TERRA
UX Reseacher & Designer
Overview
CHALLENGE
Terra is an e-commerce solution to decreasing knowledge gaps around diet and health. The problem was low-income residents living in food deserts and food swamps weren’t exposed to healthy food options. The challenge was to design a system by creating digital solution that reconnected people to local fresh food.
MY ROLE
Independently, developing the concept through preliminary research on statistics, market research, and interviews. I designed surveys, wireframes and usability tests to drive the product development.
Terra is an e-commerce solution to decreasing knowledge gaps around diet and health. The problem was low-income residents living in food deserts and food swamps weren’t exposed to healthy food options. The challenge was to design a system by creating digital solution that reconnected people to local fresh food.
MY ROLE
Independently, developing the concept through preliminary research on statistics, market research, and interviews. I designed surveys, wireframes and usability tests to drive the product development.
APPROACH
Primary research: surveys, interviews, usability testing
OUTCOME
MVP blueprint and product market fit.
LINK
Figma
Primary research: surveys, interviews, usability testing
OUTCOME
MVP blueprint and product market fit.
LINK
Figma
Play!
Hypotheses
- Connecting local farms with food deserts and food swamps will expose these locations to healthier food options
- Driving more traffic will increase revenue for local New York farmers
- Educating communities living in food deserts on how to grow food indoors will help them have a better relationship with food
Research Goals
- Basic understanding of the topic in order to narrow research questions
- Learn about current thoughts and feelings New York City residents have around gentrification and red-lining, how it affects their options today
- Deep-dive into the lifestyles of New York City residents who live in food deserts and food swamps
- Gather data to build personas/archetypes
- Needs, desires, or pain points around the mobile solution
Terra MVP
Methods
When planning the research for this project, I wanted to gain rich insight from my target audience since the goal was to reach product-market fit. This gave me data to strategize how might farmers connect with millenials.
- Preliminary desk research to scope and learn about the market’s landscape
- Survey to understand my audience through demographic and psychographic data
- Remote interviews to understand the lifestyles and priorities of each person
- Usability testing to validate the concept of the application
Key Insights
From my research, I discovered specific demographic and psychographic data about my target audience:
- Conscious diets are preferred: pre-year 2020, people were conscious of what they ate, only eating what was within their dietary habits
- Rise of inconsistent diets: post-year 2020, people stated their conscious diets were inconsistent
- Locals want local produce: low-income residents wouldn't completely exclude locally grown produce or buying organic over the latter
- People need motivation: people need motivation other than healthy food options to change their shopping habits
- Low-income NYC residents don’t spend what the average New Yorker spends monthly on groceries: groceries usually cost over $400/month and low-income NYC residents spend 50% less per month on groceries than the average NYC resident
Information Architecture (IA)
Sitemap
Sketches
Wireframes
Usability Test
Outcomes
Goal
- What type of food stores are available
- What is the quality of the produce that is accessible; how accessible they are
- What sparks interest for change in eating and shopping habits
- How do they think their shopping affects NYC food suppliers
Sample
- 5 participants
- Living in food deserts and food swamps
- Ages between 26-43
- Women and men