food-insecure individuals are considered a vulnerable group, we refrained from conducting direct user interviews due to ethical concerns around fair compensation ($ we unfortunately lacked). To address this challenge, we conducted thorough research on related stakeholders, examined existing solutions in the food aid sector, and consulted credible secondary sources to gain a comprehensive understanding of our target users.
We began our research journey by investigating the first line of defense: the nationwide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides qualifying individuals with monthly grocery finances. However, qualifying as a college student is complicated due to their student status, which reduces eligibility and decentivizes enrollment.
If federally funded aid only reaches a fraction of food insecure students, what are other solutions students can rely on? The other most widely available solutions would be donation-based aid. To gain insight into food banks’ services, users, and possible pain points, we volunteered and visited both the RI Lighthouse Food Bank and RISD Food Pantry.
Stigma surrounding the term makes people feel ashamed of possibly being seen using pantries.
Being donation based results in largely non-perishable goods and limited fresh and culturally relevant foods.
Food banks usually only operate once a month or biweekly, and campus pantries are often hidden away with limited signage.
In every conversation we had throughout our research, stigma towards food-insecurity was always mentioned as the first obstacle. Through speaking with experts like the Rhode Island Food Policy Council as well as the various other stakeholders in our previous research, we took a deeper look into why food insecurity is stigmatized.
People don't view themselves as "food insecure" because they usually envision someone in more need than them.
Not having the autonomy to choose your own foods is a less dignifying experience.
Limited resources makes it difficult to maintain reliable operations and build trust with users.
To synthesize our research and visualize our target audience, it was important to us to create a user persona, especially since we were limited in our ability to conduct user interviews.
At this point in our generation process, we wanted to explore all venues of solution; products, apps, systems, business models, etc.
Based on our design requirements, we used the scamper method to determine what were the minimum necessary features to support our food system. From there we refine our system map.
Because stigma was such a big pain point, we didn't want Grabbit to resemble existing solutions. To help us visualize Grabbit, we created a "product persona" to help us ensure design system and brand aligned with our goals.
Based on Grabbit's system map and our persona, we determined what the most common use case of the app would be and built our system architecture around that. We believed that the app's main use case would be its pay in store feature.
We brought concept sketches of our co-op and wireframes to the campus main green to hear what students had to say about a co-op and supporting app concept. The most recurring feedback we received was intrigue and encouragement surrounding the request feature; since students felt disgruntled by the lack of choice of foods on campus, they felt strongly about having a voice in
People don't view themselves as "food insecure" because they usually envision someone in more need than them.
Not having the autonomy to choose your own foods is a less dignifying experience.
Limited resources makes it difficult to maintain reliable operations and build trust with users.
While we originally intended for the app to serve as a support for the in-person market with its main function to be housing the Grabbit Card, student's expressed that their most interested feature was it's social aspect and how they could influence the Burrow Market through the app's request feature.
This feedback helped us expand the app's function and we refocused its goals to social engagement. This led us to redesign the request feature to be more robust and interactive.
We also made edits to the Grabbit Card, prioritizing information over simplicity. The original feature was a bit confusing and oeifjaowiefj wofijaoefj wifjoafoawjf ioaw fowf
