Mikayla Noh | DH110 | Fall 2022
What is the main activity your project would support for the users?
My project supports users in keeping track of the pantry and curating recipes with available pantry items for an easier way to reduce food waste. This activity encourages users to live more sustainably and provides a feasible action supporting responsible consumption.
What is the basic need involved for that activity?
This activity involves the user’s esteem needs as they can feel a sense of achievement through keeping track of the pantry and successfully reducing food waste. By knowing that their actions are positively contributing to the environment, they can fulfill their self-respect needs as well as the need for respect from others.
What is the traditional/current solution(s) to satisfy the needs?
The traditional solution to satisfy this need is through mental tracking and not letting food go to waste either by consuming only what is needed or using all items before expiring. Users can stay aware of their consumption on a daily and remember to consume items at an appropriate rate.
What is(are) the limitation(s) that possibly would be improved?
Users have limited capacity for memory and cannot keep track of all items. They can easily forget or their memory may not be accurate. The limitation of solely using mental tracking and visual cues can be improved by using the app as it will take less cognitive load on users and be more accurate than human memory.
What are the characteristics of users? (ex. demographics, preference, expertise)
Demographic: busy students, working adults, busy parents, anyone who frequenly grocery shop
Preferences: users live busy lives, cook often, and interested in responsible consumption to be inclined to keep track of pantry and reduce food waste
Expertise: users do not need any particular expertise to use this app
Where would the users do that activity?
Users would keep track of pantry at own home usually before and after going grocery shopping to know what they should buy and know what they have available. They would look for recipes before cooking to see what they can make or at the start of a new week to meal plan in advance.
What would the users usually do in order to complete that activity?
Usually, users check the fridge and use visual cues of pantry items to keep mental track of the pantry or take notes whenever they are in need of certain items. For recipes, users search online, use personal knowledge, or ask family and friends. However many users typically do not keep track of the pantry.
The research methods I employed are overt participatory observation and interview. I designed an activity for my participant that will allow me to observe how my participant organizes their pantry in efforts of gaining a better understanding of their behavior. I then developed a set of questions that were asked while my participant used the app to understand their needs and gain insight on user pain points.
1. Contextual Inquiry Guide
Please find my script here that contains the introduction, goals, and contextual questions.
2. User Data
Please find the recording here.
Please find the transcription of the interview here.
:bulb: Recipe for pantry items being most helpful (25:15)
“Sometimes when I look at recipes it require certain ingredients that I don’t have and that frustrates me because you know I want to I want to make it so that it tastes good. But if I’m missing certain ingredients, obviously the quality of flavor will go down. But if it shows me the recipes for available ingredients, then I don’t have to spend time looking for recipes that I really need.”
The user expresses frustration with not knowing what can be made with available items and having to look for recipes that can be made with what is available. Being able to see recipes that are curated for user’s pantry is extra helpful to user in reducing food waste as he won’t need to buy extra ingredients and can use what he has.
:bulb: How important user thinks pantry tracking is to reduce food waste (29:10)
“A lot, like a lot, because when I was living with family, there will be just one ingredient that’s you know, hiding all the way behind and when it’s time to grocery shop like when all the produces are going low like it comes up and we find it. It’s been there the whole time, but you know it’s expired. With the app I can really keep track of what I had left without having to really dig deep to find it.”
The user sees the importance of pantry tracking and how it can help to reduce food waste. User also agrees that the app can help to improve the limitation of solely using visual cues to track the pantry by having all items easily viewable and searchable.
:bulb: Food size at grocery store as limitation of reducing food waste (32:27)
“When I buy certain ingredients I’m not able to…certain ingredients would force me to buy in bulk when I don’t really need that many, you know, cilantro or onions or eggs. If we were to able to make it into like smaller portions even and sell that (would be helpful in reducing food waste).”
Even if the user tries his best, this shows an instance of how hard it can be to consume responsibly due to the size of items that are sold at grocery stores. Some items are sold in sizes that are not necessary and even after using the produce, there may be more left that just eventually turn to food waste.
:bulb: Money as motivation to reduce food waste & consume responsibly (36:57)
“I would like to see numbers like I would like to see how much how much money I’m wasting how much money is going to waste then I’ll probably consume more resopnsibly.”
The user connects a relationship between food and money, saying that he feels motivated to reduce food waste because food is money and wasted food is wasted money. This can be a perspective other users also have and can find it motivating once they see how much money they are wasting whenever food is wasted.
I was able to gain more understanding of the user’s needs and behavior through the contextual inquiry. It allowed me to look beyond what an app can do and truly find the reasons to why users may feel certain ways and find solutions that can help them. Although pantry tracking through the app can easily be done, I found that some users may not find it necessary as they simply do not have much to track or they finish everything before items expire. I realized that other incentives would be needed to motivate a variety of users to consistenly use the app. The recipe feature was something that I did not realize the user would enjoy very much, and it was interesting to see how some users might use the app solely for that. The user’s reasoning for motivation to reduce food waste was also very insightful, as he related food waste to money waste. This can definitely be a feature within the app that can motivate users to use the app more but also most importantly, reduce food waste. I think this food and money waste analogy helps users to be more conscious of their actions and allows them to more easily see/feel the effects of food waste. The interview overall went well but throughout it I realized that a lot of the questions relate to each other and can get repetitive. I think it would be better to ask relating questions all together instead of in different sections so that the user does not feel like they are repeating themselves.