Healing With Food

The research going into making a new plantbased eating experience

Background

My Role
Ux|Ui Designer
Skills
UX Research
Data Analysis
AB Testing
Prototyping
UI Design
Tools
Scope
With a new variant dropping every week, people are finally understanding that what they consume directly effects their immune system. Seeing that living a healthy lifestyle all starts with what you put in your body, we thought building an app that helps users do this effectively and on a level all could understand was vital.
Approach
I created and sent out a survey using google forms to interested 'potential' users, plant based eating enthusiasts, and people who are on their own journey to living healthier lifestyles. We recruited participants from facebook groups with interests in plant based eating, non plant based eating social groups, and through our own personal networks.
Jump to results!

My Process

1) Research and define
2) Empathize
3) Ideate
4) Validate
5) Design
6) Test
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7) Iterate and return to step 3!

Researching to understand

When starting this project, the main concern was to create a useful, simple product that taught users the value of eating more plants. Some ideas being tossed around at the time were social apps like an "instagram for foodies" or "a recipe sharing app", but I didn't want us to commit to an idea that we didn't know our target audience would enjoy and find useful. Below is some of the data collected that informed us of the needs of people that would be using the app, and this data has ultimately shaped the direction the app will take.
Our goal for this research
So we needed to answer some questions before we could start building, namely: 
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1) What are the shopping and purchasing habits of the users? 
2) What's the social media usage like of interested users?
3) What is the biggest pain point for plant based eaters? Those who are new to the diet and those who regularly eat plant based 

Understanding some basic shopping behavior of our participants is valuable as we can learn of what and when our app can be useful. We need to know the social media behavior to see if it would be valuable to create an experience centered around sharing food focused content with peers. Lastly, we want to solve an issue faced by those wanting to switch to, or are current, plant based eaters that want to improve their overall health. After the survey's were sent, filled out, and data collected, 40 people total participated. The results are below. ‍

60% of those who took the survey consider themselves health conscious
These people eat healthy and workout regularly (purple group). Though this user group would be interested in using our app, they aren't our targeted user base we are aiming to create an experience for, yet they would potentially love to use our app.
We find the orange, green and blue user groups most interesting. These users would love to use this app as a guide to either add to their health journey, learning that eating more plants is actually easy and enjoyable.
How often are they shopping? 
A specific touch point for the app is when users grocery shop. This opens up a wide range of use cases for the app, for example they can view nutritional information on specific items, or they can use the app to create plant based shopping lists, or maybe the app can be used in an AR format at the grocery store. Of our 40 participants, the majority (62.5%) head to the grocery store up to twice a week, giving us them the opportunity to have interaction with our app.
What do they buy? 
After breaking down the results from the survey I found that on average over 42.5% of our users, though they described themselves as as healthy, still made buying processed meats and foods a priority when grocery shopping. A big question that came from this finding, is why and what can we do to change that? ‍
What is their greatest frustration? 
This was where we found the most insight and it was interesting to see the split between what people found as the biggest problem they find when eating plant based. You'll notice the 'other' category has the most participants selecting it, and after reviewing their written responses they all had the same issue: finding alternative protein sources when eating plant based. Below I listed the frustrations based on priority (based on majority vote):
1) Finding alternative sources of protein
2) Meal planning
3) Meal variety
4) Food information (what to eat and why)
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So what did we learn? 
After the great feedback we received from participants, quantifying and organising the results, we were able to draw some important information about our users and their behavior: 
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Shopping and purchasing habits

- The majority of participants (62.5%) went grocery shopping up to two times a week
- Though they consider themselves health conscious (60%), a little less than half still opt to purchase processed meats and other processed foods (42.5%)
- This all points to the idea that if people don't know what healthy things they can eat, they will resort to buying the easier option

Social media usage

- The majority of participants use social media regularly use social media (95% use it 70-100% of the time), yet more than half (52.5%) don't bother to follow a single food influencer
- Participants also never (42.5%) or rarely (52.5%) post food online
- With this data, it could be strongly inferred that making an app or MVP focused on social media aspects would be a waste for our users time and ours as well


Biggest pain for users

- The pain point that was expressed most frequently was finding alternative sources of protein (32.5%)
- The follow up pain point is a tie between meal planning (22.5%) and meal variety (22.5%)
- This reinstates that there is a huge lack of understanding and knowledge regarding overall nutritional health and what one can do with plant foods

Defining project scope

Once I had solid research on what suers wanted, their device behaviors, shopping behaviors and knew the problem to fix my mind was a buzz with ideas on what this app can be, what it can do, and how it should be done. I made a simple 3 phase scope to keep my project aligned to user needs and overall goals we wanted the app to accomplish.
Phase 1
  • Create a vegetable/fruit/herb index with nutritional information/recipes for quick easy user access
  • Make sure users have the ability to create shopping lists
  • Create a search function for recipes based on different food categories using tags (ex. italian, high protein, quick)
Phase 2
  • Users should have the abilty for to share/upload/rate recipes
  • Allow an AR scanner to scan food items to recieve real time info on nutrition/recipes/and add to list
  • Create catered recipe/nutritional info and content based on specific diet types and goals
  • Create a modular component function allowing for customised tools within app
Phase 3
  • Utilise AR scanner to view food production information (barcodes/number codes to reveal production/farming info)
  • Utilise food data to add to map for transparency in food deserts - will show what kind of produce generally ends up where and how often
  • Use app to connect like minded foodies to one anther

Competitive analysis

My next step was to conduct a competitve analysis to see how some of the most prominent vegan/healthy eating apps were creating similar experiences for users. I was looking for a few things:

1) How does the app shows recipes? 
2) Are there any social features and how do they implement them?
3) What is navigation like?
4) Are there any stand out features that make the app unique?

There were hundreds of apps to choose from and after reading a few blogs that gave top lists I decided on the following three apps to explore: Food Monster, Dr. Gregor's Daily Dozen, and Veggie Alternatives. These apps encompassed the overall scope the app and each has over a 4 star rating in the app store. ‍

Dr. Gregor's Daily Dozen
  • Apps main focus is providing alternatives or “tweaks” to add to your daily diet to adopt healthier eating habits
  • Very simple layout
  • Links to outside app resources like videos to show recipes or food videos
  • Not so in depth food nutritional info or recipes
Veggie Alternatives
  • Apps main focus is showing alternative food items for non plant/veggie/vegan foods
  • Simple layout and few options
  • No recipes
  • 'Contribute' section allows users to add an alternative they’ve found that isn’t on the app
Food Monster
  • Apps main focus is on providing recipes based on different specifications
  • A lot of menu options to find recipes
  • Robust images and colors
  • Easy to get lost but could be learned quickly when playing with it

Constraints, assumptions, and the hypothesis

After the research I've been doing I was better able to define my assumptions and hypothesis I'm validating through my designs. I gave myself relaxed constraints for now due to the team (me, myself, I) becoming smaller. My timeline is undefined for now but the goal is to launch the project by Q1 of 2023.
Constraints
  • We are building  mobile first
  • Keep ISO design standards and accessibility standards in mind
  • Keep Flutter technical capabilites in mind
Assumptions
  • Initial users will use the product as a reference tool
  • Assume the grocery store is a major touchpoint in the user journey
  • We will give unlimited access during Phase 1 to better understand user behavior
The Hypothesis
Building a reference tool that displays nutritional information for fruits and vegetables will increase the amount of plant based food eaters while also teaching them important nutritional information. We will know this hypothesis to be correct when we see a high amount of downloads/adoption of the app after launch and average 4 star rating after one thousand downloads.

Getting persona-l, meet Mona and Kyrie!

After the competitive analysis I had a better understanding of how users feel when using these various apps. After the data I collected I have a clear picture of what users want, what my design goals are and what I will be validating through design, now it's time to further empathise with future users by building a few personas. Meet Mona and Kyrie!
Mona
Background
Mona has been eating vegan/raw vegan for 8 years and is a strong advocate for the healing powers of food. She is a mom of two and works in tech along with her husband.
Goals
  • Maintain vegan lifestyle
  • Encourage others in her family to eat more veggies and fruits
  • Learn new recipes/juices/tips to eat and live healthier
Needs
  • Needs a way to look up plant food info quickly
  • Needs to know what specific nutrition content is in what foods
  • Maintaining healthy levels of protein, vitamins, minerals
Frustrations
  • Kids not wanting to eat their vegetables
  • Complications with sharing food information/recipes
  • Food apps giving meat options when I only care about plant foods
User story
As a serious plant based vegan, I want to add to my knowledge base of plant foods, so I that can help my family live healthy lifestyles.

As a health conscious mom, I want to make fun and interesting recipes, so that my kids eat the plant foods I makes.
Use cases
  • Mona wants to add a few ingredients to her grocery list
  • Mona wants to see how much protein an oyster mushroom has
  • Mona wants to try a new taco recipe based on some of the ingredients she picked up at the grocery store
Kyrie
Background
Kyrie is a sport enthusiast and has been attempting to transition his heavy animal based protein diet to a more plant based one. He is a young entrepreneur and has a dog and girlriend.
Goals
  • Move away from animal protein and become a full plant based eater
  • Learn and try new easy recipes
  • Gain more muscle without losing too much weight
Needs
  • Needs to know how much protein and minerals etc. he is getting with differnt plant foods
  • Need to find information on plant food in a quick easy manner
  • Needs to find quick easy recipes that don’t take a lot of time to make
Frustrations
  • Losing weight I wanted to keep when changing diet
  • Not knowing what to eat to keep my physique
  • Overly complicated food apps
User story
As a new plant based eater, I need to know what foods to buy at the grocery store so that I can meet my caloric/micro/macro food goals.

As a new plant based eater, I want to make simple healthy recipes, so that I don’t bore my tastebuds
Use cases
  • Kyrie wants to look up information on this exotic fruit at the grocery store
  • Kyrie has a taste for BBQ food today but doesn’t want to ‘cheat’ his plant based food goals
  • Kyrie is meal planning for the week, he is making a grocery list based on the recipes he wants to make

Starting low-fi

Now that I had a few use cases to work with, I begin sketching. I started with pen paper and highlighters to get my ideas out. I worked on ideas on different use cases as seen below.
Home screen and search
Recipe search
Recipe screens
Hamburger menu and profile menu

Validating ideas - A/B tests

Before beginning the mid-fidelity designs I wanted to make sure I was on the right path with some of the concepts I created. I decided a simple A/B tests would help test and validate a few design critical hypothesis. ‍
Hypothesis
Users will want to read nutritional information in a familiar format.
Result
I was hoping this hypothesis was wrong and it was! 68.8% of participants thought option 1 was better. When interviewing a few of the participants on why they liked it their answers were similar: "though option 1 is familiar, the way the information is grouped in a less intensive way in option 1 looks better."
Hypothesis
Users want to receive information on screen all at once - not a lot of scrolling/hiding/extra clicks - in a digestable quick way.
Result
This test was necessary to inform me of the style and patterns in which will shape the app UI. 75% thought option 1 was the better option. I got incite from a few participants as to why: "seeing all the options at once made things less confusing" and "the smaller squares gave a more relaxed, comfortable appearance, it reminded me of a childs game due to its simplicity".
Now that theses insights were gained, I could begin my mid fidelity designs where I will explore IA, interactions and user flows.

Mid-fidelity wireflows

For the sake of this case study I only showed flows for Kyrie's user stories. Kyrie was the new plant based eater who enjoys a good BBQ and wants to learn new recipes. Let's see what that looks like below.
Use case 1
Kyrie wants to look up information on this exotic fruit at the grocery store
Use case 2
Kyrie has a taste for BBQ food today but doesn’t want to ‘cheat’ his plant based food goals
Use case 3
Kyrie is meal planning for the week, he is making a grocery list based on the recipes he wants to make

Testing phase - coming soon!

In another week I will have the results from a planned usability tests with eager participants. They will be moderated in-person tests, along with a brief interview. Theses usability tests will be looking at discoverability, information relevance, and overall user satisfaction. I will use the ISO standards as benchmarks in the tests and I will upload the results here. These tests will lead to further iterations and validations, all culminating to the final hi-fidelity designs soon after. Stay tuned :).
Website made by me :)
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