PROJECT #1 - PROJECT PROPOSAL
PROBLEM
Understanding problem space
The OLIO app is a platform that allows individuals and businesses to share surplus food and household items with others in their local community. While its goal is to reduce food waste and foster community sharing, several usability and user experience issues may affect its efficiency and user adoption.
Problem 1 : Cluttered Interface
OLIO has a cluttered interface with many icons, listings, filters, and categories. This overwhelms users who are unfamiliar with the app layout, making it harder for them to quickly learn and navigate through the key features. As users struggle to search or filter by relevant categories, it wastes their time which would affect user experience.
Problem 2 : Lack of User Safety Features
OLIO does not offer identity verification, background checks, or suggested safe meeting spots. Users are left to coordinate pickups with strangers, which can feel risky or uncomfortable. This affects OLIO’s usability as it doesn’t guarantee users’ safety and discourages cautious users from using the app, particularly women or youth.
Problem 3 : Poor Search and Filtering
Olio search bar lacks filtering options like sorting by categories, freshness and price. Urban users will face a big problem to choose what they need and consume unnecessary time roaming the item. Users will consider to stop roaming the app if they can not search what they want.
Problem 4 : Lack of User Engagement
Although OLIO promotes food sharing for a noble cause, it has no inspiring qualities to keep users engaged over time. The app lacks gamification features like progress tracking, awards, badges, or community impact comments. Users could lose interest over time because of the lack of any feeling of progress or achievement. For instance, anyone that does the deeds does not receive any recognition and leads to lack of understanding on how their action gives impact to reduce food waste.
OUR PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
System Name:
CliMates – Making Sustainable Sharing Safer and Simpler!
Design Type:
A mobile application designed to promote eco-sharing (food and household items) with a clean interface, improved search features, and built-in safety functions.
Description of the Proposed Solution:
CliMates is a redesigned sharing platform that builds upon OLIO’s core idea of reducing food and item waste but improves the overall experience by focusing on usability, user safety, and efficient searching.
Problem 1: Cluttered Interface
CliMates introduces a clean, minimal interface with simplified menus and clearly labeled categories. The design uses progressive disclosure to show only essential features upfront (e.g. , “Post Item,” “Browse Nearby,” “Saved Items”), helping new users learn the app quickly. Icons and filters are visually grouped, and listings include clear tags like “Fresh,” “Dry Item,” “Urgent” to help users process information faster. This will improve the user experience a lot.
Problem 2: Lack of User Safety Features
CliMates integrates optional identity verification (e.g., phone number, ID upload), safe meetup point suggestions based on public locations nearby (e.g., cafes, police stations), and in-app messaging with reporting/blocking options. Users can view a giver’s "Trust Score" based on past reviews and completion history. This creates a more secure and trustworthy environment for users, especially for women, students, and first-time users.
Problem 3: Weak Search and Filtering
CliMates includes a powerful search engine with filters for:
Category (e.g., Fresh Produce, Canned Goods, Household)
Expiry/freshness date
Distance
Time of listing
Free or priced items
TARGET USER
The proposed solution stated above will significantly benefit many groups whereby the most affected positively are architects, parents and community volunteers. To elaborate on this, it is necessary to unfold in detail for each of their cases.
Architects who are always on the lookout for eco-friendly living options might have extra surplus materials like wood and plants. CliMates lets them quickly browse and list these items between their meetings as a result of the app’s clean and modern interface aligning with their design-oriented mindset which makes it easy to post or claim items on the fly. Many users have noted that apps like OLIO could improve their UI, so a sleek and minimalist design is a meaningful upgrade. Not to mention, CliMates’s advanced search and filtering engine enable users to specify categories like ‘sustainable building materials’ and set distance filters to find exactly what they need.
Parents who are busy managing their jobs, children and household needs are often short on time as well as being financially constrained. By using CliMates, they can look for affordable food, household items or children supplies in a convenient and safe manner. The organized and clear categories makes it easy for them to find these essential items and the smart filters let them search for items that can assist their children or themselves in finding food that suit their needs such as allergy-free food, other than finding school supplies. The safety features incorporating verified profiles and safe meetup spots enable users to feel secure while picking up items particularly when they have children.
Local mutual aid groups alongside shelters and food banks rely on community volunteers to organize their item collecting and distribution efforts for people in need. The platform enables volunteers to find both dependable donors speedily as well as establish a trustworthy network to manage surplus food distribution. Through the filter system they can detect distinct requirements such as 'bulk donations' combined with 'nearby urgent items' leading to efficient coordination of multiple listings. The platform's safety features together with trust scores help users find dependable donors that create smoother coordination and reduce communication errors.
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