Pebble

What it does

Pebble is an automated food tracking system that compatible with an app, aims to reduce the amount of food waste generated in the household allows the consumer to keep track of their food before they went bad.

Your inspiration

Pebble is inspired through the research at finding out the reason behind the amount of food waste generated from the household in Penang, Malaysia. Most of the household especially the young consumer throwing foods away because they are no longer edible and the consumer has no idea how to utilise the remaining food in their household. Therefore, with the help of Pebble could remind consumer when their food is going to expired and prevent them from throwing out food by suggesting recipes with what the consumer has in the household.

How it works

The Pebble’s scanner act as the platform to automatically retrieve purchase data using existing APIs. Through the mobile app passively displayed the estimated spoilage dates. Push notifications are then sent to the consumer to remind them of their purchased foods before the food is most likely to go bad. With the existing APIs, recipes are generated by prioritising food items according to their expiry date to help the consumer who does not know what or how to cook with the ingredients they have.

Design process

In the beginning, data collected through interview and survey sampling is carried out. Based on the data collected, I've brainstormed multiple concepts that focus on reminding and meal planning prior to the design stage. I made the Low-fidelity wireframe of apps to map out the interfaces and the basic information required, which help me to get rid of unnecessary elements. The feedback I got from user testing is that most of them felt adding the food purchased manually into the apps are quite a hassle. It would be extra steps for the consumer to key in the information of their food items before placing them back in the refrigerator and pantry. Therefore, I was thinking what if there is a system that allows the food purchased is updated in the apps the moment the consumer walks out from supermarkets since most of the young consumer get their groceries there. Then, the ideations of a scanner are sketched and developed further for idea finalisation. Once the design of the scanner is finalised, a high-fidelity wireframe is produced and prototyped using Adobe XD.

How it is different

The smart fridge can be one of the solution for keep track of the stocks in the fridge, however, it is pricey. Not every household can afford to buy a Smart fridge just for food tracking. Besides, there is a lack of apps that provide integrated benefits of meal planning, money manager and budget planner as well as a food reminder at the same time. Most of the apps in the market serve only one purpose, such as food tracking or meal planning. As long as a supermarket or store that have Pebble's scanner at their checkout point, food tracking can be done without a fuss.

Future plans

There are rooms for Pebble to improve more, feedbacks of user testing from the high-fidelity is required to ensure the whole user experience of Pebble can be refined and enhance in the future.

Awards