Boise Farmer's Market App Concept

Boise State University’s 6th annual Bronco Appathon took place over the weekend of March 10-12. An appathon is an event in which student entrepreneurs, designers, and developers work over a predetermined amount of time to create a web or mobile app from the ground up. This year, 15 teams were asked to create a product that addresses a need in academic, civic, or social life. The event culminated in team presentations to participants, the public, and a panel of judges comprised of local developers, designers, and engineers.

Team TRAPPIST-4 was a team of four seniors from the Graphic Design program: Miguel Ayala, Brooke Cassity, Andrew Mason, and Lauren Tomlinson. We created a mobile app concept for the Boise Farmer’s Market, which would allow users to preview and purchase products available at the following week’s market, as well as allowing vendors and growers to track sales trends, and communicate with customers.

The app can be demoed here, and continue to read about our decision making process below.

The Boise Farmer’s Market attracts a diverse group of people with varying levels of comfort with mobile devices as well as with the English language. With this in mind, we put consideration into clarity in functionality. Most functions are icon or imagery based, and we avoided use of abstract icons. We designed interactions to be visually traceable, so that people can understand the navigation more easily. We accomplished this by creating a sliding tile system that added layers to the current page instead of bouncing the user through a series of pages. This is best seen below in the selection and checkout sequences.

Here, the user chooses veggies>tomatoes>tomato variety>specific grower>quantity, and confirms their choice, and then is dropped back into the tomato page in case they want to choose another variety or they can easily swipe back to veggies. All the while, they basically stay on the same page while the app moves around them by adding tiles.

The checkout process works the same way, by adding tiles on each step. As the new tile slides up, a title is added to the previous step so that they can easily step backward if they need to.

These indicators allow the user to comfortably and confidently move forward in the app, with the ability to easily navigate back to where they’ve been.  I created these animations in Adobe After Effects to show how the tile system would operate.

Additionally, we tested our screens for federal 508 compliance with text contrast and color to ensure usability by people with visual accessibility needs. This set of criteria influenced our color and type choices.

The app was designed with two sides of the interface: one for shoppers and one for vendors. The vendor side is focused on growers and producers of the market’s edible goods. It is designed to allow them to spend a minimum amount of time updating their supply numbers and prices, as well as compiling a cumulative list of their pre-orders for the week. Their landing page combines these two functions to give them a summary of their week’s market sales and supplies at a glance. Additionally, they will have access to sales records and receipts for online sales, and integration with their in-person sales system.

The vendor landing page structure is mirrored in the shopper landing page. It highlights the week’s events, sales, and other updates directly from the market organization.

 Vendor landing page (left) and shopper landing page (right) show the date and predicted weather of the following Saturday along with pertinent information for the week.

It was important to us that the app increased access to the market, rather than encouraging non-attendance or engagement with the market community. We had two major goals with the option to pre-purchase products. One was to remove some friction for people who may not have attended the market in the past due to real or perceived time constraints. We considered heads of household who care about local agriculture, but who are more comfortable with a grocery store because they know what to expect. Next, we considered people with mobility issues who would be uncomfortable wandering through a crowded market. If we remove these obstacles, we can help connect these groups of people with their local producers, benefitting both parties.

To emphasize the growers, and maintain the personal experience of the market, the shopping process includes choosing the specific grower, and seeing information about them before making a purchase. That way, the user is not simply buying tomatoes online; they are developing their awareness and building a relationship with the grower of those tomatoes. The app also includes a messaging function between customers and growers. Messages can only be initiated through the customer side of the app.

We wanted to create a tool to tell the vendor’s compelling stories, strengthen the infrastructure of the local food network, encourage people to buy groceries at the farmer’s market and generally bring business to the important and sometimes overlooked small farmers. Farms play an integral role in our society, so their success is the community’s success.

The app’s primary solution to this problem allows customers to browse an inventory of produce and artisan goods that will be available at the market and pre-order goods for pickup at the market. All while learning more about each vendor’s background and details about their business.

Team TRAPPIST-4 took home prizes for Second Place overall, Best Novice Team, and Best Design.