Overview
I wanted to explore how technology could interact with nutrition to bring balance and harmony to both the mental and physical well-being of college students.
Results
Hackathon Winner
Won 2nd Place & Best UI.
Grant Opportunity
Received grant for further development.
Expansion to Kids
Adapted to fit Goleta Elementary's program.
BACKGROUND
Poor eating habits are wrecking college students’ health.
With busy schedules and campus life demands, college students often forget to eat healthy.
They rely on these quick fixes that are hidden dangers.
A slice of pizza
Instant noodles
Skipping meals
PROBLEM
How can we help students foster healthier eating habits?
Specifically, we want to explore how to increase students' awareness of their eating habits, so they become motivated to adopt healthier choices on their own.
SOLUTION
Our solution is BiteBuds, a gamified nutrition app.
5 adorable virtual pets, each representing a food group. Simply snap a photo of your meal to receive immediate nutritional analysis and feed your virtual pets.
Easy Nutritional Tracking
Snap a photo of your meal & get instant analysis.
Gamification with Pets
Feed five virtual pets that represent the five food groups.
Easy Nutritional Tracking
Earn coins for healthy eating habits & decorate your garden.
Personalized Progress Tracking
Monitor your consumption of each food group & keep a detailed food diary.
RESEARCH
To create this app, we started by listening to student voices.
Through literature reviews, competitive analyses, and interviews, we discovered why traditional nutrition tools fail and how we can change that.
Research Goals
To guide my research, I established three key pillars of inquiry, each addressing a critical aspect of the problem space. These pillars not only helped me uncover valuable insights but also ensured that my design decisions were rooted in real user needs.
Attitude
Explore their attitudes toward healthy eating and nutrition.
Barrier
Identify barriers to adopting healthier eating habits.
Motivators
Discover potential motivators for behavior change.
Literature Review
To make sure our app was based on solid evidence, we started with a literature review. We dove into existing research studies on nutrition, behavior change, and educational strategies in nutritional programs.
Here are some quotations that stood out to us and how we can use this information to inform our design.
Competitive Analysis
Our next step was to identify existing apps targeting healthy habits and validate opportunities for innovation by understanding what competitors do well and where they fall short.
We analyzed five key competitors in the health or nutrition app space, breaking down their strengths and weaknesses to uncover gaps in the market.
We found that:
— Some apps excelled at meal tracking but lacked engaging features to keep users motivated long-term (MyFitnessPal, Fooducate).
— Others offered gamification but failed to provide actionable, personalized feedback that truly helps students improve their eating habits (Habitica, Plant Nanny).
How does this inform our design?
Focus on Joy,
Not Guilt
Use Familiar Patterns
Simplify Complexity
User Interviews
Due to the nature of a hackathon, we were under a time constraint and were only able to interview 5 college students with varying lifestyles, schedules, and dietary habits. Our takeaways were:
Application Gap
Despite knowing the basics of healthy eating, students often struggle to translate this knowledge into action.
Busy Student Trap
Many students rely on convenience foods due to busy schedules and feel guilty afterward but don’t know how to improve.
Fun & Functionality
Some students expressed a desire for fun, engaging tools to motivate them to eat healthier, while others preferred quick, actionable tips.
Stress Eating Cycle
Emotional eating is common, with food serving as comfort during stressful times, but this often leads to regret and energy crashes later.
DESIGN
Our solution is BiteBuds, a gamified nutrition app.
5 adorable virtual pets, each representing a food group. Simply snap a photo of your meal to receive immediate nutritional analysis and feed your virtual pets.
Affinity Mapping
With the data from the interviews, we created an affinity map to visually sort through and organize the range of ideas we gathered. We were able to turn the data into actionable insights that helped us create a foundation and ideate an app concept.
Our affinity map showed four clear needs:
1.
Heathy eating has to feel like a game
Students told us apps like MyFitnessPal either made them anxious or felt like a chore, so we plan on adding virtual pets that thrive when they eat healthy.
2.
Learning should not be homework
Students wanted tips in the moment, not textbook information, so we plan on rationing bite-sized nutrition facts when they log meals.
3.
One-size-fits-all does not work
Different students have different weights, heights, and goals. We aim to personalize nutrition recommendations by tailoring food group intake to these individual factors.
4.
Speed is non-negotiable
Students are busy, so we aim to prioritize photo logging over manually logging their meals.
Design Concepts
After reviewing our affinity mapping results, we developed two core concepts that both leveraged virtual pets to gamify the experience. Each concept approached the virtual pet mechanic differently, ultimately offering distinct paths to engage and guide users toward healthier eating habits.
Concept 1
One Virtual Pet to Nurture
A single, friendly pet that grows healthier as users log balanced meals. It’s simple and easy to grasp, but only provides a broad measure of overall diet quality, without pinpointing specific nutritional gaps.
Concept 2
Five Virtual Pets (Food Groups)
A small family of pets, each tied to a food group. Feeding them all encourages a more balanced diet and helps users see which food groups they’re missing, offering deeper educational insights.
Why We Went With Concept 2
When evaluating the two design concepts, I focused on how well each addressed the four core needs identified through our research: gamification, bite-sized learning, personalization, and speed. Ultimately, Concept 2 emerged as the stronger choice.
Concept 1
One Virtual Pet
Concept 2
Five Virtual Pets
Gamification
General health score
Richer gameplay with specific food groups
Bite-Sized Learning
Broad feedback,
no specific actions
Immediate, actionable insights
Personalization
Only overall diet quality
Highlights gaps in
specific food groups
Speed
Quick logging but lacking detail
Instant visual feedback on all pets
Information Architecture
It allowed me to organize features, content, and navigation. The IA also helped me map out user flows, such as logging meals, feeding pets, or tracking progress, ensuring each step felt logical and seamless.
To organize the app, I created five tabs: Home, Feeding, Camera ,Food Diary, and Quick Overview. The Home tab includes the garden and customization options. The Feeding tab lets users feed five pets tied to food groups. The Camera tab logs meals via photos, awarding coins. The Food Diary tracks daily intake with breakdowns, and the Quick Overview shows food group percentages.
Wireframes
As part of the ideation process, we created a brainstorming affinity map to visually sort through and organize the range of ideas inspired by the research findings. Instead of viewing each idea in isolation, the affinity mapping allowed us to see how certain features naturally complemented each other. We found that
Main Page
See pets & status
Feeding Page
Feed & interact w/ pets
Camera Page
Take a picture of meal
Meal Diary Page
See history of meals
Meal Analysis Page
See breakdown of meal
Progress Page
Glance of progress
ONBOARDING
MAIN FLOW
MEAL HISTORY & ANALYSIS
SHOP GARDEN DECORATIONS
FEED VIRTUAL PET
Amy Do
2024