Week 6: Midterm Presentation

And early brainstorming sessions.

📌 Introduction

This week I brainstormed potential solutions and prepared a presentation with all the information I’ve gathered so far. But before we dive into the details of the presentation, I wanted to clarify that my focus area has narrowed down to food waste. After having 12 interviews, where around half of the participants mentioned not responsibly dealing with their food waste, it seemed clear that there was a need.

Therefore, I decided to focus on mitigating the increase of food waste we are generating due to the pandemic. My goal is to provide an educational tool that empowers and validates everyone’s day to day actions.

Why? Well, if we continue like this, heat waves will become more severe, meaning crucial habitats may no longer be hospitable for certain animals, plants, or us in the future!

The following section is a recap from Week 4: Defining Users. Feel free to skip if you’ve read it.

🏪 Market Research

The first step I took was to research the current market space.

At a Cost -vs.- Offerings Matrix,
Groundcycle leads in providing users more offerings, as they have food waste pick-ups, produce bin swapping programs, and sell compost.

By contrast, Too Good To Go leads at a much lower price, using a different strategy that provides users with a surprising meal at a great cost. The remaining brands do mainly food waste pick-ups and/or compost.

When comparing who has more users, Too Good To Go gets the highest position, as it has over 25 million users. However, this app was just launched in NYC.

Groundcycle and BK ROT have significantly more users than Reclaimed Organics since the latter only applies to Manhattan, while the first two only accept addresses in Brooklyn. It is worth pointing out that WasteNot Compost is a company that currently only works in Chicago. Hence, being the one with the least amount of users.

🌎 Target Users

Since I’ve narrowed down my topic, I also did with my user groups.

👨🏼‍🚒 The City Dweller or “the Beginner” is curious –and maybe lazy– but busy with work at home.

👩🏻‍🏫 The Intermediate Recycler is also curious but more determined and feels compelled to help others.

👩🏾‍🌾 The Composter is the manager of the composting operation and is eager to see change everywhere!

🤔 Assumptions & Insights

From the interviews, I validated some of my initial assumptions: For example, nearly half of the participants agreed on how difficult and expensive it is to compost at home, especially in the city. Also, even though there has been more awareness, everyone still feels anxious and concerned about the future.

Lastly, something that really stood out from talking to the founder of Groundcycle was the twenty-one hundred pounds of food waste they collected 2 weeks ago, which is insane compared to how average Americans throw away 103 pounds of it every year.

⚡️ Pain Points + Needs + Value Propositions

If we look at each user's pain points and needs, the composter struggles with contaminated food waste, as she has found metal and stickers in the bins.

She wants to grow the business and educate her clients. Therefore, I intend to deliver an opportunity to expand with new services, a broader audience, and less contamination.

On the other side, the city dweller and the intermediate recycler find composting too difficult in the city. Still, they are curious about trying new things and growing their own vegetables.

So, I intend to offer a way to dispose of food waste easily for these user groups, feeling accomplished and not guilty.

🛠 Concept Ideas

Let’s take a quick look at the initial concepts I have created! Keep in mind that these are quite rough and still developing.

💭 Final Thoughts

I must admit it was difficult to come up with some ideas without getting influenced by the current systems and situation –we are still under a pandemic. This has affected my thought process and how I brainstorm for something physical as it might be difficult to user test in the future. I’m also aware that my last concept would be costly to make, so I highly doubt this will come to fruition.

However, I am very excited to keep developing my digital concepts, even though I don’t consider myself an ‘exceptional’ visual designer. But, I can take this opportunity to have fun with it and improve my design skills.

As always, stay safe and healthy. See you next week✌🏼

Thank you for taking the time to read through my post.

To connect or share your opinion, please reach out to me via email at crussoherrera@sva.edu.