Device Mockups created from Device Frames
Overview
Defridge is a fridge organizer app that helps users track their food and monitor expiration dates to reduce waste. It makes meal planning and grocery shopping easier by keeping fridge contents organized and accessible.
Role
UI/UX Designer
Responsibilities
User Interview, Usability Testing, Data Analysis, Design System, UI Design
Problem
Too Much Food Goes to Waste
I often throw away food because I forget about it or underestimate its expiry date. I wanted a simple way to track my fridge and avoid waste. Many people face the same issue, leading to unnecessary food waste and grocery shopping mistakes.
User Research
What About Others?
Nine In-Person Interviews
A total of nine interviews were conducted with participants ranging from their early 20s to 50s. They included individuals living alone, with family, with roommates, and some with children, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives.
The interview explored participants’ daily habits around grocery shopping, food storage, and fridge organization. Questions focused on how they decide what to buy, how they track what they already have at home, and the challenges they face with managing food waste or forgotten items.
Interview findings were documented on sticky notes, with one key point per note, then grouped to create an affinity map. From this analysis, I identified key insights and developed personas for the project.
Pain Points
Identifying Key Challenges
Forgotten Food Leads to Waste
No Easy Way to Track Expiry Dates
People often forget about the food they have in the refrigerator, leading to unnecessary waste. Sometimes it's hidden behind other items or stored in containers, making it hard to know what's inside.
Condiments and less frequently used ingredients are more difficult to track the expiry dates.
Grocery Mistakes
People frequently forget if they already have certain items at home, leading to duplicate purchases or missing ingredients.
Prototyping & Testing
Iterate, Test, Improve
.png)
.png)
Expiry Notification
Get alerts when the food is about to expire or has expired
Family Sharing
Sync your fridge with family members in real time and get notified when they make updates.
Smart Barcode Scan
Quickly add items by scanning barcodes
.png)
Item Details
Quantity, category, expiry date, photo, note, and more.
Easy Inventory
Organize your fridge with just one tab.
.png)
Takeaways
What I Have Learned
I realized how valuable user testing is after finding some unexpected pain points from the users' behaviours. For example, in form fields within overlay screens, I expected users to simply tap the next field after completing the current one. Instead, some looked for a “Save” button, while others kept hitting “Close” before moving forward. This highlighted the gap between design intentions and how users actually think and interact — and how crucial it is to bridge that gap.
Next Steps
Building Defridge for iOS
As a next step, I’m currently developing Defridge on Xcode with Swift to launch the app on iOS platform. Feel free to check back later for updates on my progress in app development!
