Introduction

This web app – PawFridge – was born as part of the learning activities and requirements of the TechUp programme held during May 6 to 29, 2024. Every web app is developed based on each participant’s problem statement. PawFridge’s problem statement is found in the next section.

The Problem Statement

[TL;DR] The problem of food spoilage and health risks from a cluttered fridge is solved by keeping an organised list of food items and their expiration dates, online.

The fridge at home can become cluttered with food items, and their locations within the fridge can be lost track of over time. Some food could expire and gradually spoil, leading to bacterial and mold growth, making the fridge a health risk. Expired food can be reduced if anyone at home knows the list of food items in the fridge, the compartments where they are located, and which ones are expiring. The outcome is a safer and more efficient environment for food storage.

User research before web app development

As part of the creation process, we are expected to conduct interviews (ref. design thinking) so that we may listen to different voices and confirm or reject our assumptions, and allow us to design a more useful web app. Due to time limitations, I had only the chance to conduct five user interviews to validate the assumptions I made in my initial problem statement. Among the five, one user said she would never use the app because “there are more important things in life to remember than things in the fridge.” Through this interaction, I learnt that people’s motivations are diverse, and it’s OK that the products we create do not serve everyone. However, the other four interviewees were eager to share how they have been using their fridges and how they lost things in the fridges. Three of them look forward to having a means to track things in the fridge. The following were some ideas new to me:

• People may forget what’s in their fridges, and this could lead to (1) buying more of existing items, and in turn may (2) cause ‘overcrowding’, resulting in (3) food wastage due to expiry/rot/spoil
• In households with helpers, the helpers are usually afraid of clearing items from the fridge as they are not sure if they have permission to do it

The idea of empowering helpers was incorporated to improve PawFridge’s design.

The interviewees also shared their ‘wish list’ for PawFridge, which I look forward to developing and incorporating in future versions. These include:

• Barcode scanner for automatic cataloguing
• Photo function for automatic cataloguing and recommending expiration dates
• Expiration alerts
• Auto-tracking of ‘always buy’ items
• Have links to shopping apps (e.g., NTUC, RedMart, Amazon Prime) for easy (re-)ordering of food items running out or low.

Thank you to all five interviewees for their valuable time and rich contribution to the ideas that helped to shape PawFridge.

Post-development reflection (alpha)

akan datang ......

Acknowledgements

This web app would not have been possible without the support and contributions of the following friends:
[group_mates] Jolyn, Jasmine, Jiun Haur, Joanna, and Keith [/group_mates], the five (anonymous) interviewees, [more_knowledgeable_others] Preshant, Stephanie, Yunxi, Dawn [/more_knowledgeable_others], Dr. Nonis, and others whose names I may have inadvertently omitted.

"Thank You!"