Problem

When Covid-19 changed the world, I was worried for my grandmother and was delivering groceries to her every week. There are a lot of people who aren't comfortable or able to grocery shop, yet it's a very necessary part of our lives. Thinking through this problem, I came up with the idea for pickit, a communication and grocery coordination tool for neighbors. Although this idea was born around making grocery trips efficient and safer for the greater community during times of crisis, the solution would also apply to something as simple as a neighbor in need of a cup of flour for a recipe. In this digital age, we're more likely to communicate via technology than we are to knock on a door.

These designs are a result of a rapid design challenge where I had 8 hours to design and present my concept.

Question

In one day, how might I design an app to help neighbors communicate about grocery needs and help each other out to create safe and efficient shopping experiences?

Solution

Pickit is a grocery shopping trip coordination app designed to make purchasing groceries for you or your neighbor simple and safe. Individuals who are comfortable and able to grocery shop notify their community of their shopping plans and neighbors can add requests to pick up items, chat with each other and ultimately deliver the groceries safely.

Research & Preparation

Before the one day design & prototyping process, I began preparing my concept, asking myself questions and considering different app idea options. After landing on the idea for Pickit, I began to discuss the idea with others, gather feedback and lightly research similar solutions. I then got started with some branding work so I could hit the ground running on my big design day.

Designed in 1 day

Our design challenge day kicked off with a short presentation of our initial ideas and we were off to the races! Throughout the day I worked in Figma and relied heavily on the Figma Mirror app to test the experience on my phone. I spent most of my time creating as much of a functional design system as possible in order to make changes quickly and avoid the busy work so I could focus on innovating and improving my prototype. The rest of the day I designed and redesigned screens until I was as satisfied as I could be with the flow. .

Rapid Prototyping & Solution

Insights

This process really challenged my sense of perfectionism because I had to know when to simplify a concept or let go of imperfections for time's sake. I really enjoyed the challenge and I think it helped me get out of my head a bit more than I generally allow for myself.

In the future, I would love to pick this concept up again and revisit the prototype with more consideration around the business feasibility.