Yiwen Huang | UX / Product Designer

Work

About

Experience

A 0→1 product built from concept to real-world use
AI-Powered Food Management App for Reducing Household Food Waste

Role
Project lead · Research Lead · UX Design · Prototyping

Overview

AvoMate is an AI-powered food assistant that tracks ingredient freshness, sends timely reminders, and suggests recipes based on what users already have, helping reduce food waste in a simple, practical way.

As the Project Lead, I led the end-to-end design, focusing on how AI can support quick, everyday decisions in the kitchen. This project strengthened my ability to design intuitive user experiences and simplify complex systems into easy-to-use interactions.

Timeline
Jan - Mar 2025

Team
Shan Huang

Yuqi Cao

Tools
Figma, Miro, Photoshop, After Effects

In the U.S., households generate over 23 million tons of food waste each year.

Over 68% of household food waste is still edible, often caused by forgotten, misjudged, or unused ingredients.

Background

The Facts About Food Waste

In the U.S., households generate over 23 million tons of food waste each year.

Over 68% of household food waste is still edible, often caused by forgotten, misjudged, or unused ingredients.

Background

The Facts About Food Waste

In the U.S., households generate over 23 million tons of food waste each year.

Over 68% of household food waste is still edible, often caused by forgotten, misjudged, or unused ingredients.

Background

The Facts About Food Waste

The Challenge

Explore solutions that address the challenge that households often forget what’s in their fridge until food is already spoiled. Although they care about reducing food waste, they rely on memory, and most existing tools require advance planning, which doesn’t fit into busy, everyday routines.

The Challenge

Goal Statement

To design and validate a mobile application within 70 days that helps households earning less than $50,000 to 100,000 annually reduce food waste, with the potential to save approximately $728 per person per year.

Outcome

Improved ingredient visibility and reuse behaviors

Food waste

Potential savings of $728

per person per year

Cost awareness

Validated low-effort workflows

for busy households

Everyday usability

Design Process

Key Feature
The solution

Smart Inventory Input

Turn ingredient tracking into a fast and effortless experience

Scan receipts to automatically extract and add items

Capture photos to recognize and log ingredients instantly

Manually input items with a quick and simple flow

Freshness Insights & Recommendations

Turn everyday cooking decisions into clear, actionable insights

Quickly review ingredient freshness and prioritize what to use first

Highlight near-expiring items with urgency cues and suggested actions

Discover recipes based on available ingredients

Inventory Management & Control

Easily view, manage, and update your ingredients in one place

Inventory Management & Control

Easily view, manage, and update your ingredients in one place

Keep inventory up to date with minimal effort

Swipe to quickly remove items

Tap to edit ingredient details and remaining quantity

Savings & Impact Visualization

Make mindful cooking measurable and rewarding

Track waste reduction and money saved
Turn small daily actions into visible long-term impact

Deck Research
Research Finding
Through this research, I identified key patterns in household food waste, including where waste comes from, its environmental and financial impact, and how people perceive its importance.

Where our waste comes from:

40%

restaurants, grocey stores

16%

farms

manufactures

43%

homes

Why does household food waste matter?

Food waste = Emissions

Wasted food =

100M CO₂

1.13M methane

$ 728/yrs Avg. food waste cost per consumer

52–59% of households

earning less than $50,000 to 100,000 annually think reducing food waste is "Very important"

Source: U.S. EPA — Estimating the Cost of Food Waste to American Consumers

Primary Research
In-depths Interview
To understand users’ challenges, behaviors, and attitudes around managing ingredients and reducing food waste at home, we conducted interviews with households earning $50,000–$100,000 annually who struggle with food waste.

Interviewees

344

Data points

You can view the interview data here.

01 Everyday mental load makes it difficult for users to consistently manage their food.

02 Although users want to reduce waste, they often forget what they have and fail to act in time.

03 Users rely on subjective judgment of freshness, resulting in missed opportunities to use food before it spoils.

Voice of The Customers
We surveyed 74 participants across varied income groups. Results revealed strong demand for automated input, freshness reminders, ingredient-based recipes, and savings feedback, highlighting the need for low-effort, time-sensitive support in everyday food management.

Problem Statement

How might we help households better manage ingredients, so they can make timely decisions, reduce food waste, and build more sustainable everyday habits?

Possible Solution

Real-time ingredient tracking

1

Carrot expiring soon!

2

Freshness-based reminders

3

Recipe based on ingredients

4

Daily food management

Model Experience

Competitive Analysis
Most competitors focus on recipes or isolated tools, assuming users plan meals in advance. In reality, people forget what’s in their fridge, rely on subjective freshness cues, and miss the right moment to act, turning good intentions into unnecessary food waste.

Who is going to use the service
Persona

Mario(26) She / Her / Hers
New York

Independent designer with a busy work schedule

“I wish I could waste less food by managing my food more effortlessly.”

Bio

Maria is a 26-year-old independent designer based in New York.
She has a busy, unpredictable schedule balancing work and personal life. Meals are often quick decisions with little time to plan.

Painpoints

Often forgets what’s in her fridge, leading to ingredients going bad.

Feels overwhelmed when deciding what to cook after a long day.

Goal

Reduce food waste while simplifying everyday decision-making

User Journey Map
By mapping user behaviors and data integration across each stage, we identified key friction points and opportunities in daily cooking decisions.

From Sketches to High-Fidelity Design
Design Development

Wireframe

Here are my initial wireframe explorations based on research insights and user needs. These early sketches helped visualize core flows.

Mid-Fidelity

These mid-fidelity wireframes refine layout structure, user flows, and interaction patterns to validate key usability decisions.

Usability Testing
I conducted usability testing with 18 target users to evaluate whether AvoMate’s inventory tracking and recipe features could help reduce food waste and support quicker cooking decisions.

User satisfaction improvement on Inputting Ingredients

28%

Ingredient freshness track rating

4.6/5

Recipe recommendation Rating

4.5/5

Design Iteration
Through usability testing and feedback, the following key improvements were made across inventory, freshness tracking, recipe customization, and profile experience.

Ingredient list felt dense and text-heavy
Freshness status wasn’t immediately clear
Expiring items lacked visual priority

Ingredient list felt dense and text-heavy
Freshness status wasn’t immediately clear
Expiring items lacked visual priority

Freshness graphs lacked clear hierarchy
Excess secondary info increased cognitive load
Suggestions were buried under analytics

Added “Urgent” alerts with direct recipe access
Highlighted key symptoms as tags
Turned freshness data into actionable guidance

Users had to mentally match ingredients with recipes
Customization required too many steps

Prioritized recipes based on available ingredients
Enabled quick recipe browsing simplified filters

Profile focused on settings
Personal impact wasn’t visible
No feedback loop for waste reduction

Created a visual feedback loop through Kitchen Impact metrics
Introduced time-based trends
Separated settings from personal performance

Manual Tracking

Smart Assistance

Interactivity

AvoMate

Passive

Interactive

Intelligent Guidance

Next Steps

Improve ingredient recognition (receipt + image accuracy)

Test long-term impact on behavior and food waste
Enhance personalization with user preferences and history
Explore integrations with smart devices and grocery platforms

Project Summary & Reflection

Designing AvoMate reinforced that food waste is not a motivation problem, but a cognitive one, users lack visibility and timely cues in their daily routines.

This project taught me to design for real-life contexts, not just screens, and to prioritize clarity, action, and feedback over complexity. Through this process, I strengthened my ability to create behavior-driven experiences that reduce cognitive load and support more sustainable everyday habits.

A 0→1 product built from concept to real-world useAI-Powered Food Management App for Reducing Household Food Waste

Background

The Facts About Food Waste

Background

The Facts About Food Waste

Background

The Facts About Food Waste

The Challenge

The Challenge

Goal Statement

Outcome

Design Process

Key FeatureThe solution

Key FeatureThe solution

Key FeatureThe solution

Deck ResearchResearch FindingThrough this research, I identified key patterns in household food waste, including where waste comes from, its environmental and financial impact, and how people perceive its importance.

Deck ResearchResearch FindingThrough this research, I identified key patterns in household food waste, including where waste comes from, its environmental and financial impact, and how people perceive its importance.

Deck ResearchResearch FindingThrough this research, I identified key patterns in household food waste, including where waste comes from, its environmental and financial impact, and how people perceive its importance.

Primary ResearchIn-depths InterviewTo understand users’ challenges, behaviors, and attitudes around managing ingredients and reducing food waste at home, we conducted interviews with households earning $50,000–$100,000 annually who struggle with food waste.

Primary ResearchIn-depths InterviewTo understand users’ challenges, behaviors, and attitudes around managing ingredients and reducing food waste at home, we conducted interviews with households earning $50,000–$100,000 annually who struggle with food waste.

Primary ResearchIn-depths InterviewTo understand users’ challenges, behaviors, and attitudes around managing ingredients and reducing food waste at home, we conducted interviews with households earning $50,000–$100,000 annually who struggle with food waste.

Voice of The CustomersWe surveyed 74 participants across varied income groups. Results revealed strong demand for automated input, freshness reminders, ingredient-based recipes, and savings feedback, highlighting the need for low-effort, time-sensitive support in everyday food management.

Problem Statement

Possible Solution

Possible Solution

1

2

3

4

Model Experience

Competitive AnalysisMost competitors focus on recipes or isolated tools, assuming users plan meals in advance. In reality, people forget what’s in their fridge, rely on subjective freshness cues, and miss the right moment to act, turning good intentions into unnecessary food waste.

Who is going to use the servicePersona

User Journey MapBy mapping user behaviors and data integration across each stage, we identified key friction points and opportunities in daily cooking decisions.

From Sketches to High-Fidelity DesignDesign Development

Wireframe

Mid-Fidelity

Usability TestingI conducted usability testing with 18 target users to evaluate whether AvoMate’s inventory tracking and recipe features could help reduce food waste and support quicker cooking decisions.

Design IterationThrough usability testing and feedback, the following key improvements were made across inventory, freshness tracking, recipe customization, and profile experience.

A 0→1 product built from concept to real-world use
AI-Powered Food Management App for Reducing Household Food Waste

Key Feature
The solution

Key Feature
The solution

Key Feature
The solution

Deck Research
Research Finding
Through this research, I identified key patterns in household food waste, including where waste comes from, its environmental and financial impact, and how people perceive its importance.

Deck Research
Research Finding
Through this research, I identified key patterns in household food waste, including where waste comes from, its environmental and financial impact, and how people perceive its importance.

Deck Research
Research Finding
Through this research, I identified key patterns in household food waste, including where waste comes from, its environmental and financial impact, and how people perceive its importance.

Primary Research
In-depths Interview
To understand users’ challenges, behaviors, and attitudes around managing ingredients and reducing food waste at home, we conducted interviews with households earning $50,000–$100,000 annually who struggle with food waste.

Primary Research
In-depths Interview
To understand users’ challenges, behaviors, and attitudes around managing ingredients and reducing food waste at home, we conducted interviews with households earning $50,000–$100,000 annually who struggle with food waste.

Primary Research
In-depths Interview
To understand users’ challenges, behaviors, and attitudes around managing ingredients and reducing food waste at home, we conducted interviews with households earning $50,000–$100,000 annually who struggle with food waste.

Voice of The Customers
We surveyed 74 participants across varied income groups. Results revealed strong demand for automated input, freshness reminders, ingredient-based recipes, and savings feedback, highlighting the need for low-effort, time-sensitive support in everyday food management.

Competitive Analysis
Most competitors focus on recipes or isolated tools, assuming users plan meals in advance. In reality, people forget what’s in their fridge, rely on subjective freshness cues, and miss the right moment to act, turning good intentions into unnecessary food waste.

Who is going to use the service
Persona

User Journey Map
By mapping user behaviors and data integration across each stage, we identified key friction points and opportunities in daily cooking decisions.

From Sketches to High-Fidelity Design
Design Development

Usability Testing
I conducted usability testing with 18 target users to evaluate whether AvoMate’s inventory tracking and recipe features could help reduce food waste and support quicker cooking decisions.

Design Iteration
Through usability testing and feedback, the following key improvements were made across inventory, freshness tracking, recipe customization, and profile experience.