Designing for Mindful Food Consumption: Enhancing Consumer Engagement to Reduce Food Delivery Waste

Designing for Mindful Food Consumption: Enhancing Consumer Engagement to Reduce Food Delivery Waste

Jiang, SHIYUE (TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering)

Schifferstein, Hendrik N.J. (mentor)
Miao, X. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Design for Interaction

2024-02-29

In China, the takeaway industry has been steadily rising, gradually maturing, and evolving into a large-scale dining market. Urban white-collar consumers constitute the primary user base for food delivery and are the target user group for this project. However, food delivery waste has yet to be adequately addressed. During the theme exploration and research phases, through methods such as interviews and co-creation, it was found that subjectively, there is a weak awareness of reducing food waste, unclear criteria for judging the freshness of leftovers, and a lack of facilities for storage and reheating. However, the most significant objective obstacles include portion sizes exceeding appetite, and the taste not meeting consumer expectations.

This corresponds to an opportunity to bridge the information gap between consumers' expectations and the actual portion sizes and tastes of dishes. Combining with the SICAS consumer behavior model, which aims to increase the conversion rate of consumers' willingness to reduce food delivery waste into actual behavior. The goal of this project is to assist consumers in feeling confident, inspired, and encouraged about how to order takeout that suits their food intake and tastes, thereby reducing food waste. Through brainstorming sessions and prototype testing during the ideation phase, the final design was iterated in both intuitive and conscious directions.

The final design is a new takeout ordering app that primarily integrates an AI assistant - Order Pal, and visual information prompts to help consumers of different personas order takeout with appropriate portion sizes and flavors in various scenarios. Through Order Pal learning users' ordering preferences, recommending suitable portion sizes and flavors, the app assists consumers in quickly and conveniently placing takeout orders while feeling guided and inspired. Additional details in visual information continually prompt and reinforce consumers' understanding of portion sizes and flavors. With long-term reminders and encouragement from Order Pal, consumers gain a better understanding of their food preferences and intake, enabling them to find meals that suit them, reduce food waste, and cultivate a more mindful food consumption.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:01c0155a-7236-4cf2-bb92-89b5e56d8410

Student theses

master thesis

© 2024 SHIYUE Jiang