Research

Goal

My goal is to create a tool that will identify and locate resources for college students as well as provide a way for the community to donate - ultimately creating hope around college hunger.

Keywords

hope
hunger
food insecurity
empowering students
fresh
healthy
community
donate

Potential Partners

Potential partners include the College & University Food Bank Alliance which is focused on alleviating food insecurity, hunger, and poverty among college and university students. They have a network of over 700 college food pantries and provide "Getting Started" or "Running a Campus Pantry" toolkits.
https://cufba.org/

Locally, LeadMN has a hunger-fighting initiative called Hunger Free Campus. To achieve the designation a campus must meet certain criteria to help ensure no student goes hungry.
https://www.leadmn.org/hungerfreecampus

Freedge is another potential partner. Freedge promotes the installation of community refrigerators by providing resources for finding a “freedge” or starting one in your own community.
https://freedge.org/locations/foco/

Audience

The primary audience for the Food for Thought app would be college students in the United States who are experiencing hunger.

A secondary audience would be members of the community who would like to donate food, money or time.

Questions

Should this be a website vs. an app?

More than one person questioned this. My initial idea was to create an app - considering the age demographic and their reliance on their phones. To add to the confusion two college students said they would prefer an app. Two others said website.

Feedback from a UX instructor asked what if the student isn’t on a mobile phone, but using a computer in the library?

Given the stigma around hunger and poverty, an executive at a hunger non-profit wondered if they would they be embarassed to have an app on their phone?

What is the problem I’m really trying to address?

A conversation with a friend who works as a consultant identified that the issue I was describing was not about hunger per se but about how to connect college students to the great resources that already exist.

User testing during Covid-19 restrictions?

How would I conduct testing given limited contact with other people because of Covid-19? Access to testers with covid restrictions was a bit tricky and I struggled to find five users. Five is considered the magic number - or golden rule if you will - for user testing. I compiled the data for 3 testers for each round. I conducted two rounds of testing with wireframes and a paper prototype and included the option to either locate a food pantry or find one to donate to.

While it was challenging to locate five users for testing, I did find that Think Aloud Testing was easier and more intuitive when conducting testing remotely. The think aloud method involves the tester talking through every action they make and some of my test subjects did it naturally while they moved through the screens.

*Why 5 is the magic number for UX usability testing, Ellie Martin
https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/ux-usability-research-testing/

Like-minded Apps

Food Finder

"FoodFinder is designed for use by all the faces of hunger: college students, families struggling due to the COVID-19 crisis, homebound seniors, and anyone in need. So when a food pantry requires a photo ID to get help, when you need directions to a pantry via public transportation, or you want to know if you can also get clothing or shelter there, FoodFinder has the answers."
https://foodfinder.us/

Got Food?

"Got Food? through Feeding America, is a resource to introduce nearby food pantries and soup kitchens to iOS users. The app consolidates data from multiple locations and will continue to expand its database of organizations. Our mission is to minimize the effects of food insecurity in our local communities."
https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/

Some additional apps, including some at colleges:
plentiful
CSUDH Eats
Beach Bites
Bronco BEAM

Solution

As a result of this research, the project was changed to be a mobile first website instead of an app. Food for Thought would contain the information of food pantries on college campuses in the United States, helping students quickly locate and access fresh, healthy food near them.

A second component would be a way to support these existing programs with donations.

I focused on creating a simple, efficient way to connect college students with a campus food pantry, eliminating screens to reduce the chances of “losing” a user as they clicked through the site.