The project aims to create an ideal campus food bank model by addressing food waste and improving access to nutrition.
After studying the Maize and Blue Cupboard, the campus pantry, we revamped the shopping and volunteering experience, from online to offline. Furthermore, we redesigned the website with new features such as food distribution map to minimize wait times and maximize food utilization efficiency.
Jan – Apr 2022
UX researcher/designer
Chiao Cheng,
Chia-Ying Hsieh,
Grace Lee,
Sarah Lin
Mission: Ensure access to nutritious food for individuals in need within the university community
Sounds ambitious, isn't it? Why do I say that?
About 30% of UM students experience food insecurity
"According to US Department of Agriculture categories for food security, 52.3% of students had high food security, 16.6%had marginal food security, 15.8% had low food security, and15.3% had very low food security."
(Leung et al., 2019)
But considerable food waste is generated at the same time
Unfortunately, this isn't a project with a million-dollar budget. It's not possible to run a food program or build a new product to solve the problem. Thus, we decide to focus on improving the existing service.
The team decides to improve the campus food bank, Maize and Blue Cupboard (MBC).
We study the operations of MBC, along with the experiences of staff, volunteers, and shoppers to devise effective solutions that address the needs.
Problems:
Staff
Volunteers
Shoppers
How might we create an ideal model for a campus food bank that addresses food waste and overcomes MBC's challenges such as staffing issues and long wait times for shoppers?
Design1: New donation channels, including surplus food from on-campus events and contributions made between individuals.
Before
After
Shoppers have to go to MBC and align with MBC's operating hours.
Discover nearby individual donors available at convenient times for shoppers.
Many campus events offer food, which often leads to the generation of leftovers and food waste.
The event leftovers can be easily donated to
those in need .
MBC lacks sufficient manpower and space to sort out additional donations from outside the local food
bank partner.
Donors and event hosts can store food and directly donate to food seekers, without using MBC's time
and space.
Food can be donated from individuals to individuals (C2C) through the food map, in addition to the original MBC-to-shoppers (B2C) model.
Design2: Volunteer training through a handbook
Before
After
New volunteers are unaware of what the job entails before they get started.
New volunteers can familiarize themselves with the handbook in advance to be better prepared.
The staff has to repeatedly teach new volunteers due to the constant influx of newcomers.
The staff can save time on training by providing new volunteers with the handbook.
Design3: Shopper reservation and available item list
Before
After
Shoppers have to wait in line on restock days to ensure they can get popular items before they run out.
Shoppers can arrive at scheduled time without waiting but still get desired food.
During busy periods, staff encounter challenges as the limited space becomes overwhelmed by large crowds of people.
Shoppers are required to make reservations, and only a limited number of them are allowed to arrive at a given time.
To incorporate new features into the existing website
and improve the navigation, we restructure the
information architecture.
Through iterative design processes involving usability tests and card sorting, we make the new features easier to understand and locate.
Here is the final prototype.
The project won the first prize
for the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion award from the 2023
UMSI Exposition
Thanks to my team, professor Lija Hogan, MBC staff, and all our interviewees.
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