Children education app about nutritions

The Problem

The challenge is to design an intuitive and interactive application that captures the interest of children, promotes learning about various food groups, and encourages healthy lifestyle choices in a fun and accessible way.

Empathy

User research summery

The research shows that the users are motivated by gamified learning experiences and characters they can relate to. They prefer intuitive navigation and clear, immediate rewards for their learning achievements.

Painpoints

Food Preferences and Eating Behaviors

Children often exhibit fussiness with food selection, which may put them at risk of inadequate nutrient intakes. Furthermore, environments such as eating out can increase the likelihood of consuming non-core, less nutritious foods

Complexity of Information

Nutrition information can be complex and not all resources break it down into child-friendly language. Apps and websites have the potential to simplify information, but if not designed properly, they can overwhelm young users with too much data or jargon.

Sustainability of Interest

Maintaining children’s interest over time is a challenge. While an app or website might initially captivate a child's interest, the novelty can wear off. Traditional materials may struggle to compete with the dynamic content available online.

User Persona

Emma

Age: 10
Occupation: Student
Education: Elementary School
Status: Single, living with parents
Location: Suburban area
Salary: dependent
Archetype: Curious learner

Bio

Emma is a bubbly and inquisitive 10-year-old who loves exploring new things. She's an active student who enjoys playing outdoors, participating in sports, and spending time with her friends. Emma's parents encourage her to learn about healthy eating habits, and she is always eager to try new foods and learn about their nutritional value.

Goals

1. Emma wants to understand why some foods are better for her body than others and how they help her grow stronger.
2. She wants a mobile app that makes learning about nutrition fun and interactive, with games and challenges that teach her about food groups, vitamins, and minerals.

Frustrations

1. Emma gets easily bored with traditional educational methods and wants to avoid anything that feels like a chore.
2. She dislikes reading long texts and prefers visual and interactive content.
3. She also finds it difficult to remember complex nutritional terms.

Alex

Age: 13
Occupation: Middle School Student
Education: Middle School
Status: Lives with parents and older sibling
Location:Urban area
Salary: Dependent
Archetype: Tech-Savvy Explorer

Bio

Alex is a 13-year-old tech enthusiast who spends a lot of time online exploring various subjects. He is interested in science, health, and the environment and often engage in discussions with his friends about these topics. Alex's parents encourage him to take an interest in nutrition, but he prefers using his laptop for learning.

Goals

1. Alex is motivated to learn about nutrition and its impact on personal health and the environment
2. They want a responsive website with engaging articles, videos, and interactive quizzes that provide in-depth information about food groups, sustainable eating, and the science behind nutrition.

Frustrations

1. Alex enjoys deep dives into topics and wants comprehensive information, which may not always be feasible on a mobile app.
2. They can become frustrated with superficial content or overly simplified explanations.
3. Alex prefers typing on a keyboard and having a larger screen for extended learning sessions.

Competitive audit highlights

Gaps

1. Most competitors offer nutrition education through traditional methods, such as gamified tasks in printed books

2. Many competitors present information about nutrition in its complex form without simplifying it.

3. Some competitors focus solely on educating kids about food in general, rather than specifically about nutrition.

Opportunities

1. Introduce a novel method for educating children about nutrition, emphasizing a more engaging and interactive approach.

2. Present the information in a simplified manner, ensuring it's easy for children to understand and remember.

3. Provide a solution that focuses on teaching about nutritions in specific through educating about food.

Ideation

The goal was to develop a gamification strategy that is both fun and easily comprehensible for children, simplifying the complex subject matter of nutrition to its essentials. The design needed to ensure that even with the reduction of the depth of knowledge conveyed, the learning experience remains engaging and accessible to young minds, avoiding overwhelming them with details.

Low fidelity prototype and usability test

High fidelity prototype

Avatar screen

To utilize the Endowment Effect principle, which is particularly effective for this user persona, we aim to encourage children to express themselves and view the app as an extension of their character.

AI generated graphics

All the graphics used in the production of this app generated by MidJourney AI.

Simplified nutrition journey

Following our research on nutrition, we discovered that categorizing it into these five groups is the most straightforward method to guide children through the world of nutrition.

Nav bar

After conducting usability studies, we gained a key insight: including these three elements in the navigation bar enhances effectiveness.
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1. Home Page: Here, children access their educational journey about nutrition.
2. Meal Check: This feature allows children to learn about the nutritional content of their meals.
3. Monsters: Through this section, we educate children about unhealthy habits, such as excessive sugar consumption, and their effects on the body.

The journey begins

Here begins the journey through each group of food nutrition. First, the child learns about a specific nutrient, and then they start exploring foods that contain this nutrient.

Progress track 3/99

The child continues to track their 'superpowers' (the benefits of nutrition on their body), which encourages them to keep learning as they progress in collecting these superpowers.

Nutrition page

On this page, children learn about nutrition in a very basic way to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the information. This approach aligns with Tesler's Law, which suggests that simplifying content can effectively transfer complex ideas.

Unlock Superpower

To ensure that children understand the benefits of nutrition on their bodies, they must unlock each 'superpower' and read about it. Graphics are utilized to help convey this idea effectively.

Superpowers

Collecting 'superpowers' motivates children to continue using the app and maintain consistent engagement. To ensure they absorb the information about a nutrient's benefits, children are required to review the details and then click 'collect' as confirmation of understanding the information.

Reciprocity

Applying the principle of reciprocity is essential for encouraging children to continue their journey, rewarding them for their achievements.

Check prototype

Food page

To simplify the food page information, we've highlighted the main nutrient in each food item and presented other nutrients in a straightforward manner. Additionally, we've included mentions of other foods containing similar nutrients.

Take away

Designing for Children's Engagement

Designing for children necessitates in-depth user research and high-quality animation to create a product that is interactive, fun to use, and stands out in the increasingly crowded market.

The challenge of using AI generated graphics

Creating different variants or assets for the same graphic remains a challenge with the current capabilities of generative AI.

Educate kids about nutritions