An app to shop for locally grown produce and animal byproducts offering fresh organic local products in an online shopping experience.

Harvest

To make local goods easy to purchase and pickup on a flexible schedule through a convenient, user-friendly app.

Local goods are often difficult to access, typically limited to farmers' markets, which are only available on weekends and not as convenient as traditional grocery stores. With varying schedules and locations, many people seek a simpler, more accessible way to shop for organic, locally sourced products.

Design Process

Test

Discover

Define

Ideate

Prototype

Hi-Fi Prototype

User Flow

Competitive Audit

User Interview

Information Architecture

Wireframing

Lo-Fi Prototype

Feedbacks

Conclusion

Personas

Empathy Map

Discover Phase

User Interviewing

Do you buy local produce often? When you do, what are the reasons you do?

Where do you get your local produce from?

Do you feel you have any difficulties getting local produce?

Is there a scenario in which you would shop locally more often?

I want to know the frustrations people experience trying to find or get local produce.

I want to know how people get local products currently.

I interviewed 3 family and friends who are interested in shopping local to start my initial process, since this is a mock project and I did not have access to a larger audience.

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.

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.

Pain Points

Farmers markets being open only weekends are tough for busy schedules.

Local goods are more expensive than big box grocery stores.

Buying local requires more effort than going to the grocery store.

How can people be sure the products are actually local?

Discovered

Competitive Audit

Interaction:

Visual Design:

Content:

Unique Value Proposition: Information based system to find Verified local farmers near you.

Interaction:

Visual Design:

Content:

Crowded and cramped feeling app with less filter ability and inconsistent branding, but lots of traffic.

Interaction:

Visual Design:

Content:

Simple and easy to use app with consistent branding, but less farms and traffic listed.

Unique Value Proposition: Great filtering for farm or listings and really clean easy to use layout.

A Craigslist type app for homemade and homegrown items, no map view, and limited inventory.

Unique Value Proposition: It’s a craiglist style listing space for homemade and home grown items

Personas

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.

Ben
40
Nashville, TN
Single
Farmer

Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:

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.

Goals

User Story

Frustrations

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.

User Story

Goals

Frustrations

Mia
29
Mexico City, NM
Married 2 kids
SAHM

Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:

User Story

Goals

Frustrations

Define Phase

Empathy Map

Thinks

Feels

Says

Does

Resigned about not buying local.

Frustrated that farmers markets are only available for a short period of time on Saturdays.

Frustrated that it’s not easy to find local produce and determine if it’s local.

Shops at the grocery store and also farmers markets, but will sometimes choose cheaper items that are not local.

Shops at big box stores because he does not want to put the effort into shopping local.

Buys eggs from neighbors but generally shops at the grocery store, where she will buy local if she sees it there.

“I am always busy Saturday. If farmers markets were an option other weekdays I would go.”

"If I knew where to get it and it were vetted for me...”

“It’s fresher, hasn’t traveled as far, harvested and in a shorter time frame, better quality.”

That it requires addition effort to get local produce.

That she will shop local when it is convenient or purchase from neighbors.

That it’s difficult to find out if what you’re getting is local.

Incorporating Data

Ideate Phase

User Flow

Information Architecture

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.

Low Fidelity Prototype & Testing

Digital Wireframing

Processing the Problems

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.

Test the Low-Fidelity Prototype Here

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.

Moderated Usability Study
Subjects will be given a brief introduction then a list of tasks to follow.

To help people obtain better quality local products, I am creating an app with a grocery shopping experience with scheduling pickup capabilities.

To see if the app is intuitive enough to make it easy for customers to find farms and items.

Time on Task
User Error Rates

Is it easy for someone to navigate and checkout items in the app?
Are there aspects that could be clearer or organized better?

User Testing

High Fidelity Prototype & Testing

04

01

03

02 After Usability Study

Before Usability Study

After Usability Study

Before Usability Study

After Usability Study

Before Usability Study

Making Necessary Changes

Relooking at popular apps, I wanted to include the add to cart button fixed at the bottom instead just the top of the page.

After Usability Study

Before Usability Study

I simplified the cards to include only basic information to not overwhelm users, using other popular apps UI to quickly add to cart in list view.

Users noted that the writing was small and difficult to read, so I updated the font to be larger.

I simplified the cards to include only basic information to not overwhelm users.

Users noted that they may like to add more than one quantity of an item and there is no way to do that in the item page.

The font was a messy cursive that may have not been the best choice for accessibility. After some feedback, I updated it across the app to make sure all writing is legible.

Users noted that they would like to get an email confirmation with all order details including pickup time to make sure their order went through. I added that information and increased the font size slightly for readability.

Test the Hi-Fidelity Prototype Here

Project Takeaways

I could not have predicted all the thoughts users would have without usability studies, which offered me insight I would not have noticed on my own. Having many eyes on the project creates a more well-rounded app.

Most people want an email of the order they purchase or some kind of receipt. Once brought up in a usability study, I knew it was the best idea to recieve your order and pickup instructions in a confirmation email.

My font sizing was a little small for some users and they had difficulty reading the app. This is imperative that it should be readable for everyone who wishes to use it.

Thank you!

Given this is a mock project, I don't have real numbers, but I would measure the success based on the below KPI's.

Measuring Success in the Real World

Through my research, I found there is a market for this product, but a newer cleaner app is needed and might need some marketing to get it off the ground and discoverable. My usability studies indicated the app was easy to navigate and similarly laid out to other maps, making it intuitive to use. There were minor tweaks needed to improve the function, with adaptability after launch given the apps analytics.

Project Summary

Home

About

An app to shop for locally grown produce and animal byproducts offering fresh organic local products in an online shopping experience.

Harvest

To make local goods easy to purchase and pickup on a flexible schedule through a convenient, user-friendly app.

Design Process

Test

Discover

Define

Ideate

Prototype

Hi-Fi Prototype

User Flow

Competitive Audit

User Interview

Information Architecture

Wireframing

Lo-Fi Prototype

Feedbacks

Conclusion

Personas

Empathy Map

Discover Phase

User Interviewing

Do you buy local produce often? When you do, what are the reasons you do?Where do you get your local produce from?Do you feel you have any difficulties getting local produce?Is there a scenario in which you would shop locally more often?

I want to know the frustrations people experience trying to find or get local produce.I want to know how people get local products currently.

I interviewed 3 family and friends who are interested in shopping local to start my initial process, since this is a mock project and I did not have access to a larger audience.

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.

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.

Pain Points

Farmers markets being open only weekends are tough for busy schedules.

Local goods are more expensive than big box grocery stores.

Buying local requires more effort than going to the grocery store.

How can people be sure the products are actually local?

Discovered

Competitive Audit

Unique Value Proposition: Information based system to find Verified local farmers near you.

Crowded and cramped feeling app with less filter ability and inconsistent branding, but lots of traffic.

Simple and easy to use app with consistent branding, but less farms and traffic listed.

Unique Value Proposition: Great filtering for farm or listings and really clean easy to use layout.

A Craigslist type app for homemade and homegrown items, no map view, and limited inventory.

Unique Value Proposition: It’s a craiglist style listing space for homemade and home grown items

Personas

Ben40Nashville, TNSingleFarmer

Name:Age:Hometown:Family:Occupation:

Angie65New Braunfels, TXMarried, grown kidsRetired

Name:Age:Hometown:Family:Occupation:

Goals

User Story

Frustrations

User Story

Goals

Frustrations

Do you buy local produce often? When you do, what are the reasons you do?

Where do you get your local produce from?

Do you feel you have any difficulties getting local produce?

Is there a scenario in which you would shop locally more often?

I want to know the frustrations people experience trying to find or get local produce.

I want to know how people get local products currently.

Ben
40
Nashville, TN
Single
Farmer

Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:

Angie
65
New Braunfels, TX
Married, grown kids
Retired

Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:

Mia
29
Mexico City, NM
Married 2 kids
SAHM

Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Family:
Occupation:

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.

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.

Moderated Usability Study
Subjects will be given a brief introduction then a list of tasks to follow.

Time on Task
User Error Rates

Is it easy for someone to navigate and checkout items in the app?
Are there aspects that could be clearer or organized better?