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Freedge

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OVERVIEW
A “Freedge” provides free access to fresh, healthy food through a installation of community fridges. As a DIY project, anyone can create a “Freedge” with the right tools and resources. I was the design lead in my team for this non-profit website redesign. I also provided hand-drawn illustrations for branding purposes.
Design Lead
Illustrations
UX Writing
Tools
Figma
Procreate
Team
Carolynn Chang, UX Design Lead
Jake Ruta, UX Designer
Justin Baughn, UX Designer
Maggie Kirkpatrick, UX Designer
 
Role
User research
Visual design
Illustrations
Usability testing
THE CHALLENGE

Freedge is concerned about sustainability in the midst of Covid-19

Freedge's growth and engagement has been so rapid that the organization worries about sustainability, noting that their success depends on certain loopholes in food-related restrictions and legislation.
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Freedge wants to update their website's interface to support the implementation of successful new Freedge installations.

How might we empower users to take action and provide them with the right guidance to start and maintain a Freedge?

BUSINESS NEEDS

Freedge users do not feel properly guided.

When our team conducted an interview with the founder, he had two primary needs for his website:
 
  • The founder wants to empower users to take action and provide them with guidance.
  • The founder want the website to act as a resource guide that the user can frequently go back to for information. The user should not have to search endlessly across the web for help.
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

UX audit revealed numerous usability issues.

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Upon conducting a UX audit, we found numerous usability issues with Freedge's website including, but not limited to:​
  • Lack of a brand identity: Poor styling, branding, and messaging 
  • Lack of useful information: The website had disorganized content as well as numerous links that lead to external third-party resources for useful information.
  • Difficult to scan: Poor readability, lack of site responsiveness, and delayed web animations 
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USER RESEARCH

Freedge users feel helpless.

We conducted 5 interviews with Freedge users. Some of the insights we gathered were:
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  • Legality concerns: Legal concerns are a huge challenge for new and existing Freedgers.
  • Difficulty sourcing food and finding a location: Other major challenges are sourcing food and finding a location
  • Unable to access proper resources: Accessing resources is critical to new freedgers!
  • Not knowing where to start: Users had no idea how to begin learning about food insecurity or how to gather legitimate resources.
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USER RESEARCH

New users do not know how to begin helping their community. 

We gathered 15 survey responses from non-Freedge users about their knowledge regarding food insecurity:​
"I would have to do more research before starting"​
"I don't know how to get involved at the local level"
"I have no idea how I would start food sharing with the community"
100% of respondents never worked with a hunger organization
USER RESEARCH

Who would our user be?

Our team created a persona that felt represented a new Freedge user.
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DESIGN GOALS

Become a space to provide users with centralized and clear resources for running a Freedge.

The current experience failed to provide its users with reliable information, especially since resources were scattered and disorganized. Our goal was to build a guide that current Freedge users can frequently visit and lower the barrier to entry for potential Freedge users.
IDEATION

We brainstormed different user flows and layouts.

After we determined our design goals, our team hand-sketched different user flows. We voted on the best elements of each design and combined them to finalize our user flow. 
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ITERATIONS

We created a step-by-step walkthrough of how to start and maintain a Freedge

Find a Location.png
Shelter It.png
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ITERATION

I drew original digital illustrations

Using Procreate software, I hand-drew illustrations. I implemented a youthful, cartoon-like style to my illustrations because Freedge is a DIY-focused organization. 
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VALIDATION

Users didn't fully understand Freedge's mission in our first iteration.

​We conducting usability testing on our first prototype with 5 individuals. Based on feedback, users still didn’t get much context as to what Freedge does and why it is important.

“I feel food insecurity isn’t properly explained on this Mission page. Maybe you guys could tweak that…”

“As someone who knows about Freedge, I’m not sure this homepage accurately describes what it is. At first, I thought you are selling a product.”

FINAL DESIGNS

A website that explains Freedge's mission and facilitates the setup process.

After gathering feedback from our usability test, our team altered the home and mission page to include more information on food insecurity.
Our Mission.png
Shelter It.png
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REFLECTION

With more time, my team and I would....

  • ​Conduct user research on two other types of people: non-Freedge community volunteers and people who have little to no knowledge of food insecurity.
  • Add more hand-drawn illustrations, interactivity, and animations to compliment the instructions in the guide.
  • Review UX Copywriting and reduce the lengthy, dense paragraphs.
  • Would work on the “Donate”, “Connect”, and “Find a Freedge” pages
  • Review final designs with Stakeholders
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