NutriPlay
A fun and interactive opportunity for kids to learn about new foods and healthy eating. NutriPlay encourages children to introduce new foods into their everyday eating
Tap on the screens to play videos!
Project Overview
Many children from toddler to young adults suffer with fussy eating habits and fear of foods. This can lead to growing children not getting the micro and macro nutrients needed for a balanced diet
A product or service that will encourage children who struggle with picky eating and fear of foods to develop a good understanding and a positive relationship with food.
Problem Statement
Many children from toddler to young adults suffer with fussy eating habits and fear of foods. This can lead to growing children not getting the micro and macro nutrients needed for a balanced diet
Responsibilities
I was responsible for identifying a problem of personal interest and developing a comprehensive solution over a 22-week period.
Project Timeline
Week91234
56101112131415Research & Discovery7
8
DefineTools
Figma
Adobe indesign
Adobe phototshop
Adobe Illustrator
Sketchbook
Idiate & Design Prototype1920Team
Solo project under the guidance and mentorship of Professor Bernard Hartigan.
1617182122Usability Testing, Feedback
& Refined DesignDesign Goals
Educational Engagement
Sensory Exploration
Interactive Play
Cognitive Skill Development
Aesthetic Appeal
Ease of Use
Durability and Safety
Educators and Institutions
Children
Who Our Users Are?
Target Audience
Parents and Caregivers
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Divergent Thinking
Foundational Discovery Research
The foundational discovery research for this project focused on understanding the problem space and identifying key opportunities for impactful design. This involved exploring existing literature, analyzing user behaviors, and gathering insights on potential solutions. By investigating current challenges and gaps in the market, as well as studying relevant trends and user needs, this research laid the groundwork for ideation and informed the direction of the project, ensuring it addressed real-world problems effectively.
Personas ———————————————
Observations Problems Needs —————
User Interviews —————————————
Professional Interviews —————————
Surveys ————————————————
Chosen Research Methods and their Reasoning
Personas represent the goals, behaviors, and pain points of actual users.
To uncover unspoken user behaviors, problems, and needs that might not be revealed through direct questioning, providing deeper insights into their real experiences.
To directly capture the perspectives, experiences, and needs of potential users, enabling a user-centered approach to design.
To provide expert insights and validation, ensuring the solution aligned with industry standards and addressed key challenges effectively.
To collect quantitative data from a broader audience, identifying common patterns and preferences relevant to the project.
Key Insights from Surveys
Survey for Relationship with food and exercise with 196 Participants
Survey insights revealed that 16.3% of respondents reported a poor relationship with food, and 13.2% had experienced an eating disorder, with only 30.8% of those receiving medical help. Additionally, 43% felt their childhood diet significantly influenced their current relationship with food, while 29% said it sometimes had an impact. A notable trend linked eating disorders to childhood and family influences, with 19 out of 26 individuals who had eating disorders also reporting other mental health conditions.
Insights from User Interviews
Children's food preferences and eating habits can vary significantly.
Some children are flexible and open to trying new foods, while others are more fussy, especially with vegetables or unfamiliar dishes.
Offering children a choice between two healthy options helps them feel more in control and encourages healthier eating.
Demonstrating enjoyment by eating the food together and involving children in food preparation can make them more willing to try new foods.
Consistency, such as eating together as a family, contributes to making mealtime more enjoyable and relaxed.
Insights from Professional Interviews
Positive rewards are crucial for encouraging young children to engage with food.
A safe, pressure-free environment is essential for children to explore food through play, rather than feeling forced to eat it.
Early food relationships impact adult eating habits, making it important to establish healthy habits from a young age.
The BDA plate model and food pyramid are useful tools for teaching portioning and balanced nutrition.
Food education in schools is generally limited, with basic coverage in science but a lack of in-depth nutrition details.
Insights from Observations Problems Needs Framework
Problems Identified
Fussy Eating: Many children are hesitant or refuse to try new foods, especially vegetables and unfamiliar dishes.
Lack of Engagement: Traditional methods of teaching children about food and nutrition often fail to fully engage them, leading to limited learning and a lack of interest.
Pressure to Eat: Children may feel stressed or anxious about food when there is pressure to eat or finish their plate, which can create negative associations with food.
Inconsistent Portioning and Nutrition Understanding: Some children struggle with understanding portion sizes and balanced meals, leading to unhealthy eating habits.
Needs Identified
Positive Reinforcement: Children need rewards or incentives to encourage positive food behaviors and develop healthy habits.
Interactive Learning Tools: There is a need for engaging, interactive tools that allow children to explore food and nutrition in a fun and educational way.
Safe Exploration: Children need opportunities to explore new foods without feeling forced to eat, promoting curiosity and a positive relationship with food.
Sustained Engagement: Tools and methods should keep children engaged long enough to develop lasting habits and knowledge about healthy eating.
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Convergent Thinking
Data Based User Personas
Anna (Age 5)
Background: Anna is in junior infants and has a limited range of food she enjoys. She primarily sticks to pasta and chicken nuggets, showing resistance to trying new foods.
Food Preferences: Prefers familiar, safe foods like pasta and chicken nuggets.
Needs: Anna needs a gentle introduction to new foods, with gradual exposure in a non-threatening way.
How Anna Engages: She would benefit from a system that offers her fun, visual food exploration with the option to try new foods in a safe, low-pressure environment. Anna would enjoy interactive games that make trying new foods feel like an adventure, giving her a sense of control over what she eats.
Kevin (Age 6)
Background: Kevin is in first class and has a strong aversion to vegetables, only tolerating them when mashed up and hidden in other foods.
Food Preferences: Refuses vegetables unless they are mashed or hidden in dishes, making it difficult to expand his food choices.
Needs: Kevin needs a system that helps him gradually overcome his fear of vegetables by allowing him to explore them in a fun, less intimidating way.
How Kevin Engages: Kevin would enjoy using the system to see vegetables presented in creative ways, such as in a game or fun challenge, where he can learn about them and experiment with textures in a non-pressured environment.
Mya (Age 9)
Background: Mya is very particular about her food. She doesn’t like her food to mix on her plate and dislikes odd textures, making it hard for her to try new dishes.
Food Preferences: Prefers foods that are separate and has a strong dislike for certain textures.
Needs: Mya needs a system that allows her to explore food in a structured, organized way, with features that let her visually separate foods while still encouraging her to try new options.
How Mya Engages: Mya would appreciate a system where she can explore individual foods and learn about them without feeling overwhelmed by mixing or textures. She would benefit from a gradual introduction to new textures and the ability to engage with food through visual and tactile exploration.
Design Guide
A product or service that will encourage children who struggle with picky eating and fear of foods to develop a good understanding and a positive relationship with food.
—————————— Idiate & Develop ——————————
Divergent Thinking
How I did the Ideation
The first step of my ideation process for NutriPlay involved creating detailed mind maps and quick sketches to explore and visualize potential solutions. This step helped me brainstorm ideas, organize my thoughts, and establish clear connections between different aspects of the problem.
From my research, I discovered that encouraging children to become "food explorers" and engage with new foods outside of meal times can help them adapt to trying unfamiliar foods.
I explored how children might use their senses in this process: smelling the food to identify sweet or strong aromas, touching it to explore different textures, and observing how the inside of the food differs from the outside. They can also listen to sounds associated with food, such as the crunch of a carrot or the popping of popcorn, and organize foods by colors or patterns to discover similarities. Finally, tasting the food allows them to determine flavors and compare them to their expectations.
This concept of becoming a food explorer served as the foundation for each of my ideations throughout the project.
Concept Feasibility
To further develop my ideas, I created storyboards for three distinct concepts, exploring how each might work in practice and assessing their feasibility. These storyboards helped visualize the user experience, identify potential challenges, and evaluate how effectively each concept aligned with the goal of encouraging children to become food explorers. This approach allowed me to refine and iterate on the ideas to ensure they were practical and impactful.
Chosen Concept
The concept revolves around a toy till that allows children to scan meals, whether eaten, desired, or random selections, to learn about the foods. Scanned items reveal fun facts, their benefits for the body, and their origins. A balanced meal unlocks superpowers for an avatar in a game, while unbalanced meals suggest improvements. Foods unlock themed lands tied to their benefits, like "Magic Muscle Land" for protein-rich items. Completing challenges in these lands earns reward badges, motivating children to explore diverse foods and prepare balanced meals. The game fosters curiosity, encourages trying new foods, and inspires participation in meal preparation.
Exploration of Toy Form
I explored various designs for the toy till, starting with traditional, old-fashioned tills and modern, simplified designs with touch screens. Ultimately, I combined elements of both, incorporating a base with a scanner and microphone for pretend play and a large angled touch screen for the interactive game, creating a design that is both educational and appealing to children.
Toy Mood board
For my product, I aim to incorporate elements of traditional wooden toys, known for their ability to enhance children’s cognitive skills. Wooden toys often support constructive play, helping to reinforce numeracy and literacy through activities like counting and vocabulary building, as seen with wooden blocks featuring numbers, letters, or shapes. Their timeless, clean aesthetic adds a classic charm.
However, as my product includes an interactive app on a till, plastic will also be integrated into the design. To achieve a harmonious blend, I researched examples of toys that successfully combine wood and plastic, creating a striking contrast between the traditional and modern while maintaining both functionality and visual appeal.
Site Maps & User Flow
I created site maps and user flow maps to ensure a seamless user experience. The site map outlined the system's structure and navigation, while the user flow maps detailed a child's step-by-step journey, highlighting key actions. These tools helped identify pain points, optimize intuitive design, and guide users through the toy's educational and interactive features
—————————— Prototype ——————————
Graphic & Illustrations for the App
Login Page - The design features bright, inviting colors and fun illustrations or characters to appeal to children, with large, easily recognizable icons and buttons for accessibility. Additionally, the page includes the option to create and manage multiple accounts, allowing different children in the same household to have their own profiles for personalized experiences.
App Prototype
Food Exploration - These frames showcase key app features: engaging visuals provide feedback on scanned foods, helping children learn about their nutritional value. The food exploration section encourages sensory engagement, fostering curiosity and a deeper connection to food. The plate-building feature visually demonstrates how a balanced meal is created by adding scanned foods, teaching portioning and the importance of diverse food groups.
Fun Facts & Learning - In these frames, the fun fact learning section of the app is showcased. In this section, users can discover interesting facts about where different foods come from and learn about the specific parts of the body those foods benefit. This feature enhances the educational aspect of the app, making learning about nutrition engaging and interactive for children.
Build the Food Pyramid - This game challenges users to correctly place food groups onto a blank pyramid. Correct placements are rewarded with a green tick for positive feedback, allowing the user to proceed. Incorrect placements are marked with an X, prompting the user to try again and learn through repetition.
Build the Food Pyramid - This game challenges users to correctly place food groups onto a blank pyramid. Correct placements are rewarded with a green tick for positive feedback, allowing the user to proceed. Incorrect placements are marked with an X, prompting the user to try again and learn through repetition.
Balance The Food Plate - Users are tasked with dragging and dropping food plate names into the correct sections. A green tick appears when the user places the word correctly, providing positive feedback, while an X prompts them to try again if the placement is wrong. This interactive game helps reinforce food knowledge and encourages learning through repetition.
Toy Prototype
I designed the toy till using SolidWorks, ensuring precision and functionality in the digital model. To create the physical prototype, I utilized 3D printing and a CNC machine, crafting a durable and detailed structure. The prototype is designed to accommodate an iPad, which integrates seamlessly into the till, allowing users to engage with the interactive learning game in a hands-on, immersive way.
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User Testing and Feedback
User testing revealed that the app was generally easy to navigate, with users enjoying interactive features like character creation, scanning physical items, and educational games about food groups and their benefits. However, some buttons, such as the "let’s go" and back buttons, were difficult to locate, and the food pyramid section lacked clarity in identifying food groups. Suggestions included using varied colors for describing words, improving the prominence of the "food exploring" button, and making navigation buttons more visible to enhance usability and engagement.
User Journey Map
Going Forward
The user testing results provided valuable insights into areas where the app can be improved, including better button visibility, enhanced clarity of the food pyramid, and more engaging visual elements. These refinements will ensure a smoother and more enjoyable experience for both children and adults.
Key Takeaways
Interactive features like the scanner and educational games are highly engaging and resonate well with users. However, usability improvements are necessary to address navigation challenges and enhance clarity in key areas of the app.
Impact
The app has the potential to positively influence children’s relationship with food by making learning about nutrition interactive, fun, and pressure-free. It bridges the gap between education and play, fostering curiosity and healthy habits in children.
What I have Learned
User testing is a crucial step in identifying usability issues and understanding user preferences. Observing users interact with the app has emphasized the importance of clear design and engaging features tailored to the target audience.
Next Steps
Implement design updates based on feedback, such as improving button visibility, refining the food pyramid section, and enhancing visual engagement. Conduct additional user testing after updates to ensure the app meets the needs of the target audience effectively.