Problem

My challenge was to look for a way to encourage people to shop at small local businesses in an effort to combat some of the damage done by COVID. In secondary research, it was found that a top predictor for what type of business a person shops at is proximity. In interviews with users, I found that the research process for making a purchase can be long and painful.

 

Solution

I designed a mobile application that pulls data from multiple sites to lessen the amount of time spent researching and only shows the user small local businesses in the results.

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Final Thoughts

My application addresses user concerns helping to shorten the research process by highlighting the small businesses closest to them. The most difficult challenge with this project was having to leave it for two extended periods of time. Real-world projects get shelved and picked back up, it’s about taking good notes, reviewing your work, and investing oneself in the project all over again.