A User experience Overhaul for a nutrition-focused lifestyle app
My Role
Consumer Researcher
UX Designer
Motion Graphics Designer
My Team
Steven Pereira
Suma Deshpande
Jamie Johannessen
Caitlin Yackley
Duration
4 months
Tools
Figma
Miro
The Problem
The current Lifesum app lacks many features and design elements that cater to specific user needs, making their nutrition journey with the app less helpful and more stressful than it should be.
The Solution
Redefine the user experience of Lifesum’s app based on the nutritional and feature needs of various user groups, which were discovered through thorough extensive research into Lifesum’s current user base and feature testing.
Research Process
Discover
Define
Design & Development
Discover
Empathy Interviews
After gathering information on Lifesum’s target market, we conducted interviews on people who fell under specific user groups that the app targets, such as students, fitness enthusiasts, etc. Each person was asked questions about their nutrition habits.
Tell me about a time you felt inclined to pay attention to your nutrition.
“On my surgery rotation, I don’t get a lot of time to eat, so whenever I do, I need to maximize and prioritize my nutrition.”
Is there anything that makes you feel discouraged when tracking what you eat? Why?
“I don’t track nutrition because it’s difficult to do, especially with homemade stuff.”
What are some features that you wish you could add to the nutrition-based apps you use, and why?
“Nutrition outside of the gym reflects how you will perform in the gym, so i wish my nutrition apps could help with that.”
What factors influence your dietary choices?
“Now, I think gym culture is influencing me. it can be toxic, but when you research it, it can benefit you.”
Affinity Mapping
Various information from our interviews, such as demographics, pain points, and more, were categorized to better understand and consolidate our findings for what we should focus our efforts on.
Categories & Patterns
Dietary Restrictions
Time Management
Nutrition App Experiences
Favorite Features
Least Favorite Features
Emotional Experiences
Nutrition Relationship
Demographics
Feature Recommendations
Nutrition Habits
Misc.
Define
User Personas & Pain Points
Ready For recovery
Claire Li
22 yr. old | Los Angeles, CA
“I find it triggering seeing certain nutrition info ever since i began my recovery from my eating disorder.”
The Novice Bodybuilder
Natasha Williams
26 yr. old | Seattle, WA
“I want to track my nutrition and fitness goals all within the same place. switching apps constantly can
be a pain!”
The Stressed Out Student
Alyssa Zamora
22 yr. old | Brooklyn, NY
“I need to find healthy food spots near where I am when i’m commuting to school. i don’t have a lot of time between my classes.”
The Vegan Foodie
Ethan Carter
32 yr. old | Boston, MA
“I recently switched to a vegan diet, and i need dietary alternatives that provide me with enough nutrients.”
Ideate
How Might We?
Using the pain points from our user personas, we brainstormed various questions focused on figuring out how we could solve each of our users’ problems through creating new features on the Lifesum app.
How might we create a flexible and personable environment for users to keep track of what they prefer?
Focused Nutrition
How might we streamline the connection between nutrition and fitness?
Active Planning
How might we inspire users to try out new food spots to meet their nutrition goals?
Local Eats
How might we make sure recipes and substitutions are nutritional enough for a users diet?
Ingredient Swap
Design & Development
Low Fidelity Wireframes and new Feature development
We sketched these initial wireframes showcasing the new features addressing our personas’ needs on paper and tested them with users to understand how they would navigate these features on Lifesum. We noted any confusion or difficulties users experienced.
Mid Fidelity Wireframes and new feature refinement
After getting feedback on navigation and other elements from the low-fidelity wireframes, we developed these wireframes that better addressed our personas' needs. We tested these with users and used their feedback to improve each feature’s user journey before creating the final designs.
Feature No. 1 - Focused Nutrition
Users can toggle which nutrition info they want to see before starting their nutrition journey, helping those recovering from eating disorders
avoid triggers
Feature No. 2 - Active Planning
We created a calendar for users to plan and track their meals and workouts throughout the month, alleviating the pain of switching between apps constantly
Feature no. 3 - Local Eats
this features was created to help busy students find meals at nearby food spots, saving them time and keeping them on track with their nutrition goals
Feature No. 4 - Ingredient Swap
We added the ability for users to swap ingredients in any Lifesum recipe to fit their dietary needs, like veganism, so they can enjoy their favorite meals while staying on track with their diet
UI Design
Once we refined our wireframes based on user feedback, we redesigned the look and feel of the Lifesum app with the features that we created for each persona as well a new design system to make the app feel more fun, engaging, and accessible.
Reflection
By focusing on the needs of specific Lifesum users that were discovered through extensive user research, we were able to develope and improve on our features that not only catered to these users, but also made Lifesum a more engaging and personalized nutrition experience for everyone.
