Promoting healthy diets that last by emphasizing mental wellness
This case study is a revised version of my first ever UX case study that I completed during the Summer of 2022. Most of the research and ideas for the solution have remained similar. However, I synthesized the research more effectively and iterated on the solution a bit further to how I see fit, in hopes to demonstrate my growth as a designer after a year of learning. If you’d like to check out the original case study from 2022 (which covers much of the initial design iterations of this app), please visit this link: https://bryceleeux.framer.ai/habits-2022
Project type
Passion project
Timeline
June - July 2022,
Revisited November 2023
Team
Solo
My role
UX designer, UX researcher
Most people fail to continue their diets.
As an advent gym-goer, I noticed many regulars trying to lose weight. However, chatting with them led me to realize the difficulty in achieving this goal. After a bit of research, I found that while half of the adult population in the United States have attempted weight loss in the past 12 months,
YOU control your own diet.
Better suited for individual users’ needs
Greater likelihood of staying on track
Ensures that users build healthy habits through actionable steps
Photos offer an objective view - more reliable than counting calories
Quick, easy, and stress-free tracking
Return to review any time to remember activities in detail
Daily reflection catches issues and improves them before it progresses further
Ability to edit goals = less chance to become overwhelmed with inevitable failure
Allows small, consistent improvements to build long-lasting habits
A friendlier product for users that struggle to maintain a healthy relationship with food
“This feels easy on the body and mind... I like that the photos make it less intimidating to track for beginners.”
– Usability tester #2
“It’s cool that it guides me but doesn’t force me to do things that I’m not ready for... I feel like I can learn insights at my own pace.”
– Usability tester #5
“I like how it’s super simple to track. You don’t need to obsess over every little detail, but just the general trends of your activities.”
– Usability tester #3
The key to successful habit building
I started this project by researching methods used to build lasting habits. In the process, I found two ways proven to work through science:
Let people lead their diets.
You shouldn’t follow a diet — you should lead it. Research suggests that people want to control their actions, receive recognition for what their work, and feel that their actions matter. All of this comes from making your own decisions instead of doing what an app/others tell you to do.
Take small steps that build on top of another.
Taking on small tasks at a time allows people to be more consistent than taking on bigger tasks when motivation starts to run low. Therefore, breaking down goals into smaller pieces allows users a greater chance to persevere through their diets in the long run.
Competitors had no aspect of independent goal-setting or progressive habit-building.
With an understanding of what makes diets successful, I examined popular apps on the market to see what features they had in common. I found that many competitors approached dieting through meticulous calorie tracking instead of the methods shown in the secondary research above. This gap allowed me to focus my app design on setting & altering goals based on user needs instead.
Understanding user pain points and motivations in detail
To understand the users’ pain points in more detail, I conducted 8 interviews with participants that previously used dieting apps. Here are some of the questions I asked:
Tell me about your experience with dieting and your relationship with food.
What was your approach to dieting and why?
What motivated you to start dieting?
What do you usually do to set goals/habits for yourself?
In your experience, what was the most difficult part about persevering through your diet?
To gain insight into their perspectives afterward, I organized their responses on an affinity map:
Users failed diets because there was no way to adjust their goals based on their needs.
The users’ main need that these apps ignored as indicated through the interviews, was the lack of control that they felt without proper personalization and adjustment of their individual goals. Here were the significant pain points summarized:
🧱 Hitting a brick wall
When users inevitably faced obstacles, they didn’t know what to do to progress because their goals were inflexible and arbitrary.
“I tried and failed... Now I don’t know how to succeed.”
🔢 Too much focus on calories
Competitor apps’ method of tracking was based on counting calories, which disregarded individual needs and control over users’ diet.
“I feel like the numbers define me... Even though they don’t know me at all.”
🦮 No proper guidance
While users were initially motivated to start, many often did not have the knowledge to properly get started on their own.
“I know where I should go, but I don’t know how to get there.”
Michael, a serial dieter
Michael is a college sophomore who attempted numerous diets without long-term success. Over time, his relationship with food has become unstable and is not sure what works for him anymore. He needs a system that will take care of his mental and physical wellbeing while supporting and guiding him throughout the journey.
“I need guidance that keeps me on track but is also understanding of my past.”
Laying out Michael’s goals to help him reach desirable outcomes
After developing a user persona, I used the JTBD framework to understand what kind of outcomes he would want from using the app - this helped me bridge the gap between synthesizing Michael’s pain points and goal-setting to understand what features to prioritize building.
Job #1:
When starting out my diet for the first time,
I want to have more guidance on how to set goals and take action,
So I can feel reassured and confident that I am moving in the right direction.
Job #2:
When tracking my activities on a daily basis,
I want to have a quick, easy, general way of logging it into the app,
So I can feel less stressed about meeting expectations while still making progress.
Job #3:
When I’m continuing with my diet,
I want to know how to understand healthy ways to make progress,
So I can prioritize my mental health and move forward even in the face of adversity.
As referenced in the JTBD framework earlier, I also organized 3 main goals for this app to meet. If I wanted users to persevere through challenges, I would have to cater to these features:
Proper guidance for users to set their own healthy, actionable goals
An effective method to track their activity without causing stress
A system to adjust their goals based on their specific needs and experiences
Trial and error, concept tests, and valid solutions to dieting
Given each of the goals, I experimented and tested different ideas with participants for a couple of weeks before landing on the solutions used for iterations. Here were a few ideas that I tested out for each goal:
Goal #1: Creating healthy, actionable goals
SMART goals 🧠
Too effortful and pressuring for users to come up with
SMART goals have a deadline, and this is contradictory to setting lasting habits
Good habit tips 💡
Worked well and grabbed users’ attention
Users wanted even more guidance
Tips + pre-made templates 🗂️
Users can choose goals from a pre-made template if they’re stuck
Balancing freedom & guidance for the users
Goal #2: Tracking daily activities
Free journaling 🗒️
Users had trouble describing their food specifically enough to recall later on
Felt effortful to type everything out
Photo journaling 📸
Photos give an unfiltered representation of users’ activities
Users wanted to add context to their photos
Photos + optional comments 💭
Optional comments allow for a better explanation of the activity
Goal #3: Adjusting goals & maintaining accountability
Gamification 👾
Only a temporary solution and didn’t address the main problem
Further research showed that gamification is counterproductive for continuous habits
Partnered reviews 👯
Tedious to get feedback from partners, not feasible for consistent use
Too much social pressure and stress on users based on testing
Self-reflection 🪞
Easy, accountable process to track progress
Self-motivation provides greater consistency
Major improvements from the previous (2022) design solution
Through 2 rounds of usability tests, I revised my design from 2022 based on feedback from 5 users (If you would like to view the iteration improvements to the original design from 2022, please refer to the link at the top of this case study). The result is the following 4 improvements:
Improvement #1
🥅 Better goal-setting features
Beginners felt intimidated by the idea of having complete freedom over their goals.
Initial prototype gave tips on setting effective goals, but this was not emphasized.
New iteration emphasizes tips on goal-setting with a highlighted card.
Users also have a toggle to choose goals that are pre-filled, further guiding them throughout the process.
Improvement #2
✏️ Cleaner journaling experience
Users wanted to be reminded of their goals but mostly wanted to focus on logging their activities instead.
Initial prototype’s “goals” section took up almost half of the page, and photos were cluttered with additional notes.
New iteration puts focus on the photos while limiting visual clutter - additional notes are hidden by default.
Users can choose to view additional notes by tapping on the photo instead.
Improvement #3
💬 More insightful progress feedback system
Users wanted to understand their progress, but overly meticulous data stressed them out.
Initial prototype’s use of number ratings and incremental tracking make it difficult to derive insights without stress.
New iteration emphasizes the users’ wellbeing and progress on a broader level.
Visuals help users understand and validate their progress more effectively and holistically.
Improvement #4
♿ Greater accessibility and a more refined UI
The overall visual design felt awkward to many, and some content were difficult to read.
Initial prototype’s brand colors did not pass the WCAG accessibility guidelines.
New iteration’s brand colors pass WCAG AAA standards.
New iteration has greater alignment, sizing, and other visual elements, which support the user experience.
A user flow of set-up, activity log, and reflection for continuous improvement
Things I’ve learned along the way
This was the first revision to my first UX case study! In this revision, I’ve learned many things that built on top of my learnings from the initial draft, so I’ll be reflecting on these points below (if you’d like to view the learnings from the initial draft instead, please visit the link at the top of this case study).
Proper synthesis of research is key.
Although I revised this project using the same initial research, I derived more meaningful insights this time around, resulting in deeper refinements. Because of this, the product now vs. a year ago looks quite different. In the future, I’ll be sure to work on this skill to further myself as a designer.
Empathize throughout the entire design process.
Even during the iteration stage, it was obvious that every choice made, even the smallest details, should ultimately be justified by what the user would want in the situation. This helped me understand the importance of developing a holistic view of the user persona to empathize with users at all times.
A design is never completely finished.
Even when I thought that this design was done after two months of iterating, I found much improvement to be made a year later. Especially as trends, technical capabilities, and skills of the designers change, a design is never truly finished, as there is always something to improve upon.
Growth is often invisible.
I remember looking proudly at my work after I completed the initial case study, but looking back at the mess now made me realize how much I’ve grown as a designer. While I don’t feel much growth from day to day, this case study has reminded me to just keep working and enjoy the process.
Thank you for reading! 😁
Let’s connect!
Bryce Lee / Product Designer
bryceleeux.framer.ai
