Beet App

Beet is a mobile app where Midwest Farmers can sell seasonal and freshly harvested produce directly to local customers, without worrying about sales logistics and distribution - to increase revenue and productivity while mitigating risks (e.a. COVID and weather), which strengthens the local community.

Beet was designed from Fall 2022 to Spring 2023 as my Industrial Design thesis at Purdue University. Throughout the year working on this project, I had the opportunity to focus on the design thinking process with an entrepreneurship approach.

Beet was awarded Gold in Apps in Indigo Design Award 2023. You can view the project here

Tools used: Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Procreate, Jitter, Canva

How Everything Started

I was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. I would go weekly to “Feiras”, which are farmer’s markets that happened up to six times a week in almost every neighborhood, all year. I noticed my grandparents and parents did not need to rely on the supermarkets as much since they could find fresh and healthy food around the corner.

When I moved to the United States in 2017, I noticed that farmer’s markets happened seasonally and weren’t as common as they were in Brazil. That was when I saw an opportunity for my design thesis.

I wanted to design a product to help local businesses and positively impact today’s world. That’s when Beet started.

Homepage

The Homepage offers an engaging and dynamic experience, featuring an interactive map of your home and the surrounding farms. By clicking on a farm, users can access valuable information about the farm's history, products, and unique selling points.

Moreover, the Homepage also keeps users informed about the arrival of their Beet Box delivery. Once the Beet Box is delivered, users can earn points by clicking on the box, which can be redeemed for high-quality produce or other exclusive merchandise. This incentivizes users to engage with the platform and offers a tangible reward for their loyalty.

Overall, the Homepage offers a comprehensive and rewarding experience that seamlessly integrates information about local farms and their products with a gamified element that encourages continued engagement.

BENEFITS TO FARMERS

Sign Up

If you want to sign up as a consumer in Beet, you can download the app from the app store and create an account by providing your personal information.

Once you have signed up, a quick tutorial will guide you through the features and functions of the app. Afterward, you can access the homepage and start browsing and purchasing fresh produce from local vendors.

If you want to sign up as a vendor, you will need to provide additional information that includes business name, contact information, and products you offer. There is also a verification process to ensure the authenticity of the business. Once you have been verified as a vendor, you can create a storefront and start selling your products to consumers in the Beet marketplace.

Process

The process was all documented on a Miro Board. I used the Design Thinking Loop from IBM to solution the problem

Research

From research to “how might we” statements, I was able to analyze the data gathered from the secondary research and view new opportunities where my app could help.

Interviews

To understand user needs and pain points, I conducted interviews with farmers, potential customers and specialist in the area of agriculture.

In total, I conducted 26 interviews and the insights can be seen below

Major Takeaway

Farmer’s Market is not selling to all its potential customers, because they are busy and cannot go on a weekly basis to the farmer’s market.

Potential customers would rather go to the supermarket and buy everything they need there.

Wireframes

After analyzing all the primary and secondary data, I started creating wireframes for the app using Procreate.

Wireframes in Figma

I asked for my professors' feedback, which helped me design the screens I should keep pursuing.

That way, I was able to create second wireframes on Figma.

Brand Design

Brand design was essential to convey a friendly and easy-to-use interface on my app. For that reason, I spent a lot of time iterating on the Logo, fonts, color palette and name of the company