Research Objectives
The core purpose of this user research is to:
Understand the needs, behaviors, and pain points of NutriPal’s target users.
Explore current tools and methods users rely on for tracking nutrition.
Identify essential features users want in a health app.
Uncover motivations and barriers users face in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Test usability concepts early on to ensure NutriPal provides a seamless experience.
Target Audience
Primary Audience:
Demographics: Adults aged 18–45, tech-savvy individuals interested in health and fitness.
Lifestyle Goals:
Weight loss or weight maintenance.
Optimized nutrition or dietary tracking.
Personalized meal plans and exercise regimens.
Behavioral Traits:
Use of health-related apps (e.g., MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, Noom).
Time-conscious individuals seeking quick, reliable solutions for tracking.
Secondary Audience:
Health professionals (nutritionists, fitness trainers) who may recommend the app to clients.
Parents or caregivers tracking family nutrition and fitness.
Personas
Research metods
Qualitative Research
Focus Groups: A 90-minute discussion with 5 participants, covering their experiences with health apps and expectations for a new solution.
Competitor Analysis: Observed user interactions with apps like MyFitnessPal, Noom, and Cronometer to identify strengths, weaknesses, and feature gaps.
Quantitative Research
Behavioral Analysis: Prototype testing (low-fidelity) with 5 participants to identify usability challenges.
Empathy map (Emily)
Key Findings
1. User Motivations
Users are primarily motivated by:
Weight loss (60% of participants).
Improving energy levels and overall health (40%).
Tracking macros or specific diet plans (e.g., keto, vegan) (30%).
Preventing or managing chronic illnesses like diabetes (20%).
They value apps that provide actionable, personalized feedback rather than generic suggestions.
2. Pain Points
Participants identified several frustrations with current health and nutrition apps:
Complexity:
"Existing apps feel overwhelming with too many features or data points I don't need."
Users prefer a clean, simplified interface that focuses on their specific goals.
Manual Input Fatigue:
Many users find manual meal logging tedious and time-consuming, with 70% of survey respondents abandoning apps after a few weeks.
Users requested smart features like barcode scanners, meal photo recognition, and saved meal templates.
Lack of Personalization:
Current solutions often fail to offer truly tailored recommendations.
Users want features like meal suggestions based on diet preferences, calorie budgets, and time constraints.
Notifications Overload:
Many apps send too many irrelevant or repetitive notifications, leading users to turn them off or uninstall the app.
3. Desired Features
From surveys and interviews, users prioritized the following features:
Simplified Food Logging:
Barcode scanners (83%).
Predictive meal suggestions based on prior logs (78%).
Meal photo recognition (60%).
Personalized Recommendations:
Diet-specific meal plans (e.g., keto, vegan) (75%).
Workouts tailored to activity level and goals (65%).
Integrated Tracking:
A dashboard combining nutrition, activity, and health stats in one place (70%).
Sync with wearables like Fitbit, Apple Watch, or Garmin (50%).
Motivational Features:
Gamification elements like streaks, badges, and progress rewards (45%).
Social or community challenges for accountability (30%).
CJM
User flow
The user flow maps out the step-by-step journey users take to interact with NutriPal, from onboarding to logging meals and tracking progress. I created the user flow to ensure the app provides a seamless and intuitive experience, reducing friction at every stage. By visualizing how users navigate through the app, I identified potential pain points and opportunities to optimize usability. This process was critical in aligning the design with user goals, such as simplifying meal logging and providing quick access to personalized recommendations. A well-defined user flow lays the foundation for an efficient, user-friendly interface.
Wireframes
1. Home Screen
Elements:
Calorie Counting Circle: A circular progress bar displaying consumed and remaining calories for the day.
Add Food Button: A prominent "+" button to log meals, snacks, or beverages.
Calendar: A clickable calendar to navigate to past or future days for logging or review.
Benefits for Users:
Provides a quick visual of daily calorie progress, encouraging mindful eating.
Keeps goals front and center to maintain focus on health objectives.
Simplifies food logging with easy access to add food or review past days.
2. Scan Screen
Elements:
QR Code Scanner: A central camera interface with a guide box for scanning barcodes or QR codes on food packaging.
Manual Food List: A list of previously scanned or manually added food items for review or quick re-selection.
Add Custom Food Button: A secondary option to manually enter food details if scanning isn’t possible.
Benefits for Users:
Speeds up logging with an easy-to-use scanning feature.
Allows users to track food even without packaging through manual entry.
Provides transparency with a view of logged items for accuracy and quick edits.
3. Recipes Screen
Elements:
Search Bar: A prominently placed bar for keyword searches (e.g., “high protein breakfast”).
Tag Filters: Buttons or chips for filtering by dietary needs (e.g., vegan, keto, quick meals).
Recipe Cards: Scrollable cards with recipe images, titles, cooking time, and calorie information.
Benefits for Users:
Helps users discover meals tailored to their diet and preferences.
Saves time with quick filters and visually appealing recipe previews.
Encourages variety in meal planning with detailed nutritional insights per recipe.
Mockups
Accessibility
High-Contrast Color Scheme: The design uses a high-contrast color palette to ensure text and interactive elements are easily distinguishable, improving readability for users with visual impairments.
Tappable Targets: Buttons and interactive elements are designed with a larger size and adequate spacing, making them easy to tap for users with motor impairments or those using assistive devices.
Screen Reader Compatibility: The design includes clear labels and semantic structure to ensure seamless compatibility with screen readers, allowing visually impaired users to navigate and interact with the app effectively.
