Sharing a meal is one of life’s most enjoyable social experiences. But for people with special dietary needs, it can also be a source of stress, They often worry ...
I set out to build a product that empowers people to share their dietary profiles without feeling awkward. Plus, help people understand dietary needs of others and easily create inclusive meals.
In the next five minutes, I'll walk you through the entire product design process.
More people are closely monitoring what goes on their plate and in their bodies, for a variety of reasons...
60% of American suffer from chronic diseases affected by diet.
33 million Americans are allergic to foods like dairy, nuts and wheat.
The number of vegans in the US grew 30x from 2014 to 2019.
3 billion people worldwide avoid pork due to beliefs.
As of 2021, the FDA requires nine food allergens to be clearly labeled on products.
The Vegan Food Market is expected to grow by 10.4% CAGR to $65.4 billion by 2030.
At the onset, it wasn’t clear to me what people found most difficult about their special diets. Expensive? Confusing?
To better understand their needs and frustrations, I interviewed 4 participants following special diets.
Plant-based, whole-foods
Child with peanut and egg allergy
Vegetarian
Dairy-free, multiple food intolerances
While synthesizing the interview data, I was able to map quotes and observations to a handful of themes.
Reading labels requires more brain power and can be emotionally draining.
Participants invest time in managing the higher cost of food by stocking up on items when on sale.
Participants are reluctant to communicate their needs to others, fearing they will be viewed as a burden.
Learning a new diet and how to prepare meals can be hard at first, but can also feel like an adventure.
I was surprised to find the most significant pain point for participants seemed to be the impact their new diets had on their social lives. Many had similar stories of feeling different from others, isolated, or like a burden because of their diet.
This insight became the driving force for creating a social platform type of product.
“Social events are the hardest because I don’t want to influence what people bring to a party. I say nothing. And I tend to bring things I can eat or I just go without.”
From the research data, I developed several personas and referenced them frequently throughout the design process. This helped to ensure that every design decision aligned with the needs, goals and expectations of users.
Akari has been a vegan since the 90s, when she learned about the horrors of industrial scale farming. She bikes to work and plans her route so she can stop at her favorite grocery stores. She organizes a vegan food swap event monthly to share recipes and meet new people.
Gwen’s new apartment is a popular hangout spot for friends. She loves hosting weekend brunches and birthday parties. At work, Gwen captains the company softball team and leads volunteer efforts for Habitat for Humanity.
Before sketching a single design, I needed to further explore the concept of complete meal inclusivity. What would it look like and how might we help people experience it?
Prioritizing the feature set for the minimum viable product (MVP) was a challenge. In the end, I chose two “Must Have” features that best demonstrated the product's ability to deliver meal inclusivity.
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