OrderAhead Marketplace (Back-facing Web Platform)

For the back-end side, we first analyzed the users we needed to consider, and set our goal.

Goal: to create reference materials that allow different food banks managers to find the information they need quickly and efficiently, and explains what, why, how, in succinct text and animated gifs and videos. This helps the managers to learn how to use our digital platform and onboard easily.

The Food Bank Program Manager –
• Runs special programs, serving as the point person/coordinator internally at a food bank and is the face of the organization
• Tracks and addresses order progress and problems
• Adds or updates pickup site information
• Ensures each stage of the order progress is advancing smoothly and the partners and staff have the information they need
• Assesses overall progress in order to communicate or change any aspects

The Food Bank Inventory Manager –
• Orders, allocates, and adjusts inventory to make sure there is enough supplies for different programs and agencies
• Tracks inventory orders, usage, and assesses future need
• Maintains alignment with Ceres (ERP) and pantry-facing platforms
• Adds and updates product inventory
• Easily conveys to warehouse staff what to set aside specifically for OrderAhead

Testing Features

After assessing the needs of the food bank managers, I tested the existing OrderAhead Marketplace back-end site, and worked with developers to make changes to improve the site. Our goal was to have the site easily navigable by the managers with all the information organized. I reviewed the current onboarding experience, identified areas of confusion or gaps, and prototyped potential solutions to improve the flow. I assessed the current user experience and recorded bugs and issues in a spreadsheet and relayed my findings to the developers.

Product Library

I also developed an inventory product library that is easily searchable and organized. Many of the products distributed at food banks were not available on the site, so I updated the inventory with different grocery products and brands to give customers various options when selecting their groceries. I collaborated with one of Feeding America’s partners to source images to fill the gaps of current products and created a database of royalty-free product images that can be downloaded and updated in the OrderAhead Marketplace to be viewable to OrderAhead customers on their app. I also tagged each of the pictures so they can be searchable and found easily within the database, and edited the images in Photoshop so they are all uniform in color, background, and size.

OrderAhead App (Front-facing Mobile App)

Wireframing & User Flow

For the front-end side, the designers at Feeding America had already come up with a few screens. My task was to map out the screens and design the user flow, which I performed through Miro and Adobe Illustrator. I decided to categorize the user flow into 5 different categories, from Selecting a pickup location and time → Starting a new order/shopping for items → Signing In / Creating an Account → Placing order → Managing Orders and Profile.

I then mapped out a new user flow based after researching the regulations, and incorporated this information into the app. Different users would be directed to limited items based on their eligibility and area/state they live in.

Testing and Review

Before conducting user testing, I went through the OrderAhead app to make sure that there weren’t any bugs, and analyzed the app to see if there were any user experiences that could be improved. I then documented my findings in a table to share with the developer team and categorized my findings based on urgency. I also reviewed alpha/beta feedback and identified key areas for future enhancement. The observations were then fixed by the developers, and then we moved on to user testing.

User Testing

For user testing, I first developed a research plan, detailing my goals, method, and which users I intended to recruit to participate. Although our team was based in Chicago, we reached out to food banks in Ohio and Texas to recruit participants. The food banks there gave us contact info for frequent food bank users and we contacted them by email and phone. At this point, we had a working site/app to let users use, but I also prototyped a new home page on Adobe XD. We were planning on implementing a new home page with more information, and wanted users to test it to see if they preferred that over the current home page. Our goal was to uncover new pain points with the current OrderAhead site and new home page, and understand expectations and challenges of the users, especially with new features such as delivery, managing orders, and resetting passwords.

We then conducted 30-minute interviews and tested both the live OrderAhead site and virtual prototype on Adobe XD, recording the users’ feedback as we walked them through the OrderAhead experience. We tried to interview both existing users and new users with different technology skills and cultural backgrounds, to understand potential difficulties and challenges they might encounter as they use our app. After conducting the interviews, I synthesized research takeaways and summarized my key findings and implications.