Project Overview

Educating children about nutrition can be challenging. The goal of this project was to design an engaging app that helps young kids build a healthy and fun relationship with food through interactive learning and gamification.

Responsibilities

• User Research

• Personas

• User Journey Mapping

• Wireframes

• Usability Study & Iterations

• High-Fidelity Designs

Research

Interviews with parents highlighted the importance of an engaging, dedicated app to teach children about food and nutrition. Parents preferred an app over a web-based solution to provide better parental controls, reduce browser use, and ensure easy access.

Personas and User Stories

To ensure the app addressed both parent and child needs, I developed detailed personas and user stories. These guided the creation of an app that balanced fun for children with functionality and safety for parents.

User Journey Map

Mapping the journey for both children and parents was key. The app had to offer:

• A captivating experience for kids to explore food characters and activities.

• A user-friendly and secure environment for parents to manage and monitor progress.

Design Process

1. Design Direction:
   The app was envisioned as an interactive storybook where kids could explore food characters, each with unique traits and qualities. Activities included learning about the benefits of these characters, completing engaging quizzes, and unlocking new characters through progress milestones.

2. Wireframes:
   The wireframes focused on intuitive navigation for children, ensuring they could easily engage with the gamification and educational elements.

3. Gamification Enhancements:
   Feedback from usability studies revealed some users struggled with understanding the gamification mechanics. To address this, I:

   • Introduced a clear, step-by-step description of the gamification process.

   • Enhanced the trivia reward screen to include detailed feedback and make progress more visually rewarding.

Usability Study Findings

The unmoderated usability study revealed the need for clearer explanations and a more engaging reward system. Iterations based on this feedback significantly improved the overall user experience by simplifying complex interactions and making rewards more appealing.

High-Fidelity Designs

The final designs featured vibrant visuals and intuitive interactions that resonated with kids while ensuring ease of use for parents. From a playful app landing page to dynamic quiz interfaces, the app fostered an educational and entertaining journey for its users.

Takeaways

This project held a personal connection for me, as my wife is a registered dietitian. Engaging with parents provided valuable insights into their priorities for their children’s nutrition education. Bringing the app’s food characters to life and creating a tool to support healthy habits was a rewarding and educational experience.