An app to shop for locally grown produce and animal byproducts offering fresh organic local products in an online shopping experience.
Harvest
1 Month
Role: UX Research and Design
February 2025
To create an app that lets users easily search and find local farms, purchase them on an app like a grocery store, and to pick it up at their convenience to make it easier to obtain local goods.
The Goal
I wanted to solve my own problem. As someone who can't always make it to the farmers markets on the weekends, I wanted an easier way to get fresh, organic local produce and animal products with a more flexible schedule.
The Problem
Primary Research
Pain Points
My goals were to find how people get local products currently and to find the frustrations people experience trying to find or get local produce. Initially, I assumed people do not shop locally because farmers markets are the most common way to get local produce and it is only one day a week, which might be inconvenient for some people.
What I found through my research is that people are untrustworthy of produce even at farmers markets and want there to be transparency about where the product is coming from. People said they would be more willing to shop locally also if it was easy to access.
Farmers markets being open only weekends are tough for busy schedules.
Support
Local goods are more expensive than big box grocery stores.
Financial
Buying local requires more effort than going to the grocery store.
Process
How can people be sure the good are actually local?
Product
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Competitive Audit
People will still use it even if the interface is not clean or intuitive, so the market is there.
There is a clean modern version out there but it is not as used or recognized as other older versions
I like the function to be able to login to message or purchase but you can use the app without logging in.
A craigslist type app for homemade and homegrown items, no map view, and limited inventory.
Farm Fresh 24/7
Farmish
Farmers Market Haul
There is still not a “shopping” function in any of these options and all use messaging as the primary way of purchasing.
Simple and easy to use app with consistent branding, but less farms and traffic listed.
Crowded and cramped feeling app with less filter ability and inconsistent branding, but lots of traffic.
Secondary Research
Takeaways
Angie
65
New Braunfels, TX
Married, grown kids
Retired
Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:
To find a place to go to regularly each week to buy local in season produce that’s fresh and healthy.
She can’t go to farmers markets due to her schedule, and has difficulty with technology to find other local produce.
As a busy retired woman, I just want an easy way to shop for local produce so I can pick it up in my own time.
User Story
Goals
Frustrations
“I am not very good with technology and would like to get fresh produce without searching so hard.”
Mia
29
Mexico City, NM
Married 2 kids
SAHM
Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:
Goals
She wants to nourish her children with organic locally grown. produce and meat without antibiotics or pesticides.
She can’t always tell if the produce is actually locally grown even at farmers markets.
As a mother, I just want better transparency about which food is local and fresh so I can feed my family nutritious meals.
Frustrations
"The ultra processed and modified foods just don’t have the same nutrition anymore. I just want my kids to grow up happy and healthy.”
Ben
40
Nashville, TN
Single
Farmer
To find other ways to sell his local good other than limiting to weekend farmers markets.
He has a website but no one seems to know that his farm exists and sells a variety of goods.
As a busy farmer, I just want people to be able to find and purchase my products without spending time or money on marketing so I can focus on providing quality local products.
Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:
User Story
Goals
Frustrations
“Nothing is better than home grown.”
User Story
Personas
Information Architecture
Beginning the Design Process
Digital Wireframing
Pickup scheduling based on farmers listed availability to make groceries more accessible with custom pickup instructions for farmers to leave orders in designated locations, how to get there, or any particularities.
I started with digital as I find it easier and faster than paper. I wanted to make sure there were ways to search by particular farms or items to make it simple to find what you are looking for, and to sort by location since the customer has to pickup their order. Additionally, I wanted it to be more like grocery shopping on a website, and created a cart feature where you can create an order per farm, with scheduling availability to decrease the back and forth of messaging.
Cart feature for checkout
Searchability by map view, by farm, or by item with “distance away” to see how close you are for accessibility
Processing the Problems
Low Fidelity Prototyping
Make the search bar opening "Tap" to serach.
Credit card layout should be more clear
Change wording "Schedule Pickup" to "Checkout".
Create a separate billing page to make checkout clearer.
Solutions
Test the Low-Fidelity Prototype Here
Takeaways
Swipe to search was not clear so there were difficulties getting to the list view.
Payment card selection was unclear, and couldn't tell if paid.
Wording "schedule pickup" caused confusion as to if that as the checkout button.
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