SMARTCART APP
INTRODUCTION
This grocery shopping app was designed to better understand how users plan their meals and grocery trips, what drives impulse purchases, and how leftover ingredients contribute to food waste. The goal is to create a solution that encourages intentional, plan based shopping while reducing unnecessary spending and excess waste. The app helps users organize meals, build smarter grocery lists, track ingredients they already have at home, and easily find the items they need in a clear and accessible way.
This project marks my first time fully implementing user needs and mapping the complete user journey from research to solution. I focused on understanding real behaviors and pain points in order to design features that genuinely support users, translating research insights into a cohesive, user centered digital experience.
OBJECTIVE
I wanted to understand how users currently plan grocery shopping and meals, what leads them to make impulse purchases, and how leftover ingredients contribute to food waste. This objective helped me design a grocery shopping solution that supports efficient plan-based purchasing and reduces waste.
IDEATION TECHNIQUES
I used the SCAMPER technique to help me think of new ways to improve the grocery shopping experience. I asked myself how I could substitute free browsing with a plan first approach, combine meal planning with grocery list building, and adapt tools like budgeting and calendar scheduling into the app. I also thought about modifying ingredient amounts to reduce waste, eliminating duplicate items across recipes, and rearranging the shopping flow to focus on planning before checkout. This helped me come up with practical ideas that reduce impulse buying and make shopping more intentional.
Scamper Technique
I used mind mapping to organize all of my ideas in one clear visual layout. I started with the main goal of plan based grocery shopping and then branched out into features like meal planning, delivery, budgeting, and leftover tracking. This helped me see how different features connect and support each other. It also made it easier to understand user problems and design solutions that work together as one complete, user centered experience.
Mind Mapping
CONTENT AND INFORMATION ORGANIZATION
To organize the content, I grouped meals into clear and helpful categories such as quick meals, budget friendly, plant based, and dietary needs. This made it easier to see how users might search for recipes based on their lifestyle. Organizing the information this way helped me design a system that feels simple, structured, and easy to navigate.
Organization
USER PERSONAS
I created user personas to represent different types of people who might use the app. Each persona has different goals, habits, and challenges, such as being busy, health focused, eco conscious, or budget aware. This helped me design features that support a variety of needs instead of just one type of user. The personas kept my decisions focused on real people and real behaviors throughout the design process.
User Personas
STORYBOARDING
I used storyboarding to walk through the user’s experience step by step. I imagined a user who wants to plan meals but feels unsure about what to cook or buy. The storyboard shows how they open the app, choose meals for the week, reuse ingredients across recipes, and shop with a clear plan. This helped me understand the full journey and design features that support users from confusion to confidence.
Storyboard
LOW-FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
I created low fidelity wireframes to sketch out the basic layout and structure of the app before focusing on design details. These rough screens helped me test the flow between meal planning, list building, and recipe browsing. By keeping them simple, I was able to focus on functionality, navigation, and clarity. This step allowed me to quickly adjust the layout and improve the overall user experience.
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
MID-FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
I wanted to understand how users currently plan grocery shopping and meals, what leads them to make impulse purchases, and how leftover ingredients contribute to food waste. This objective helped me design a grocery shopping solution that supports efficient plan-based purchasing and reduces waste.