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What do vegetarians want?

We initially hypothesized that we would target nutritional or informational needs of vegetarians/vegans. But in order to find out more, we needed to find out:

• What is their lifestyle
• What are their struggles and what are their needs
• What is there on the market in terms of wellnes apps for vegetarians and vegans

The methods

The methodology we used to get answers to these questions we used:

• Survey
• User Interviews
• Competitor Analyses
• Secondary Research

Insights

• Starting vegans face challenges due to social pressure
• The most vulnerable group are starting vegans and vegetarians, because of social pressure
• Ethical considerations are a strong motivator for vegans and vegetarians
• Lack of support from external social situations contributes to the drop-out rate
• Existing wellness apps lack a focus on ethical dietary choices

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User Persona

We created a user persona, Senna, a starting vegan, to focus our design efforts and empathize with her challenges.

How might we

How might we provide support to a starting vegan, that is concerned with ethical treatment of animals and environment, maintain a vegan diet?

• Ethical Impact tracking: See how great you are doing
• Stacking Support based on Emotions
• Create a personalized environment so the user feels safe

Design Strategy

Because we jumped in to a gap of coaching a tracking app based on ethical reasons, we decided to follow the following steps

• We decided to start usability testing with Low-fi happy path, to get us on the right track
• Multiple design iterations for personalization and support
• To create empathy, we needed to make the examples realistic and on topic

Create a personalized environment so the user feels safe

• Introduced a Spirit Animal concept during onboarding for emotional resonance
• Implemented a personalized questionnaire to tailor user feedback

Stacking support based on emotions

• Offering both guidance and user autonomy
• Tailoring support to individual needs and emotional states

Challenges

• Introduced topical challenges and sequences for hands-on engagement
• Included educational aspects to equip users with valuable knowledge
• Gave users ownership by allowing them to curate favorite content

Tracker

• Day Tracker to celebrate each day of commitment
• Compassion Garden to visually represent ethical choices
• Inclusion of inspiring quotes to reinforce user purpose

Visual Design

• Chose avatars and illustrations to establish an emotional connection with users
• Selected natural, earthy colors to align with vegan values
• Implemented user-friendly typography for readability and approachability

Usabilty Testing

• Value proposition clarity was improved for initial understanding
• Addressed repeated or missing text for smoother navigation
• Positive user feedback on aesthetics and visual appeal
• Enhanced visibility of the “vegetarian” focus within the app

Conclusions

By addressing the challenge of creating a personalized environment with a focus on emotional connection and safety, we were able to provide users with a unique experience that resonates with their individual values and needs.

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Next steps

• Do more research on the ‘drop out’ of vegans, so we can service them more
• Test Hi-fi on new vegans, so we know if we created a sound design
• Iterate based on findings to see what we can add to make the app more supportive