Spofity for Food

How I tried creating the spotify for food to help people make quick choices while dieting by suggesting them the food they love eating?

Project Overview

2018 was the year I lost close to 20 kgs following a keto diet, and a lot of my friends and relatives wanted to do the same. Considering each individual case is different, it became difficult for me to consult each one of them and also send them recipes to cook. That’s when the idea for Calorie came up.

the progress (2018)

Role + Tools + Timeline

Co-founder : UI / UX + Research

3 Months

  • Adobe XD
  • Adobe Photoshop & Premier Pro
  • Google Forms & Docs
  • Pen and Paper

    • The Problem

    Understanding the user was crucial before starting this process - considering I was consulting people and getting them to live a healthy life defining the problem was easy.

    My Challenge - Diet Consultant

  • In India each person has his own taste for food just like his/her taste for music and considering the wide range of cuisine available - creating a diet plan that people could stick to is difficult.
  • After understanding one's food preferences it becomes unscalable to constantly suggest recipes and since indian recipes contain so many ingredients - it becomes difficult to track the calories and macros.

    • People Challenges

  • People who follow a diet can go down a rabbit hole trying to figure out what to eat - how much to eat and when to eat.
  • Also finding recipe macro / calorie fit is quite difficult..
  • Diets are quite fragile - if one is not motivated enough to cook the food or can't find the right ingredients it can lead to binge eating.
  • Socializing during a diet is the most difficult due to peer pressure.

    • Research

    The Survey - I prepared a survey with Google forms and distributed it on Reddit and a few fitness focused groups on Facebook. Understanding these problems not only kept me on track but also motivated to work on this further.

    Results

  • 90% said they want to get healthy.
  • 85% said they had tried dieting and failed before.
  • 90% said they found it tough to socialize on a diet.
  • 98% said they have cravings on a diet.
  • 72% said cooking diet food is hectic.
  • 65% said diet food gets monotonous.
  • 87% nutritionists are overpriced.
  • 82% said figuring out the right macros is the most difficult.

    • What they had to say!

    “ I don’t understand what to eat and how much to eat - finally I eat junk”

    “ When I am down or sad - usually I cheat on my diet and later feel terrible”

    “ Eating out with friends has been difficult and sometimes I question myself - why am I doing this?

    “ The biggest headache is figuring out the amount of macros and then cooking it praying that I am not out of required groceries ”

    User Personas

    1. Cusher Lata

    A 50 year old teacher has been advised to lose weight by the doctor due to diabetes and blood pressure.

    Habits - Schedule
  • She usually leaves the house early at 5:30 am before that she cooks food for her family - packs tiffins for each of her family members and then leaves the house.
  • Cooks the day's food all at once.
  • Usually eats out thrice a week
    • Pain Points
  • Cooking two kinds of food - one for her - other for family.
  • Socializing is quite difficult.
  • Can’t find all the right groceries at the right time - hence modifies the recipes
    • Goals
  • Lose 15kgs of weight and live a healthy life.

    • 2. Yogi Uthgire

    A 38 year old businessman has reached unhealthy levels of obesity and is tired of dieting.

    Habits - Schedule
  • He has a passive lifestyle
  • Doesn’t enjoy dieting due his belief that diet = bland food.
  • Usually eats out 4 times a week.
    • Pain Points
  • Enjoys Favoured food.
  • Socializes a lot
  • Eats with family and can’t stop pondering over their food.
    • Goals
  • Lose 20kgs of weight and enjoy the process..

    • Defining the Flow

    I was solving my own problems,so modelling the flow after my consulting procedure was crucial for a decent experience.

    How I Consulted?
  • 1. Get information - about the person
  • 2. Understand Lifestyle
  • 3. Giving Diet
  • 4. Send them YouTube recipes
  • 5. Support all time - WhatsApp.
  • 6. Giving them better food choices when they are down or having a bad day.

    • Minimum Viable Product

    Initially, based on the experience I had on consulting people I designed the initial product.

    The Dropbox Way

    It was then time to launch it the dropbox way - I created this video so people could understand how the product worked and we could collect valuable feedback.

    Focus

    Our product was hitting quite a few use cases and as a startup you always need focus - Talking to people who signed up for our beta program got us that focus.

    Two Aspects were what we thought were most important

  • 1. What food to eat and how much - along with recipes.
  • 2. Tracking your progress to stay motivated - weight and progress pics.

    • Targeting People with a Strong WHY?

    The other features didn’t affect people with a strong Why? On getting fit and healthy.

    User Flow

    Up until now I had a vague idea of how the app will function. Mapping the basic flow of the app forced me to figure each step on the path the users will take throughout the solution. I first sketched it on paper and then digitally rendered it.

    user flows

    Mock-Ups

    This was the first step to help me outline the app and visually imagine it.

    Hand Drawn Wireframes

    Brand

    While designing the logo I was on the look for something that could closely symbolize "calorie". What a calorie could look like? Calories are fuel to our body, calories to the body are substances it can burn to create energy. What I came up with was a fire, flame like looking logo.

    Logo and Icons

    Color

    The color for the app was directly taken from the logo for consistency. it.

    Hand Drawn Wireframes

    type

    It is a well-balanced sans serif typeface that seems to complement the interface and resemble Helvetica. Simplicity was the leading mantra; therefore, I decided to go with just one font family.

    Hand Drawn Wireframes

    Interactions

    The User was usually confused while adding dishes and didn’t understand where the calories were added - so these interactions were crucial for usability.

    Interactions

    High Fidelity

    Onboarding

    The Onboarding Flow was designed to understand three aspects
    - Personal information of the User
    - Health History of the User
    - Food Preferences

    Onboarding Flow

    Home

    Home is where the user gets a ready made diet plan based on his preferences of food
    - The user can add the recipe he plans to eat
    - View the Recipe suggested
    - Track the macros

    Home Flow

    Progress

    Progress is where the user can
    - Track ones progress in weight
    - Add Progress Pics
    - Get analytics on various aspects

    Progress Flow

    Conclusion

    Designing an app is always challenging but highly rewarding.
    The Fitness Space is clearly one of the most competitive space in terms of apps - But I believe iterating on this product fast with more usability tests could heavily impact the results.
    Understanding people's motivations towards fitness was quiet insightful
    Self-discovery and working with developers was the biggest learning.