Design a Dedicated App and Responsive Website for the
greater good of the community
CASE STUDY
Motivating young adults to eat healthy meals
DESIRE TO HELP
My 20 year old daughter and her peers struggle to make time in their busy university lives to cook, so end up grabbing unhealthy, overpriced snacks on the run. I want to create a product that motivates young adults to cook healthy meals at home to help them save money, eat good food and prevent possible weight-related diseases in the future.
THE CHALLENGE
Create a novel product that motivates young adults to eat healthier by cooking at home.
MY ROLE
I designed the product from zero, being a: Researcher, Writer, Interviewer, Prototyper, Branding designer, Product designer, UI designer.
KEY CHALLENGES OR CONSTRAINTS FACED
Regarding interviews there were time constraints as participants were busy and no budget had been allocated but I rewarded participants with their favourite chocolate bar or fruit for their time. This Project and Case study has been a learning curve as I am new to this.
TARGET AUDIENCE
18-25 year old young adults.
THE PROCESS
Detective work
What makes young adults tick and what's health got to do with this anyway?
In order to guarantee the triumph of my product I had to investigate the causes behind the disinterest young adults in cooking. Additionally, I examined the correlation between fast food and obesity, which may result in future health issues, and the benefits cooking at home to save money.
Young adults just want to have fun
The prefrontal cortex, responsible for decision making, matures in the mid-to-late 20s, while the amygdala and nucleus accumbens, responsible for emotions and rewards, mature faster. This can cause young adults to prioritize fun, rewards, and peers over rational thinking.​
Read more here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/
Cooking at Home Vs Eating Out
We found on average, it is almost five times more expensive to order delivery from a restaurant than it is to cook at home. And if you’re using a meal kit service as a shortcut to a home cooked meal, it’s a bit more affordable, but still almost three times as expensive as cooking from scratch.*
*Data source; wellio, Forbes Article Dec 10, 2021​
Obesity and Overweight
-
In 2022, 1 in 8 people in the world were living with obesity.
-
Worldwide adult obesity has more than doubled since 1990, and adolescent obesity has quadrupled.
-
In 2022, 2.5 billion adults (18 years and older) were overweight. Of these, 890 million were living with obesity.
-
In 2022, 43% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight and 16% were living with obesity.*
*WHO https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
​
Britain has one of the worst obesity rates in Europe
Obesity, defined as having a boy mass index equal or greater than 30, is one of the most serious public health crises around the world. The UK, where 27.8% of population is obese, has one of the highest rates in Europe.*
*Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/03fa7f4e-f50a-4876-9ea8-9852929f9c12
​
Vs
£3.9bn
on confectionery
£2.2bn
on fruit & vegetables
British population overweight or obese
24%
Ages 16-24
65%
Ages 45-54
32%
Ages 16-24
82%
Ages 45-54
To be healthier we need to
eat 30% more fruit and vegetables
eat 50% more fibre
consume 25% less food that is high in fat, salt or sugar
consume less processed or junk foods
Britons spend a year
SUMMARY OF FACTS
1
2
3
Young adults prioritize fun, rewards, and peers over rational thinking
​
It's 5 x cheaper to cook at home
​
Britain has one of the worst obesity rates in Europe
In 2024, the UK government declared an obesity crisis amongst the population, so it is imperative to motivate young adults to cook well to ensure a healthy future.
Hmmm...so what makes them tick?
READY STEADY GO!
Interviewing participants
I conducted moderated interviews with 8 young adults using my study questions to gather their opinions, likes, and dislikes about cooking healthy meals at home.
Participants
I recruited 8 participants for UX Research as instructed from Universities and a theatre
1 x age 18, cis male, english white, university student
1 x age 20, bisexual female, english mixed race, university student
1 x age 22, cis female, english white, usher
1 x age 22, gay male, english white, usher
1 x age 23, cis female, Italian, actress
1 x age 23, cis male, english white, bar staff
1 x age 23, bisexual female, swiss, actor
1 x age 24, cis female, english white/Jamaican, supervisor at theatre.​
​​
​​UI Research
To ensure the success of my product, I conducted UI research on popular apps among young adults and their reasons for popularity. The target audience mostly uses Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, with Instagram being the most popular app in the age range, so I honed into this app.
​
Empathy phase, Analysing & Synthesising Data
-
Conducting a competitive audit of other cooking apps to define pros and cons of competitors
-
Creation of personas, user journeys, user stories, empathy maps, affinity diagrams, user flows, insight identifications & prioritise insights
-
Exercises Crazy 8s & How Might We
​​Competitive Audit
Empathy Map
Aggregated Problem Statement
Persona Joleyn
"Being alone is boring so eating out with friends is sociable and fun, but it is expensive and can be unhealthy"
Christy, 24*
"Cooking alone is boring"
PARTICIPANTS SAY
"Not organised to make lists or time to buy groceries in and I want it to be easier"
Isadora, 20*
"My life is chaotic"
"It takes forever to cook"
"Shopping and cooking is time consuming. There is not enough time for auditioning, work and socialising if I have to shop and cook too"
Jane, 23*
*Names have been changed for anonymity
Young adults’ priorities are to spend time with their peers, have fun and work/study
DISCOVERY
So, if home cooking is not fun for young adults, How Might We change this? I now define these goals
Redefine cooking at home with innovation and engagement
GOALS
1
2
3
4
Create motivation to cook at home
Create a simple way to choose what meal to eat
Create fun and engaging ways to cook using latest trends
Create a way to save money
I needed a fun, fresh and relaxed name with appropriate messaging for my app brain child, that appealed to young adults
Short for Mixingmanyhealthyingredientstogetherandlive-streamcookingandhavefunwithmymates :)
IDEATION
Injecting social fun into healthy home cooking
Create a novel and fresh product that attracts young adults to cook at home in a fun, speedy and effortless way
Pain points​
My Solutions
Most young adults find it boring to do things alone​
The face-to-face live streaming allows users to be social and have fun cooking together​​
Most young adults say finding a good recipe time consuming​
Recipes are uniquely grouped under health, activities and emotions, streamlining the options and saving time​​
​Most young adults find organising cooking steps tedious
​A step-by-step timeline with timestamp to follow recipe steps easily​
​Most young adults find reading the recipes tedious​​​​
​​​​Most young adults make no time to buy groceries
For easy accessibility of recipes and app an AI voice command frees up hands and eyes
​
Ready-made online shopping lists according to recipes for ingredients and utensils with direct links to users' favourite supermarkets for deliveries and discounted offers​​.
Devices and their functionality
DESIGN STRATEGY
Mobile-first philosophy with progressive
enhancement approach
​Dedicated Mobile App
Usage on mobile/tablet
-
in kitchen for cooking
-
live streaming friends
-
voice commands
-
timelines
-
online shopping
Responsive Complementary Desktop Website
Usage on computer/laptop/tablet
-
in-depth information via blogs and videos
-
voice commands
-
timelines
-
promoting mobile app
-
online shopping
DEVELOPMENT
Finally ready to get creative with visuals!!
Starting with Crazy 8s, paper & digital wireframes, creating low-fidelity prototypes using Figma, as well as writing and conducting usability studies, synthesising data, creating user journeys, user flows and iterating designs
1
Crazy 8s brainstorming and ideating
2
Paper wireframes
3
Digital wireframes & mock-ups
First usability testing
LOW FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
User journeys after usability study Lo-Fi prototype
Affinity diagram after usability study Lo-Fi prototype
Priorities
0
1
High – Based on the theme that: for one user, they could not return back to the home screen, an insight is: users need an active and workable ‘home’ button
​
Medium – Based on the theme that: some users felt there needed to be more colour in the design, an insight is: users need a vibrant, colourful and fun layout.​
Tweak, tweak, tweak
Overall, users found navigating across the app very easy and intuitive. However, there were some pain points identified from the low-fidelity prototype unmoderated usability study, which were iterated until the final high-fidelity prototype
LO-FI & HI FI PROTOTYPES INSIGHTS & ITERATIONS
Pain Point
Iteration
Users said that images were too confusing, small and fiddly on home screen
I enlarged the images and added titles, reducing the users' cognitive overload
Pain Point
Iteration
Voice command option was difficult to find
Meet "Mixxy", an AI based on
"Alexa", created after more ideating
and development. Easily accessible from
bottom navigation bar and menu, AI "Mixxy" reads out recipes, starts, stops and finds content in recipes and app. Also connects to your MixMates, following your voice commands!
Pain Point
Iteration
Users felt that this screen was overloaded and confusing for them. They preferred something simpler
I iterated it into two separate screens, one for address book and one for adding a new friend, so making each navigation clearer
Pain Point
Iteration
Users wanted a more fun interface
I created micro animated navigation buttons in bottom navigation bar
How do we get from A to Dinner?
I set participants the user task to open app, find and select option "fancy", find Spaghetti Carbonara, select a friend, send a message to them and navigate to the final recipe video screen
HI-FI USERFLOW
DESIGN FRAMEWORKS USED
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
User-centricity
Consistency
Hierarchy
Context
User control
Accessibility
Usability
Gestalt
Fitt’s Law
Project Sticker Sheet
SUMMARY OF METHODS
Research methods used
In this project I used UCD, Usability testing, Moderated and Unmoderated Usability Studies, Interviews and Observations, Brainstorming, Concept Testing, Personas, Prototyping, identifying key Pain Points, User Journeys, User Flows and Affinity Diagrams
Why these methodologies?
​
Competitive audit
I performed a thorough examination of my competitors' products to compare their existing features. The purpose of this audit was to identify successful strategies used by other companies in my industry and apply them to my own product, as well as inventing new features and enhancing it to gain a competitive edge
​
Concept testing
via face-to-face user interviews showed me if the key essence (the Value Proposition) of my new concept met the needs of the target audience
​​
User interviews
were incredibly helpful in determining the strong and weak points of my product, gathering qualitative information from users. It assisted me in gaining a deeper understanding of the users' emotions and opinions, as well as the user flow and navigational points
1
2
3
​ Brainstorming
was used by me as a method to generate ideas and solve problems. This allowed me to visualise a broad range of design solutions before deciding which one to stick with, with the help of the Crazy 8s exercise
​
​ Usability testing
was useful as the observation of users trying to carry out tasks with my product highlighted pros and cons of the usability of my product. Testing was conducted via moderated and unmoderated studies.​​
4
5
"I really need this app 100%!!"
IMPACT
Comment from returning participants, the young adults were extremely excited about this app; 10 out of 10 said that they would use it 100%
What did I learn from this?
It is crucial to dedicate time to research and accurately synthesise data as they form the basis for defining the concept and building the product correctly. Additionally, conducting repeated usability studies throughout the product's development is essential to ensure that we stay on the right path to success.
RESPONSIVE WEBSITE
Expanded website content for desktop
I wanted to create a MyMixMate website that would also have additional and complementary content for Desktop viewing. It contains features for solo cooking users and offers recipes and extensive information, such as reading Chef’s blogs, hacks, viewing health videos, and supermarket deals, as well as a direct link to download the mobile app to use the live streaming friends’ cooking feature
Landing page
The screen displays rotating animated bubbles that showcase the features of Cook for your vibe, Hands-free voice commands with AI "Mixxy", and Recipe timeline. Additionally, the mobile app is introduced with a download link available on the home screen
​
Home to final recipe
Tweaked homepage layout for easier viewing of meal options with static side bar menu for easier navigation
​
Great Savings
A carousel with direct links to favourite supermarket for discounted offers​​ and deliveries
Hacks
Amazing hacks containing different preparation techniques and methods to help users to make cooking easier
​
TABLET USAGE
Dedicated app & responsive website
For Tablet devices both website and app are appropriate, as they are mobile and can be set up in the kitchen for live-streaming and cooking