VITA — I became more health-conscious after developing this app
Introduction
Understanding the human life
VITA, a not-for-profit organisation, is on a mission to build better lives, one broccoli at a time.
They are inspired to:
‘Use behaviour science to help people change their habits, improve their health and reduce their risk of chronic disease.’
VITA believes that disease prevention is better than a cure. Through behavioural science and HCD (Human-centred design), they strive to tackle preventable chronic conditions at their roots, Their current #IRL (In Real Life) program helps to assess diets for people with chronic conditions and implement plant-based diet recommendations.
I was part of an ambitious project, representing VITA to help people achieve fuller lives through positive behavioural changes using a digital platform.
Challenge — VITA wants to scale by promoting sustainable lifestyle changes
The Australian government measures its primary health care effectiveness through Potentially Preventable Hospitalisation (PPH), which can be affected by dietary and socioeconomic factors.
In 2015, PPH and chronic disease cost the health system $4.5 billion. Chronic conditions are prevalent across almost all age groups, and are in the top 5 killers for those between the ages 25–85.
VITA currently treats numerous cases of PPH, helping them change their lives through diet. However,
They want to scale their program to effectively introduce the benefits of a plant-based diet into the lives of the broader public.
Goals — Understanding the “Why”
This led to our team goal —
Inspire people with VITA’s “whys” by designing a solution that triggers positive behavioural change.
We had two weeks to come up with a solution
I played a significant role in the ideation and creation of the paper prototype, leveraging the trends we had identified through researching the Australian market. I collaborated with three other designers to work through the double diamond process — diverging into specific research areas, converging to ideate, and ensuring that our proposed solution was viable.
Time was the biggest constraint throughout the project, but forced us to focus on continually progressing the key components for delivery. Time-boxing was a useful tool throughout the whole process.
Things I used throughout the double diamond process
Main methodologies applied throughout the project:
- Market research
- Surveys
- User interviews
- Affinity mapping
- User personas
- Journey maps
- Crazy8s
- Feature prioritisation (impact vs effort)
- Paper prototyping
- Figma
Solution — Make eating healthy easy and fun
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 Research Process
But first, we need a plan.
After breaking down the brief, we kicked off with 4 research phases. We also created questions to conduct user interviews and surveys in order to dig deep enough to reveal what the driving forces behind the issue were.
We focused on 4 phases of market research
1.Target market
Why? — Knowing who our customer is helps to guide the decisions we make around the product, this can also help with future marketing efforts. By making sure we’re building for the right people, we can plan marketing strategies accordingly to scale the program.
Insights — Through our research, we found that younger audiences are more receptive to change.
As the brain ages, the physiological changes in certain areas contributing to neuroplasticity affect how we learn and retain information.
It is easier for millenials to pick up and learn new technologies compared to previous generations
Access to social networks and vastly diverse world views combined with their relatively high neuroplasticity present a prime opportunity for positive behavioural change.
Millennials are now the largest healthy eating consumer group in Australia, representing 32% of the $5.8 billion healthy foods industry in 2017.
No longer does healthy eating revolve around low calories or low fat, instead shifting to clean eating and transparency around ingredients
2. Plant-based diets
Why? — In order to inform the broader public with trustable sources, we have to be well educated. As plant-based diets have no clear definition, we had to set a standard based on the government health authority in order to deliver a reliable product.
Insights — Flexitarian diets are the best plant-based diets for people due to their low risk of facing health-related complications. People have the freedom of incorporating small amounts of animal and dairy products throughout their diet, reducing their dependency on supplements.
3. Australian trends
Why? — To scale the product and understand its MVP, we had to deep dive into the current problems. Noticing trends and exploring social and economic factors can help to pinpoint our target market.
Insights — In 2017–2018, 92% of Australians did not consume the recommended 5–6 servings of vegetables every day
4. Behavioural science
Why? — Exploring ways to effectively change and sustainably maintain eating habits, and how these habits could be formed through the usage of a mobile app..
Insights —
“A learned sequence of acts that have become automatic, unconscious responses to specific cues and triggers”
Failure to use the new product was rarely due to disliking a product or finding it did not work properly; they simply forgot to use the products, and automatically continued or reverted to existing habits. This will be one of our focal points later during the ideation process.
We received 150+ survey responses, and interviewed 25+ people in the process of collecting data
We simultaneously ran a survey and conducted user interviews to collect both quantitative and qualitative data to affirm what was found in our research.
Surveyed users were mostly between the ages of 18–35, which was in line with our target market (based on habit forming research).
Interviews were conducted with people across a wider age range (from 25–85), but mainly focused on talking to those in our target market — around the ages of 25–35.
We made sure to speak to people with a variety of diets, giving us a broad range of qualitative data around the preferences, motivations, and pain points that were associated with each.
Synthesising
1.People are confused
With the overwhelming amount of contradictory information out there, people become disgruntled and stay with what they know. Sifting through the information requires both more time and effort for change. Even though they were confident in the kitchen, they were not confident as to what to eat.
2.Social aspect of food is important
People treated food as a way to connect and catch up with friends and family. They are afraid of becoming a social anchor if what they eat is not aligned with others.
3.Eating pure vegetables doesn’t mean you are healthy
Some reported having to take supplements, whilst others even changed their vegetarian diet back due to iron deficiencies.
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
Empathising with the Persona — Journey Map
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
“Riley needs to take the difficulty out of processing (learning) how to eat healthy so they can easily cook & eat healthy meals”
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
The Design Iterations
We tested paper prototypes on users!
We decided to conduct an unmoderated test for our first usability test to examine the feasibility of the wireflow. We focused on gauging how well a user could perform the fundamental task of choosing and executing a recipe.
There are three main feedbacks to iterate
Users found the low-fi sketched prototype very confusing due to the lack of context such as text and picture prompts. They were also unsure of our reward and in-app currency system. 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.
I present to you — VITA!
Based on user research, these are the future features the team would like to see
1.Test the mid-fi prototype
The immediate next step would be to test this new mid-fi prototype with more users to see how they react and understand the app with more context.
Also, measuring metrics can help to reflect if our service is most suitable for user needs.
2.Develop notifications
Linking back to the behavioural research, it is suggested that developing a scheduled notification for users to organise and eat dinner at a consistent time each day.
This consistency and repetition will help solidify their healthy eating habits.
3.Third party negotiation
By negotiating with parties like supermarkets, we can explore the opportunity to integrate convenience features such as purchasing items from the ingredients screen.
Also, involving plant based cafes and independent healthy retailers, we can develop rewards for users to spend the in-app currency on.
4.Get friends and family involved!
As our research mirrors the huge social aspect that food plays in our lives and introduces social support and accountability, we would like to introduce a social aspect to increase engagement. This is something that research participants reported to help them form good habits.
My personal takeaway
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?
Thank you for your time. If you are interested, please CLICK HERE to view my portfolio!
