Helping UBC students share groceries and build food-saving habits
- Team
- Phase 1: 4 DesignersPhase 2: Solo Redesign
- Timeline
- November 2024
- Scope
- ResearchProduct DesignVisual SystemPrototyping
Overview
By Friday, the carrot needs a new home.
LastBite started as a UBC school project about food waste in student life. With three other designers, I developed an app concept for sharing groceries locally and building habits that waste less food.
I later led the research and redesign independently.
The brief
How might I help UBC students waste less food in their everyday lives?
Problem
A busy week could leave good groceries unused.
I surveyed 18 UBC students and interviewed 6. They bought groceries with meals in mind, but coursework and changing plans pushed cooking aside. By the time they thought about sharing, the food was often close to going bad.
Student: I bought groceries to cook this week, then assignments took over. It’s Friday and they’re still in my fridge!!!
PT: Try this 5-minute TikTok recipe!
Student: I HAVE A MIDTERM. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT.
UBC already had a community fridge. Several students I interviewed had not heard of it. For students living farther away, carrying food across campus and reaching the LIFE Building while it was open could make a last-minute drop-off difficult.
Opportunity
What if the next person was just down the hall?
In interviews students said they would share inside their own building but strangers felt risky. LastBite could help students offer food first to someone in the same residence, then to people in nearby buildings. A shorter handoff makes sharing easier to fit into student life.
Same building
Has extra groceries
Picks up nearbyThe opportunity also starts before food needs a new home: help students notice what they have and choose to cook, store or share it while it is still good.
Design goals
Make wasting less food easier to do every day.
I used these principles to keep LastBite focused on nearby sharing and small habits that could reduce waste over time. They guided which features would be useful in the moment and worth returning to.
Keep sharing close.
Start in the same residence, then reach nearby buildings.
Act while food is good.
Help students decide when to cook, store, or share it.
Make small actions stick.
Turn food-saving choices into an everyday habit.
Solution
Use what you have. Share what you can’t.
I designed LastBite to help students share extra groceries while they are still good. Quick fridge checks and short lessons prompt them to look at what they have before buying more. I wanted that check to become a habit, even when they have nothing to share.
Ideas explored
What I tried before nearby sharing.
I wireframed three other ways to keep groceries from going to waste and walked students through them in interviews. Each one needed students to find extra time to log, cook or coordinate so I set them aside.
Grocery tracking
Log what you buy and get reminders before it expires.
Extra time to log
81% of surveyed students said they were already busy. I doubted they would keep it up after every shop.
Photo to recipe
Photograph what you have and get an easy recipe.
Extra time to cook
73% of surveyed students said they would not follow even a five-minute TikTok recipe when short on time.
Split before buying
Split a large pack with someone nearby before you shop.
Extra time to coordinate
Agreeing on a pack before the shop adds work to an already busy week.
Design decisions
Filtering by dorm
Students start with food in their own building then add residences they can walk to.
Keeping pickup spots private
Students I spoke with raised safety concerns so I hid the meeting point until the host confirms a request. The pickup window and rough distance stay visible.
Making lessons easy to start
My first version was a list and two participants said it felt like another lesson. I turned it into a deck where students swipe right to start a lesson or left to save it for later.
Rewarding everyday habits
Students check their real fridge once a day and answer in one tap. Every third check earns 2 coins for stickers in a tiny rewards fridge. Lessons and pickups earn them too and nothing is logged.
Outcome
The prototype answers half the question.
5 out of 6 students in the usability testing said they would use it. However, since it is currently a prototype, I have no way of knowing if it will actually work. We will need to run a pilot study with real users who will be uploading and participating in using the beta app.
Reflection
I got caught up thinking about retention.
I wanted students to build lasting habits so I started sketching a bigger game around the tiny fridge. Gamification feels great but it pulled my attention away from the core goal of the app (foster food waste reduction habits). I learned to be mindful of constraints and scope.