1: Food Sharing Based On Ingredients - Inspired by the Olio app, this concept also draws inspiration from dating apps, such as Tinder. The concept aims to reduce food waste by making people cook with others in their local area. Users would be able to put up food that they want to offer and search the area for other people's posts. Recipes would be created, combining two user's ingredients, and users could communicate and meet to share and use up their food.
2: Food Wastage Tracker + Planner - Inspired by the Wise Up On Waste app, this concept aims to reduce food waste by allowing consumers to track how much they are wasting; however, the difference is that users would be able to see how much they have wasted, not only in terms of food weight, but also in terms of money and environmental factors. Primary research indicated that money is the main incentive for why people would try to not waste food. Therefore, this aspect, accompanied with tips, would aim to aware consumers of how much they could save by being more efficient.
3: Food Expiry Reminder + Recipe Suggestions - This concept was inspired by primary research made, and how one of the main reasons that food is wasted by consumers is because it is out of date and thrown away. To combat this issue, I came up with a mobile app idea where users could input the food in their fridge, either directly from an online shop, from a photographed receipt or manually. The food would be ordered, in terms of use by dates and best before dates, and users would receive lock screen notifications each day, reminding them of food that needs to be cooked. Recipes would be suggested, depending on the user's preferences, and wasted food would be calculated to show how much money could have been saved.
Feedback - I presented the ideas to a group of students to see what they thought held the most potential in terms of the possible effect and ease of implementation. For idea 1, feedback was positive; however, people thought that it would be challenging to match people based on their food, as recipes require a lot of ingredients. They also highlighted the issue of security, and problems that could come from strangers cooking together. Idea 4 was the least popular as feedback highlighted that many people do not plan their meals. The service would be easy to implement; however, it would be limited to online food shopping, which is a small percentage of the consumer market. For these reasons, ideas 1 and 4 have not been chosen to develop.
Idea 2 was regarded as having more potential - people liked the concept of highlighting the measurement of food being wasted in the form of money and environment. The issue identified was the ease of implementation - students particularly highlighted that it would not appeal to them and they would not use such an app on a day-to-day basis. Instead, feedback highlighted that idea 3 would be much more appealling, and that more people than just students would use it on a regular basis due to its practicality. It was suggested that the money and environmental wastage element from idea 2 should be incorporated into idea 3 when food is not used. This is one aspect that will be later developed.
In regards to idea 3, people thought that it was the clearest idea that holds the highest potential to effectively reduce food waste. Comments suggested that the recipe section should allow users to select different ingredients, search for different cuisine recipes and sort recipes depending on the number of servings required. The group suggested that the main challenge would be awaring people of the app. For this, they suggested creating a social media campaign, raising awareness of how food waste is such a large problem and what the app has to offer. Informed by this feedback, I will develop idea 3, with elements of idea 2 tied in.
2: Food Wastage Tracker + Planner - Inspired by the Wise Up On Waste app, this concept aims to reduce food waste by allowing consumers to track how much they are wasting; however, the difference is that users would be able to see how much they have wasted, not only in terms of food weight, but also in terms of money and environmental factors. Primary research indicated that money is the main incentive for why people would try to not waste food. Therefore, this aspect, accompanied with tips, would aim to aware consumers of how much they could save by being more efficient.
3: Food Expiry Reminder + Recipe Suggestions - This concept was inspired by primary research made, and how one of the main reasons that food is wasted by consumers is because it is out of date and thrown away. To combat this issue, I came up with a mobile app idea where users could input the food in their fridge, either directly from an online shop, from a photographed receipt or manually. The food would be ordered, in terms of use by dates and best before dates, and users would receive lock screen notifications each day, reminding them of food that needs to be cooked. Recipes would be suggested, depending on the user's preferences, and wasted food would be calculated to show how much money could have been saved.
4: Food + Meal Companion - This final idea attempts to reduce food waste by picking the optimum amount of ingredients needed for pre-chosen meals, so that a minimal amount is wasted. Meals would be input before ordering online and the service would find the ingredients for you, suggesting other meals you could make with any excess food.
Feedback - I presented the ideas to a group of students to see what they thought held the most potential in terms of the possible effect and ease of implementation. For idea 1, feedback was positive; however, people thought that it would be challenging to match people based on their food, as recipes require a lot of ingredients. They also highlighted the issue of security, and problems that could come from strangers cooking together. Idea 4 was the least popular as feedback highlighted that many people do not plan their meals. The service would be easy to implement; however, it would be limited to online food shopping, which is a small percentage of the consumer market. For these reasons, ideas 1 and 4 have not been chosen to develop.
Idea 2 was regarded as having more potential - people liked the concept of highlighting the measurement of food being wasted in the form of money and environment. The issue identified was the ease of implementation - students particularly highlighted that it would not appeal to them and they would not use such an app on a day-to-day basis. Instead, feedback highlighted that idea 3 would be much more appealling, and that more people than just students would use it on a regular basis due to its practicality. It was suggested that the money and environmental wastage element from idea 2 should be incorporated into idea 3 when food is not used. This is one aspect that will be later developed.
In regards to idea 3, people thought that it was the clearest idea that holds the highest potential to effectively reduce food waste. Comments suggested that the recipe section should allow users to select different ingredients, search for different cuisine recipes and sort recipes depending on the number of servings required. The group suggested that the main challenge would be awaring people of the app. For this, they suggested creating a social media campaign, raising awareness of how food waste is such a large problem and what the app has to offer. Informed by this feedback, I will develop idea 3, with elements of idea 2 tied in.
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