Wastely | CHRISTINAMARDESIGNS

Designed a system that helps users make smarter food decisions in real time — turning intention into action through simple, guided interactions.

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Case Study: 5 Day Design Sprint
May 15, 2021 - May 19, 2021

Context

Participated in a 5-day design sprint (Jake Knapp framework) focused on reducing food waste.

Worked across problem definition, ideation, and rapid prototyping in a fast-paced, collaborative setting.

Tools: Figma, FigJam, Discord

The Problem

Food waste isn’t a motivation issue — it’s a decision problem. Users don’t know what to do in the moment:

What should I eat?
What’s about to go bad?
Do I already have ingredients?

Without clear direction, food gets wasted.

The Solution

Wastely helps users make faster, clearer food decisions using what they already have.

Instead of just tracking food, it surfaces:

What to use next
What’s about to expire
What to make right now

By turning information into action, it reduces waste without adding effort.

How I Approached the Problem

My Role

I led key parts of the sprint, focusing on turning insights into clear product decisions.

Recruited and screened users to ensure relevant feedback
Identified patterns in user behavior during testing
Contributed to defining the core solution direction
Collaborated across ideation, prototyping, and testing

Why This Problem Matters

World Food Waste Stats

Day 1: Define the Problem

Expert Interview

We spoke with a food waste expert to understand why waste happens in real households.

Key insight: People don’t lack options — they lack clarity in the moment.

Food is often discarded not because it can’t be used, but because users don’t know how or when to use it.

What This Revealed

Users need guidance, not more information
Decisions happen in the moment, not in planning
Without clear direction, food gets wasted

Day 2: Decide

Brainstorm Solutions

Explored multiple directions using “How might we…” to frame the problem.

What we explored:

tracking systems
recipe tools
reminders

Key insight:
Most ideas added complexity — not clarity.

Users need a clear next step, not more options.

How Might We?

Long Term Direction

Build a system that helps users make better food decisions using what they already have.

Reduce food waste through everyday actions
Make food usage more visible and intuitive
Support behavior change without adding effort

Can We...?

Key Questions

How might we guide users to take action in the moment?
How can we surface what matters without overwhelming them?
How do we reduce effort while increasing impact?

Competitive Analysis & Lightning Demos

Reviewed existing products to understand how food tracking and recipe tools currently work.
Most solutions focused on storing information — not helping users decide what to do next.
This reinforced the need for a more action-oriented approach.

Ideation & Diverging

Explored multiple solution directions through sketching and storyboarding, focusing on how users make decisions in real-life moments.

Evaluated concepts based on:

how quickly users could take action
how much effort was required
how clearly the next step was communicated

Most concepts focused on:

community sharing
large databases of tips and recipes
content-heavy solutions

These ideas required too much effort and didn’t support quick decision-making in the moment.

Storyboards

This phase focused on evaluating different product directions to determine what would actually help users take action. Content-heavy and information-based concepts required too much effort and didn’t support quick decision-making. The final direction prioritized a simpler, action-oriented experience that guides users to what to do next using what they already have.