An Exploration of User-Informed Design

This paper describes the development of a mobile application aimed at facilitating the communication and collaboration of roommates with regards to grocery shopping, food-sharing, and cost-splitting. The approach involves several methods of user-informed design. First, I conducted an analysis of user needs, interviewing potential end-users to gauge shopping habits and behaviors. Second, using iterative wireframing and a design tool called Figma, I constructed a working prototype of the design. Third, the prototype was used in a usability study, focused on uncovering pain points and other insights regarding the performance of the app. The usability tests were designed to simulate tasks that users might reasonably encounter when using the app. Finally, a second analysis of user needs was conducted, this time on a much larger scale. These methods were used to develop several informed design decisions that could improve the overall usability in future iterations of the design.