On the Square

On Saturdays in the summer, the Dane County Farmers' Market is the place to be. However, it can be challenging to complete weekly shopping without knowing in advance what farmers will have available. This app connects the shoppers to the farmers, giving them a preview of what the vendors will bring to the market that week and where to find them. Users can create a weekly shopping list and determine the peak seasons for produce. With a design based on extensive user research and moving into its third iteration, this app gets better with every season.

Skills: App Design, UX Research, UI Design, Prototyping, User Testing

Programs: Figma, Illustrator, Google Forms, Zoom, and Google Hangouts

The Research

This app was built through extensive research and interaction. The UX led the design and resulted in a better product.

Competitive Audit

After the idea the competitive audit was the first set in the design process. It helped determine a need for this app and gain a base knowledge of the understood conventions within this realm.

Screener Survey & Interviews

26 participants completed the screener survey.

Of the participants in the screener survey, 3 participants were interviewed over video chat or phone to gain more insight into their food planning habits and knowledge of when produce is in season.

Most people interviewed felt they lacked knowledge about what produce was in season. Price, recipe ingredients, and freshness were the key factors people considered when buying produce. All 3 participants mentioned organic produce but stated that organic farming was not a determining factor in their purchases. In the interviews and the screening survey, respondents all stated that shopping locally is important:

Blake said, “Seasonality affects my shopping because when things are in season locally, I buy them at the farmers’ market or a smaller grocery store.”

Hannah talked about how becoming a farmer changed how she thought about food. “I really care about the source of the food I’m getting, what buying this food is supporting. Farmers’ markets are a great way to shop because you give money directly to farmers and can learn how the food is sourced and cared for.”

David cares about the origin of his food but doesn’t always make it to the farmers’ market. At the grocery store, he is more likely to buy a product from a small company and is especially drawn to the company’s “story.” For example, he buys eggs from farmers that disclose how the chickens are raised and the values of the farm and farmers.

Personas & User Flows

Personas help developers prioritize the user during the design phase and guard against unconscious bias. The following personas were formed around ideal users and based on the research from our user screening and interviews.

The empathy maps are a reflection of the user personas and use direct quotes from the user interviews to help guide the app developement.