sage

Role

Team Lead
UX Designer

Team

Yingyan Wu
Alex Huie
Ethan Ho Huang

Timeline

10 weeks

Tools

Figma
Illustrator
Canva

Overview

I served as the team lead for a 10-week long design project, from ideation to a fully functioning prototype and presentation. Together, we created sage: a mobile application which facilitates the end-to-end process of produce selection, storage, and consumption — all in one place.

Identifying the Problem

We started by identifying everyday problems
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As a team, we identified three key pain points:

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This was a difficult process for us, we contemplated as a team how we could balance a motivating gamified environment while also reducing challenge and stress on the user. 📱 ✨

Research

We conducted our user research in three primary stages: a competitive analysis, survey, and user interviews.

Competitive Analysis

For our competitive analysis, we chose three competitors we felt were most similar to Sage in purpose and functionality: Harvest, FoodShiner, and Nowaste. The top row in the table below represents a feature present in the applications we evaluated, such as whether the app provides selection instructions, storage instructions, produce information, a fridge/pantry checking system, has a user interface, and is free to use. Although there are applications which provide comprehensive produce info and food tracking, there were no direct competitors to Sage in terms of full functionality.

Design

As a design team, we held a brainstorming session to discuss individual problems and pain points that could be automated or made easier. Everyone expressed that, especially in context of the COVID-19 pandemic, they struggled the most with finding motivation for simple, everyday tasks. We also agreed that, as college students, the tasks that were most often forgotten or overlooked by ourselves and our peers were those that related to personal health: eating three meals a day, getting enough sleep, or drinking enough water.

We agreed as a team that drinking a healthy amount of water every day was something that was unquestionably important but also difficult to measure and keep track of for long periods of time.

This was a difficult process for us, we contemplated as a team how we could balance a motivating gamified environment while also reducing challenge and stress on the user. 📱 ✨

Final Presentation

Below is an interactive slide deck of our final presentation, which summarizes all the provided case study information into some cute and concise slides. Feel free to click through!

Demo

Below is a functional prototype and guided demonstration of sage's core features. Enjoy!

Reflections

Working on sage was a valuable experience for me because it was my first time ever leading a design team. As a project lead, I learned how to pilot sage through each stage in the design process — from ideation, research, and design to a fully functioning prototype. I learned to leverage the skillsets of the different members of my team, clearly communicate timelines and expectations, provide constructive feedback, and work more closely with each member in every step of the process. Some key takeaways I have are:

Focus on the Essence.

Having a clear idea of exactly what we’re capable of implementing and the confidence that comes with that knowledge is key to navigating the design process. Moving forward while still unsure about functionality makes for much more frustration than necessary.

Iterate with Purpose

When designing, it’s easy to fall down rabbit holes of iteration after iteration. Although creating different versions definitely helps you visualize and ideate, it's important to ensure that each iteration has a purpose. Doing so can make your ideas much clearer and easier to expand upon.