Introduction 

VITA, a not-for-profit organisation, currently treats numerous chronic condition cases by changing people’s lives through diet. 

However, VITA believes that disease prevention is better than a cure. They are inspired to:

I was part of an ambitious project, representing VITA to help people achieve fuller lives through positive behavioural changes using a digital platform.

The Challenge

With recent funding from VicHealth, VITA wants to scale by promoting sustainable lifestyle changes.

Goals

Role

My major contributions:

• Australian trends research

• User interviews

• Personas

• Journey Map

• User flow

• Sketching / lo-fi prototype

• Figma prototype

Timeline: 2 weeks 

Platform: Mobile app

Team: Jasmine Cheng (Me), Kelvin Ng, Oscar Bitton, Eden Taylor-Wineera

Introduction to the Solution

In line with Behavioural Science recommendations, we created a solution to educate and build user confidence by gamifying the user journey.

This mobile application includes healthy plant-based recipes that are over 60% veggie-based, taken from the current IRL program and backed by both the Victoria government and health authority. There are also features such as short quizzes, and a point system with rewards to guide users to a positive change in their diet.

The Process — We focused on 4 phases of market research

Surveys and user interviews

Based on habit-forming research, we simultaneously ran a survey and conducted user interviews to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.

We received 150+ survey responses and interviewed 25+ people in the process of collecting data.

Synthesising research — What we found

From the above research, we found that:

1. People are confused due to contradictory information out there

2. Social aspect of food is important as it is a way to connect with people

3. Eating pure vegetables might lead to complications like iron inefficiency 

4. There are 6 key steps to sustain behavioural change

• Make it easy

• Taking small steps 

• Building upon previous steps

• Practice and repetition

• Small rewards

• Building motivation through visible progress

The Persona

Journey Map—Empathising with the Persona  

Based on our persona Riley, we created a journey map to explore opportunities.

There was a significant difference around lunch, with higher energy and less hunger due to a fuller diet. The only noticeable downturn was around dinner. 

The downturn is due to the unfamiliarity with healthy recipes, resulting in confusion on what to purchase and frustration at lack of variety and taste.

Problem Statement

We then selected three different angles we planned to attack the problem from.

1. Educate about healthy eating

2. Make eating healthy meals enjoyable to learn

3. Make learning simple instead of complicated

Design Iterations

After a series of ideation exercises (Crazy8s, Impact vs Effort), we prioritised the key features:

Task flow and user flow

Why? — 

To identify major navigational paths, and understanding how the users’ surroundings can influence decisions.

We tested paper prototypes on users!

We focused on gauging how well a user could perform the fundamental task of choosing and executing a recipe.

There were three main feedbacks to iterate

A lot of issues came from the copy, something that would have to be reviewed in the next iteration.

Despite this, most users were still able to complete the task of searching and selecting a recipe from end to end.

Interactive Prototype

Let’s make a Quinoa Pilaf!

Future Steps

Based on user research, these are the future features the team would like to see:

1. Test the mid-fi prototype to see how users react with more context.

2. Develop notifications to create consistency and repetition, helping users to solidify their eating habits.

3. Third-party negotiation with supermarkets and cafes to further develop the in-app currency reward function.

4. Get friends and family involved to increase engagement.

What I Learnt

1.Your team values you, be confident!

Your communication skills reflect in the product. If you don’t believe in your work, it shows. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion, own your thoughts and be confident.

2.The beauty of functionality and the functionality of beauty…

Everything in the app should have a reason to exist. “Branding” is not limited to visuals, but rather the feel of the product as users experience it.

3.Why, Why, Why

“Why” is not only a question to the users, but to yourself too. Why do I want this function? Why is this suitable for the users? Why did I choose this process for the usability test? Always link back to your fundamental principles - why did you choose to do UX?

Find this appealing? 🍌

Read my 8 mins of detailed research and process on Medium.