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graduate school · UI / UX DESIGN

Farmlinker - improving the food supply chain

The intra-community food supply chain is the production and distribution of food within a local community. This project was to design an eco-friendly Intra-community food supply chain for transparency and equity to tackle food insecurity within the local community through online platforms and apps that facilitate direct sales and distribution.

MY ROLE WAS
- 80% of UI Design
- 70% of UX Strategy & Solution
- 50% of Research
tool
- Figma
- Adobe Illustrator
I WORKED WITH
- Siddhi Sakhare
YEAR
- JAN 2023 ~ APRIL 2023
CLASS
- IXD-606-UX RESEARCH

DESIGN PROCESS

We designed Farmlinker using the double-diamond method, following the stages of discovery, definition, development, and delivery.

Problem

In a conventional food supply chain, Brokers intervene between consumers and farmers through numerous distribution steps, leading to food insecurity by increasing economic, environmental, and nutritional problems.

GOAL

So, our goal is to combat food insecurity in local communities by connecting local farmers, consumers, and deliveries through online platforms, for example, apps, thus fostering direct sales and distribution.

Solution

To address the problem above, we created a more transparent and equitable local food community online platform, Farmlinker. The Farmlinker encourages participants to voluntarily undertake eco-friendly actions by offering them suitable benefits.

local community for all

To foster an eco-friendly food supply chain, we've developed Farmlinker, an intuitive app tailored to the needs of farmers, consumers, and drivers. Upon initial access to Farmlinker, users can assume one of three roles: Farmer, Consumer, or Driver.

local farmers

1) green farm certification & Live broadcasting

Green-certified farmers can sell products directly to consumers via live broadcasts, helping overcome economic challenges by promoting their eco-friendly produce in real-time.

2) education

Farmers gain eco-friendly farming knowledge via education banners, enabling improved environmental impact, reduced fertilizer use, and lower health risks.
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3) Donation

Farmer can donate their surplus agricultural products, left over from sales, to their local community. This practice not only helps reduce food waste but also helps in addressing food insecurity among community members.

4) farmer ranking system

Farmers increase their ranking in app by selling more eco-friendly products, donating, and learning green techniques, earning additional rewards that help overcome economic challenges.

local consumers

1) recycling packages

By returning packaging in good condition to farmers for recycling, consumers contribute to reducing waste from new packaging. Local farmers can cut costs by using these recycled packages instead of buying new packaging materials.
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2) Local Best, Seasonal Best

Consumers shopping local farms' popular, seasonal eco-friendly products via the app gain fresher, more nutritious goods compared to processed or transported items.
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3) Live Streaming

Consumers buying eco-friendly products from green-certified farmers through live broadcasts can decrease health risks from exposure to synthetic pesticides and fertilizers linked with conventional farming.

4) consumer ranking system

As consumers apply for package recycling and purchase more eco-friendly products, their ranking increases, enabling them to gain more economic benefits from this app. This could help reduce the cost of purchasing eco-friendly products.

local deliveries

1) delivery mode

Drivers connect local farms and consumers by accepting orders in delivery mode. This eliminates intermediaries, reducing the food supply chain, contamination risks, and waste.

2) Recycle Mode

In recycling mode, drivers can collect farm packaging left behind by consumers and return it to the farm. This helps reduce the amount of waste generated by new packaging.
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3) driver ranking system

Rewarding drivers for eco-friendly food deliveries and recycling tasks reduces waste and boosts recycling, lowering environmental footprint and supply chain costs for a more efficient, sustainable system.

research

From our secondary research, we discovered that the existing food supply chain presents numerous obstacles to efficient and direct connections between farmers and consumers. Furthermore, we observed its negative impact on the environment.

Based on these insights, we identified several potential problems in our problem statement. Specifically, traditional food systems are exerting dominance in the market, creating pressure on small to medium-sized farms and local economies. This is compounding the difficulties in designing and implementing improved solutions for households dealing with food insecurity.

To address these complex issues, our opportunity hypothesis explores various avenues for potential solutions. Each of these three stages interlinks, playing a pivotal role in fostering a deeper understanding of food insecurity and guiding us toward appropriate resolutions.
Secondary Research
problem statement
Opportunity hypothesis

persona

Based on the previous step, we created a provisional persona representing potential stakeholders in the local food supply chain. This provided the benefit of facilitating empathetic and user-centric design by providing a clear and detailed understanding of the needs, behaviors and goals of potential Farmlink users.

process map

The process map helped us understand the full context and complexity of the interactions that make up Farmlinker's user experience.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE &
wireframes

Leveraging information architecture, we logically organized data for easy user access. Custom wireframes were designed for farmers, consumers, and delivery personnel, refining Farmliker's interface. This paved the way for developing its layouts, components, content, and interactions.

styleguide

Based on the previous process, we created a style guide. This style guide helps keep Farmlink visually consistent by consistently using elements.

Result &
Final feedback &
prototype

When it comes to feedback from the final presentation was that the overall design seems to align well with our desired direction, and  we reasonably solved the labor-intensive problem.

Labor intensive problem:
Previously, farmers had to go through 20 steps to input product information, but our feedback was we needed to simplify this process. So, for the solution is, when a farmer takes a photo of a product, AI automatically classifies its name, category, and any information to streamline the process. 
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Previously, farmers could only manually enter product information. So we got feedback we needed to figure out this, So, I added a voice input feature for farmers who don't want to manually enter product descriptions. This is because if you are a farmer with 10 products and you have to enter 10 pages to put those products on the market, it would be a considerable effort.
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Therefore, this solution has received feedback that it is a good compromise. when I worked on this part, I got some inspiration and insight from photo and recording apps I use every day, so that’s how I was able to come up with these ideas.

What I've learned


This project focused on the design thinking process. So while there are limitations to not testing real apps, the lesson I learned from this project was how to systematically navigate the design process to pinpoint problems and devise solutions. Of course, this design thinking process is not always applied to actual projects, but if I know how to approach the problem systematically and come up with a solution, I think I can apply this process in a variety of ways..
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FINAL DESIGN

GREEN CERTIFICATION

Using the data and insights gathered from the previous steps, I designed the optimal solution for the user. I believe that my proposed design efficiently solves the user's problems.

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