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PROGRESS TRACKING AND DIETICIAN
Users can easily view their weekly progress, daily calorie intake, and meal history, empowering them to make informed decisions about their diet and lifestyle. Additionally, the app offers seamless integration with dieticians, allowing users to schedule appointments and seek professional guidance for their health journey."
The users can scan food items in real-time to obtain detailed nutritional information. Additionally, we introduce the Virtual Meal Buddy feature, which enhances the dining experience by simulating conversation and providing real-time feedback on eating speed through gentle reminders. An example of this immersive audio experience which promotes mindful eating habits and reduces overeating is given below
MEAL BUDDY
The onboarding screens of our app is where the users are prompted to provide basic details to calculate their BMI. This feature ensures a personalized experience from the start, setting the foundation for a tailored health journey.
ONBOARDING SCREENS
Figures- Observation Field Notes
Heuristic evaluation
Final Prototype
But how did we get to our solution- chewARfully?
After brainstorming again and evaluating several ideas, we recognized the need for a solution that not only addressed stress-induced overeating but also promoted mindful eating habits to combat obesity.
Now, let's talk about our solution,
Imagine a little voice in your ear telling you that actually, you shouldn’t get that side of fries.
The ability to easily track caloric intake has been a challenge for current wearable fitness trackers.
These augmented reality glasses can monitor what the wearer eats including calorie content and the quantity of the food.
The glasses use gesture recognition to confirm which foods the wearer chooses, and then monitor sound and head movement to track how much the wearer actually eats.
Whether you’re trying to lose weight, eat healthier, or track your diet for other reasons, there’s no truly easy and automatic way to log your food inta.
Today’s best options are apps that require you to pick the food items you’re consuming or manually enter that information.
But what if the app knew, without your help, that you’d just spent a half hour crunching on cookies?
The sensors use electromyography (EMG) to detect contractions of facial muscles involved in chewing.
These sensors help the glasses identify food in front of the wearer and analyze its nutritional content.
Building on the data obtained from our secondary research and on-site observations, we developed an interview protocol. Subsequently, we conducted a total of eight interviews with individuals representing diverse perspectives. The interviews aimed not only to collect valuable data but also to establish a deep connection with the users, fostering empathy and a profound understanding of their experiences.
Users express a lack of nutritional education, leading to uncertainty about healthy food choices and portion sizes.
A significant number of individuals consume food while glancing at their phones or engaged in laptop work, often lacking awareness of their food choices.
Users often feel lazy to input every meal’s ingredient and portion size into the app and monitor calories, often leading to abandonment within a couple of weeks .
Users are aware of the need to improve their eating habits but struggle with the implementation, indicating a gap between knowledge and action.
Key insights from the interview:
What interviewee's mentioned:
Interviews
chewARfully
embracing mindful eating, byte by byte
Duration
8 weeeks
Team
2 UX Designers
1 UX Researcher
Roles
User research
Prototyping
Usability testing
Tools
Figma, Figjam,
Miro, Slack, Zoom,
Google form
01
Health Issues: Several respondents disclosed health issues such as PCOD/PCOS/PMS, diabetes, thyroid, and obesity, providing valuable insights into the intersection of health conditions and eating behaviors.
High-calorie consumption: People tend to seek high-calorie, high-fat foods during periods of stress, though in fact, when people are stressed, their bodies store more fat than when they are relaxed.
03
Individual Variances: Individual responses showcased a spectrum of eating habits, preferences, and attitudes toward food, emphasizing the need for a personalized and inclusive approach in the proposed solution.
02
04
Emotional Eating: A substantial portion admitted to eating when not physically hungry, with a noteworthy correlation between stress, sadness, or anxiety and increased food consumption
Overview
Our goal is to explore a holistic solution integrating technology, behavior modification, and health education to tackle stress and binge eating, contributing to obesity (Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher), aiming to empower individuals for healthier dietary choices and a better future.
Solution
The solution targets the root causes of stress eating, striving to curb the obesity epidemic and alleviate associated health and economic burdens.
To address stress-induced overeating and promote mindful eating habits, our solution, "chewARfully," integrates:
1. AR glasses for easy calorie tracking by scanning the food item.
2. A speaker for guided mindful eating, and providing real-time feedback.
3. A mic for tracking chewing speed.
Problem statement
The prevalent issues of stress eating and binge eating contribute significantly to the rising obesity epidemic, impacting public health and resulting in substantial healthcare costs. Modern lifestyles, characterized by high stress levels and easy access to calorie-dense foods, exacerbate these behaviors. Stress-induced overeating also elevates the risk of associated health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.
38%
adults overeate due to stress.
50%
millennials eat unhealthy food
due to stress.
1/3
adults are obese.
3%
adults experience binge eating
disorder.
US statistics before 2023
Take a look at the final prototype —>
Design Approach
Quantitative Analysis
We conducted a google form survey to better understand and sympathize with our target users before conducting our interviews and observations. We compiled a list of questions and distributed the survey to our target audience. Click here to view the survey responses -> Eating habits survey (Responses).
Observation
04.
TESTING
03.
DESIGN
05.
CONCLUSION
02.
Ideation
01.
Research
Quantitative Analysis
Observation
Interview
User Persona
01.
RESEARCH
02.
Ideation
04.
Testing
05.
Conclusion
03.
Design
Prototyping
Heuristic Evaluation
We created 2 storyboards to empathize with the personas by visually depicting their challenges and emotions throughout their journey.
04.
TESTING
03.
DESIGN
05.
CONCLUSION
01.
Research
Brainstorming
Storyboarding
Affinity Mapping
Empathy Mapping
02.
Ideation
We held 3 different brainstorming sessions over a week. We came up with 30 ideas to get close to our solution.
Figures- Brainstorming sessions
Within my team
Individually
With a peer
Selected 3 ideas to pursue further:
Healthy Ecosystem - Reward based system to manage stress.
NutriPlan- customizable grocery list with healthy alternative suggestions and calorie tracking to help users meet their nutrient requirements.
Let’s schedule - Helps organizing a day.
Brainstorming
Storyboarding
Affinity Mapping
Empathy Mapping
User Persona
Eating while using their phone.
Eating pizza and sipping coffee
due to academic stress
A working individual's grocery
cart with junk food.
Students consuming junk dduring lecture
We conducted an extensive on-site observations at prominent locations such as the IUPUI campus center food court, Chick-fil-A, Kroger (a grocery store), the IUPUI library, and various classrooms. This allowed us to gather firsthand insights into user behaviors, preferences, and interactions within these diverse settings.
Figures- Observation Field Images