Enhancing Food Awareness & Reducing Waste
Freshpal is a digital platform designed to help busy individuals in Melbourne reduce household food waste by creating an emotional connection with their food. This project integrates service design with a UX/UI-focused website that provides users with food expiry tracking, farm-to-table stories, and storage tips.
This group project was created as part of the "Collective Imaginaries " studio in the Master of Design Innovation and Technology program at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, under the supervision of Dr. Areli Avendano Franco.
Freshpal was developed as a collaborative project with a multidisciplinary team. I focused on UX/UI design, branding, and user research.
🎨 UX/UI Design – Wireframes, UI mockups, and final prototype
🥑 Branding & Mascot – Visual identity, logo, and character design
🔍 User Research & Testing – Interviews, journey maps, and usability testing
📢 Marketing & Stakeholders – Campaign materials, business model, and outreach strategy
Many busy individuals struggle with food waste due to over-purchasing, lack of meal planning, and confusion over expiry labels. The goal was to design a seamless, engaging solution that would foster awareness and action in a practical way.
We conducted surveys and interviews to collect insights from individuals who frequently cook but struggle with managing their groceries efficiently.
We analysed our research findings using workshops and mapping techniques to define the problem and identify opportunities for intervention.
Empathy Mapping & Journey Mapping
Helped us visualise user behaviours, thoughts, and frustrations during the grocery shopping and food management process
Affinity Mapping & Storyboarding
Allowed us to cluster key insights into actionable themes
Concept
Based on our research, we explored different solutions to address the core issues
Smart E-Receipt
An e-receipt system that provides food expiry tracking and storage tips at checkout.Users can access an itemized list of groceries with expiration dates.
Sticky Expiration Labels
A color-coded sticker system that visually indicates freshness levels.Helps users track best-before and expiry dates more effectively.
After conducting user testing, we found that the best approach was to merge both ideas into a unified solution:
A scannable sticker system integrated with a digital platform to provide expiry tracking, food storage tips, and farm-to-table insights.
We designed low-fidelity wireframes in Figma, refining key features like PLU scanning, e-receipts, and gamification through user testing. Photoboarding visualized real-world interactions, shaping both UX/UI design and marketing to ensure a seamless, user-centered experience.
Userflow
The installation focuses on sound classification, capturing distinctive urban sounds around State Library Victoria and transforming them into serene nature recordings to create a soothing experience.
Medium
The installation focuses on sound classification, capturing distinctive urban sounds around State Library Victoria and transforming them into serene nature recordings to create a soothing experience.
Branding Design
We recorded sound samples at State Library Victoria to train the Teachable Machine model, focusing on tram dragging, tram ringing, and seagull calls. While tram dragging was easy to capture, the unpredictability of tram bells and bird calls posed challenges. Using p5.js, the model classifies real-time audio input and transforms urban noise into calming nature sounds for a more soothing experience
Marketing Campaign
User Testing
Through Freshpal, I deepened my understanding of circular economy principles, food waste ecosystems, and the UN SDGs. Workshops and framworks like Theory of Change, Story World, and Affinity Mapping helped frame the problem and ideate solutions. Working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team strengthened my skills in service design, UX/UI, storytelling, and strategic thinking. This project broadened my approach to communication, research, and digital product design, preparing me for future service and experience design challenges.
