Sharing Excess: Enhance Food Rescue Efficiency

Three questions for the project team

What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
The most difficult part of the project was to understand the problems. Sharing Excess has five main warehouse workers who deal with a complex process of collecting and distributing 30,000 lbs. of food every day. Even the most experienced Food Sourcing Associate sometimes struggled with their procedures. As two new designers joining the project, we devoted time to researching the users' process and identify problems by implementing field studies, user interviews, and focus groups, which helped us gain valuable insights from the users' point of view. When we realized we were addressing the wrong problem or missing an issue, we would re-communicate with users and re-evaluate the situation to stay on track.

What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
Usability testing offered the most enlightening moments of the design process. The small number of users allowed for close collaboration and communication. Each session sparked in-depth, empathetic discussions about users' problems and insightful design workshops to engage their participation and gather their suggestions. Their real-time interactions with the prototype and honest, constructive feedback clarified many ambiguities and questions. Positive feedback validated the design's impact, while negative feedback helped us redirect the process, making the experience rewarding and insightful.

Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
Our final design solutions are expected to transform the experience for Sharing Excess’s workers by increasing productivity and outcomes. This project also highlighted the importance of UX practices for the co-founders, marking a milestone in the company's UX maturity and paving the way for future design projects.
As design interns, we often felt our contributions were minor in the company. However, leading a business-level project for the first time and overcoming its challenges helped us believe in our capabilities and the impact we could have on others. This experience empowered us to prove ourselves as junior designers in a corporate setting, and we hope to inspire other young professionals to be confident and push their boundaries.