Global Pantry: Case Study

A one-stop solution for international students' ethnic groceries and food needs.

A one-stop solution for international students' ethnic groceries and food needs.


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The influx of international students to the United States has steadily increased over the past decade. These students face a myriad of issues when settling into the country. This project focuses on the major qualms of international students and a way to address some of them. You can view the detailed, full-length process book here.

The influx of international students to the United States has steadily increased over the past decade. These students face a myriad of issues when settling into the country. This project focuses on the major qualms of international students and a way to address some of them. You can view the detailed, full-length process book here.

The influx of international students to the United States has steadily increased over the past decade. These students face a myriad of issues when settling into the country. This project focuses on the major qualms of international students and a way to address some of them. You can view the detailed, full-length process book here.

Project Goals

Project Goals

Identify the most significant problems faced by international students in the US.

Propose a comprehensive
solution to tackle these issues.

Design a prototype for the solution.

Jump to prototype

User Study: Asking International Students

User Study: Asking International Students

User Study: Asking International Students

We sent out a survey for international students to collect demographic information and had Likert scales for issues related to accommodation, transport, food, time management, social life etc. We then followed this up with 8 interviews on participants recruited by the team members. They were all international students (both master’s and PhD) who have been in the US for less than a year.
We asked them about their background, experiences, and challenges faced after moving to a new country.


We sent out a survey for international students to collect demographic information and had Likert scales for issues related to accommodation, transport, food, time management, social life etc. We then followed this up with 8 interviews on participants recruited by the team members. They were all international students (both master’s and PhD) who have been in the US for less than a year.
We asked them about their background, experiences, and challenges faced after moving to a new country.


We sent out a survey for international students to collect demographic information and had Likert scales for issues related to accommodation, transport, food, time management, social life etc. We then followed this up with 8 interviews on participants recruited by the team members. They were all international students (both master’s and PhD) who have been in the US for less than a year.
We asked them about their background, experiences, and challenges faced after moving to a new country.


Responder demographics

Interview Insights

"Grocery stores are too far away to walk. Can't buy a lot since it's hard to carry back if there's no car."

"[Delivery services like] Instacart has many issues while delivering - missed groceries, high prices, rotten produce.”

"I love Indian food and it’s known for its spices. They’re so hard to find here, it’s upsetting. I know like one Indian store and it’s so far."

Affinity Map Analysis

After collecting and analysing the survey and interview data, we had enough data to draw out an affinity map. We categorized the main pain points described by participants and found that a majority of the issues were food related.




Affinity Map Analysis

After collecting and analysing the survey and interview data, we had enough data to draw out an affinity map. We categorized the main pain points described by participants and found that a majority of the issues were food related.

Affinity Map Analysis

After collecting and analysing the survey and interview data, we had enough data to draw out an affinity map. We categorized the main pain points described by participants and found that a majority of the issues were food related.




Problems Identified

After analyzing the survey results and interview transcripts, we decided to address two main issues:


(1) Inability or difficulty getting ethnic foods.

(2) Difficulty traveling to distant ethnic stores owing to lack of personal vehicle.


After analyzing the survey results and interview transcripts, we decide to address two main issues related to food and groceries


(1) Inability or difficulty getting ethnic foods.


(2) Difficulty traveling to distant ethnic stores

owing to lack of personal vehicle.


Personas


Based on our user study, we came up with the following primary, secondary and tertiary stakeholders.

Based on our user study, we came up with the following primary, secondary and tertiary stakeholders.

Problems Identified


After analyzing the survey results and interview transcripts, we decide to address two main issues related to food and groceries


(1) Inability or difficulty getting ethnic foods.


(2) Difficulty traveling to distant ethnic stores owing to lack of personal vehicle.




Personas

Based on our user study, we came up with the following primary, secondary and tertiary stakeholders.

Crazy Eights

During the brainstorming stage. We did the "Crazy eights" activity where we rapidly come up with 8 potential solutions, irrespective of how silly or outlandish they may sound.

The aim of this exercise is to get ideas on our "how might we" questions. For example, "how might we make ethnic food and groceries more easily accessible to international students?"




Storyboards: Situating our Ideas

After our brainstorming sessions, we finally narrowed it down to a few selected ideas. To illustrate how these would work, we made storyboards. The storyboards I designed are shown below.




Storyboard #1 AR Currency Converter

To address the monetary concerns of the students, one idea we focused on was currency conversion. Many students said they'd feel more comfortable judging the price of products in a currency they were familiar with. I made a storyboard of a potential Augmented Reality live currency converter.



Storyboard #2 Cooking Partner

(This is more of a lo-fi prototype)

What if students had cooking partners? Using CookBuddy, an international student could find another student in their area with similar dietary preferences. This app would allow cook buddies to take turns cooking for each other so that the work would be shared.



Storyboard #3 Recipe Builder

The idea behind this solution was to develop a virtual platform that allows people to share recipes with one another. At the end of this video call session, the application uses AI to generate a comprehensive recipe along with ingredients and step-by-step procedures for future use.



Narrowing it Down: Solving the Ethnic Food Problem

At this stage, we had a poster presentation with our main ideas in front of the entire CS6750 Human-Computer Interaction class. Based on our feedback from this session, we narrowed it down to two solutions that we wanted to prototype: finding ethnic groceries, and ride-sharing to grocery stores.

Design Guide

Prototype

We built a Figma prototype of our solutions. Below are some of the significant flows that I was in charge of developing. If you want to see the entire prototype in action, Click here.


Sign Up

The app allows only students with a verified institution email id to sign up

Custom Profile

The profile page allows users to add friends, see their friends list, and view saved recipes. It also shows account information such as rides taken in the past and whether the user is a ride provider.

Custom Profile

The profile page allows users to access friends and view saved recipes. It also shows account information such as rides taken and whether the user is a ride provider. Furthermore, the Help option takes the user to a set of FAQs on how to use the app.

FAQs and Virtual Assistant

The Help option guides the user through a compilations of commonly asked questions. There's also an integrated feature enabling the user to engage in a virtual conversation with a representative should they have any concerns.

Activity and Notifications

The Activity tab keeps track of recent and upcoming trips. The Notificationns tab presents any recent updates to the account and the features of the app.

Grocery Ridesharing

Users can find a car to an ethnic grocery shop and connect with that student. They can add it to their trips if there is space to carpool. The app also allows users to message others and discuss the plan.

Grocery
Ride-sharing

Users can find a car to an ethnic grocery shop and connect with that student. They can add it to their trips if there is space to carpool. The app also allows users to message others and discuss the plan.

Finding Ethnic Groceries

The Groceries tab allows users to go through a list of ingredients or food items they want and find stores nearby that sell them. It then leads you to car rides going that way.

Impact

Impact

  1. The class understood the qualms faced by international students and the need to design specifically for the group.

  2. 97% of the students shown this app said they would download and use such an app immediately.

  3. The ideas were proposed to labs in Georgia Tech that could potentially develop such an app.

Reflection

This was the first major UI project that I worked on from start to finish. From the user study and brainstorming sessions to the prototyping stages, this work has been very close to me- especially since I am an international student and identify with the cause on a personal level. On the whole, working on this project offered me the experience of collaborating with other designers and become familiar with human-computer interaction processes, as taught by Dr. Jennifer Gahee Kim.


If I were told to spend more time on this, I would try to consolidate the functionalities into more distinct features and improve the flow slightly. The current layout does not do full justice to the vast offerings of this prototype.

This was the first major UI project that I worked on from start to finish. From the user study and brainstorming sessions to the prototyping stages, this work has been very close to me- especially since I am an international student and identify with the cause on a personal level. On the whole, working on this project offered me the experience of collaborating with other designers and become familiar with human-computer interaction processes, as taught by Dr. Jennifer Gahee Kim.


If I were told to spend more time on this, I would try to consolidate the functionalities into more distinct features and improve the flow slightly. The current layout does not do full justice to the vast offerings of this prototype.

This was the first major UI project that I worked on from start to finish. From the user study and brainstorming sessions to the prototyping stages, this work has been very close to me- especially since I am an international student and identify with the cause on a personal level. On the whole, working on this project offered me the experience of collaborating with other designers and become familiar with human-computer interaction processes, as taught by Dr. Jennifer Gahee Kim.


If I were told to spend more time on this, I would try to consolidate the functionalities into more distinct features and improve the flow slightly. The current layout does not do full justice to the vast offerings of this prototype.

Get in Touch!

+1 (470)-919-2752

rghosh85@gatech.edu

ramyani.ghosh@gmail.com

© Ramyani Ghosh, May 2024

Get in Touch!

+1 (470)-919-2752

rghosh85@gatech.edu

ramyani.ghosh@gmail.com

© Ramyani Ghosh, May 2024

Get in Touch!

+1 (470)-919-2752

rghosh85@gatech.edu

ramyani.ghosh@gmail.com

© Ramyani Ghosh, May 2024

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