What's the project about?
The aim is to simplify the meal planning and prepping process for vegetarians to make sure they achieve optimal nutrition by providing personalised meal suggestions and simplified nutritional guidance
Why this project?
Growing up in a vegetarian household this diet is a part and parcel of my life. I’ve experienced all parts of the spectrums that consist that make up the entire experience of following a plant-based diet. I do not find being a vegetarian restrictive or boring even though I do acknowledge it comes with its own peculiarities which if not taken care of can lead to health implications. I am motivated to take up this project as I believe that food and nourishment shouldn’t be a chore and a tedious task instead it should be a source of fulfilment. There are ways to achieve this which I want to explore and ultimately improve my own personal relationship with food.
Which process was followed for the completion of the project?
To kickstart the project initial secondary research was conducted
Key insights from literature review
Consumers are seeking personalised nutrition:
Focus is shifting towards healthier eating habits.They expect a tailored online
experience.
Storytelling is key:
Engaging narratives are key to communicate product benefits.
Capitalize on food industry trends:
Reduce food waste practices to resonate with environmentally conscious consumers.
Plant-based market is booming:
Rapidly growing sector for potential product development.
Empathize phase - Getting to know who are users are
Interviews and a focus group alongside a participatory design session was conducted with the objective to gain insights on the following:
Learn about the hindrances users face
Opinions and expectations of the user for a future app
What do users prioritise when they plan meals?
What does their current meal planning process look like?
Define phase - Gaining insights, recognising key pain points, gaps and opportunities
Themes recognised:
Current experiences of being a vegetarian
Current meal planning routine
Awareness of nutrition
Challenges encountered
Expectations from the app
Current tools used for meal planning
Key insights derived:
Background of the users and people in their close circle play a big role in the their eating habits and decision making.
Notes app is mostly used for planning and storing information regarding food.
Decision fatigue, time management seems to be the biggest hindrance in terms of planning meals.
Users prefer a simple interface, where the tone of the notification plays a key role and they do not want to be pressured into taking actions
Ideate - Laying the ground work for early designs
How might we aid in helping users in their current meal planning journey?
How might we keep the user engaged and keep the habit of planning meals going?
How might we design an app that makes the planning process less tedious?
Prototype - Building the app i.e the solution
The first iteration of lo fi paper prototype helped to visualise a high level overview of the core functions.
The second iteration consisted of a detailed user flow which was then evaluated and based on the feedback a hi fidelity version was designed.
Overview of Hi fidelity prototype
The design goal was to keep the app minimal and functional as per user research.
The functionality of the features were designed by utilising design principles, mental models, user psychology.
The onboarding process consisted of goal gradient hypothesis and personalisation for content customisation to initiate user engagement from the get go.
Th premium version of the app offers additional value built upon the user data stored from using the free features, this was done for revenue generation and as an investment loop for the user.
Hick's Law and Endowment effect were utilised while designing the explore page to reduce cognitive load, with filters based on mental models recognised from user research insights.
Reflections
The user research phase was one of the most well executed parts of the design process as it led to being the basis of many design decisions. Insights from interviews were used for finer details in the prototyping phase.
Iterating early paper prototype helped in understanding the scope of the features itself.
Insights from valence test were useful in terms of thinking about the evolving the app for future iterations
Scoping the project was challenging as there are too many variables involved when considering topics of food, nutrition and planning. It was difficult to balance between the variables involved.
Future work
Can make the initial onboarding process more personalised based on the first selection itself and then the entire app experience could also change depending on user preference.
Grocery tab needs more detailed categorisation, need to implement a way to get groceries for saved recipes.
Social aspects like onboarding friends, accountability partner for healthy eating, friends who like to cook together, bonding over food can be implemented in the app.
Improve user interface elements in terms of screen space, text, content,etc.
