EatYaar
Category:
Mobile App Design
Client:
Oryson Designs
Duration:
3 weeks
Before designing EatYaar, I wanted to understand why perfectly edible food is often discarded instead of shared. Rather than assuming the problem was a lack of generosity, I focused on understanding the behavioural, logistical, and emotional barriers that prevent people from donating surplus food.
To build a well-informed solution, I combined competitor research, user conversations, online community discussions, and an analysis of existing food-sharing platforms. My goal was to identify recurring patterns that could inform a simpler, faster, and more trustworthy user experience.
Research Methods
Competitor analysis of food-sharing and donation platforms
User interviews with individuals who regularly cook at home
Analysis of user reviews from existing food donation applications
Secondary research on food waste and community sharing
Affinity mapping to identify common pain points and opportunities
Competitor Analysis
I evaluated existing food-sharing platforms to understand how users currently donate surplus food and where these experiences create unnecessary friction.
Competitors Studied
OLIO
Too Good To Go
NoWaste
Local NGO donation platforms
Key Findings
Most platforms are designed for organisations rather than individuals.
Creating a donation often requires too many steps.
Food freshness isn't prioritised effectively.
Community interactions feel transactional instead of neighbourly.
Users struggle to quickly discover nearby food.
These insights reinforced the opportunity to design a product focused on speed, simplicity, and local community sharing.
Research Insights
After synthesising the research, four recurring themes consistently appeared.
People want to donate but only if it's easy.
Most participants expressed a genuine willingness to share surplus food. However, lengthy registration processes and complicated donation flows discouraged them from taking action.
Food has a very limited decision window.
Unlike traditional marketplace products, food loses value quickly. Every additional interaction increases the chance that the food will be discarded before someone claims it.
Trust matters more than verification.
Users weren't necessarily looking for formal verification systems. Instead, they wanted enough contextual information to feel comfortable meeting another person within their neighbourhood.
Community feels better than charity.
Participants preferred experiences that felt like neighbours helping one another rather than traditional donation platforms. Friendly language and approachable interactions created a stronger sense of belonging.
Design Goals
Based on the research findings, I established five design goals that guided every design decision throughout the project.
Enable users to post food within seconds rather than minutes.
Prioritise nearby food using location-aware discovery.
Reduce hesitation through clear and welcoming communication.
Build trust without introducing unnecessary friction.
Maintain a clean visual hierarchy that supports fast decision-making.
Exploring Multiple Design Directions
Rather than moving directly into high-fidelity designs, I explored multiple concepts to understand which interaction model best supported quick food sharing.
Each concept approached the same problem differently, allowing me to evaluate trade-offs before committing to a final direction.
Concept 1 — Marketplace Experience
Idea
The first concept followed a familiar marketplace structure with category browsing, detailed listings, and multiple filtering options.
Why I explored it
Marketplace interfaces are familiar to most users and reduce the learning curve for first-time visitors.
Why it didn't work
While the experience felt familiar, it introduced unnecessary complexity for a time-sensitive product. Users spent more time browsing than taking action, and the interface felt transactional rather than community-focused.
Concept 2 — Social Feed Experience
Idea
The second concept presented food listings as a scrolling social feed inspired by modern social media applications.
Why I explored it
Large imagery created a more engaging browsing experience and encouraged users to explore nearby food visually.
Why it didn't work
Although visually appealing, important information such as freshness, pickup location, and availability became secondary to the images. Users needed to scroll extensively before finding relevant food nearby.
Concept 3 — Location-First Experience (Final Direction)
Idea
The final concept prioritised nearby food through location-aware discovery combined with clear information hierarchy and simplified posting.
Why it succeeded
This approach reduced cognitive load, helped users identify relevant food immediately, and encouraged faster decision-making while maintaining a clean and approachable interface.
The experience aligned most closely with the product vision of making food sharing feel as effortless as sending a message to a neighbour.
Design Exploration
Once the overall interaction model was established, I explored multiple layouts, navigation patterns, and information hierarchies through low-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototypes.
Instead of searching for a visually attractive solution immediately, I focused on reducing friction at every stage of the user journey.
Each iteration refined how users post food, discover nearby meals, and arrange collection with minimal effort.
Visual Design System & Prototyping
A cohesive visual system was created to communicate freshness, trust, and community while maintaining consistency across the entire product. Multiple colour directions were explored before selecting a green-led palette that reinforces sustainability without overpowering the interface. Neutral backgrounds keep food imagery as the primary focus, while a structured typography scale, consistent spacing, and clear visual hierarchy improve readability and support quick decision-making.
To ensure scalability, I developed a reusable design system comprising buttons, cards, input fields, chips, navigation patterns, icons, and modal components. Standardised colour tokens, spacing rules, typography styles, and interaction states established a consistent visual language and accelerated design iterations throughout the project.
High-fidelity interactive prototypes were created in Figma to validate the end-to-end donation journey before development. These prototypes helped evaluate navigation patterns, screen transitions, interaction behaviour, and task completion, enabling rapid feedback, iterative refinement, and more confident design decisions prior to handoff.
Key Design Decisions
Every interaction was intentionally designed to reduce hesitation and encourage immediate action.
Image-First Posting
Freshness is easier to judge visually than through text, so the posting flow prioritises food imagery before additional details.
Large Food Cards
Large cards improve scannability and allow users to evaluate available food quickly without opening every listing.
Community-Centred Language
Instead of using transactional terminology, friendly microcopy creates an experience that feels like neighbours sharing with neighbours.
Minimal Posting Flow
Only essential information is collected during food posting, reducing the time required to publish a listing before food loses freshness.
Accessibility
Designed for real-world use, the interface features accessible contrast, large touch targets, responsive layouts, and clear visual hierarchy to support quick interactions on any device.
Outcome & Reflection
EatYaar showed me that impactful product design isn't about adding more features it's about removing friction. Every decision was driven by one question:
"Does this help someone share food before it's too late?"
By simplifying the sharing journey and designing for trust, the experience makes community food sharing faster, more approachable, and more likely to happen. The next step would be validating these decisions through usability testing and refining the experience based on real user behaviour.
