The Problem Space

Today restaurants are primarily focused on presenting dishes that are delicious, but they are often loaded with excess calories. People perceive it to be difficult or near impossible to adhere to their diet or nutrition goals when ordering takeout or dining with friends at these establishments.

How might we make it easier for users to find foods that meet their nutritional goals while eating out?

Considered Constraints:

Restricted Time
AR/VR Technical Capabilities
Restricted In Person Research and Usability Testing

My Approach

Research

Through my research I wanted to discover new insights and attempt to validate my primary assumptions. My initial research consisted of conducting online surveys and virtual interviews with individuals. I selected a large range of individuals who I believed were the target user. Selected individuals differed in fitness and nutrition interest, years of experience, fitness goals, and various other factors.

Primary Considerations and Assumptions:

What is the value and usefulness of this product?
Who is this product most suited for?
How would this product be used by users?

User Interviews

The purpose of these virtual interviews was to see help determine the distinct behaviors of individuals and to understand their goals and processes when dining out, while being nutrition conscious.

Key Insights:

Majority of the individuals use some nutrition tracking app or system but find information to be unreliable
Individuals find it difficult to find accurate and easily readable nutritional breakdowns for restaurants, specifically when looking online
Individuals experience various measures of anxiety and nervousness in social settings

Survey

The purpose of this survey was to gain quantitative research about individuals process. Additionally, I wanted to gather insight about large frustrations and pain points of different potential users.

Key Insights:

Users primarily look at overall calorie contents and macro nutritional information
More experienced and fitness interested individuals felt greater frustration when nutritional information was not available
Individuals stated that the perception of limited options was one of the biggest barriers to staying consistent with thier goals

From there I was able to identify the major pain points

Who is this for?

Personas

In order to hone in deeper on the target user I used the pain points and key insights above to create primary user personas.

Defined Target User: young health conscious and goal oriented individuals with active social and work lives.

Ideation

Competitive Analysis

From my user research I realized many of the individuals already use a mobile application to track their eating habits. I then analyzed the most common tool, MyFitnessPal.

From there I wanted to find the core features users love and its short comings. My own analysis and user research pointed to its largest benefit being the large database of food entries, but this feature causes users to have lower trust in the accuracy of information.

"I use MyFitnessPal and it’s good because there is countless number of entries in there but with that comes the liability and responsibility of checking and verifying the accuracy of the entries as a lot of them are inaccurate."

The analysis drove the choice to include only verified data listed by the food establishment. Other features I wanted to include were:

Ability to access information easily and readily
Ability to make accurate nutritional estimates from unlisted foods

Final Solution

I believe confidently that Macro n' Cheese provides a solution to individuals struggling to live a flexible dieting lifestyle. This app assists in ways other food tracking apps cannot by providing recommendations and accurate information.

Quick and Reliable

Users have the ability to quickly search for meals on the go with the added benefit of inputting their desired macronutrients and caloric contents

Key Insight to Key Features:

From primary research majority of individuals were concerned most about the overall caloric count and macro nutrient break down
Interviewed individuals mentioned that they need information accurate and readily available when on the go

Plenty of Options

Users are able to scan through serval restaurants and takeout locations based on food type and dietary restrictions. Individuals can feel confident in their decisions by being able to look at multiple menu items nutritional values from an array of establishments.

Key Insights to Key Features:

Interviewed individuals expressed a feeling of limited options and frequently avoided a large number of restaurants
Potential users expressed the frustration when trying to locate the nutritional information their favorite restaurants

A Second Set of Eyes

Macro n' Cheese also includes an augmented reality lens which can provide a good estimate of ingredient contents and their nutritional values.

Key Insights to Key Features

Not all establishments offer nutritional information
Users mentioned a frequent work around was to "eye ball" the nutritional contents

The Outcome

Reflection

This project was an excellent practical learning experience. Through completing this project I learned the importance of following the design process. I learned the value of research and talking with the target users. This project allowed me to explore design principles of mobile applications through the use of color and a minimal aesthetic.

I am very happy with the end result of the project but there is also many areas I seek to improve in the future. Due to circumstances I was unable to complete in person user research. I believe with additional research and usability testing I can vastly improve upon the core features within the app.

Macro n' Cheese

Easily find meals that fit your nutritional goals while dining out.

Timeline

My Role

Team

Tools