Healthy snacking made easy.
Snack smart is a mobile app that helps dieters discover healthy alternatives to common cravings so they can satisfy their hunger and taste buds without the guilt.
Problem
Eating healthy is hard.
With today’s fast-paced lifestyles and quick fix diet trends, making healthy choices can feel like a chore. And when those sudden cravings kick in it makes things even harder.
Goal
Help people make healthy food choices when hunger strikes.
Role
Graphic and Visual Designer
Wireframes, UI Design, Branding
Duration
4 months, 2016
Process
My primary task was to define the brand and visual style-guide and to create highly polished wireframes that a developer could use to launch the app.
Understanding Client’s Goal
The first step was to understand the client’s vision and goal for the app. I focused on the inspiration for the app, intended users, and the problem to be solved. Through an initial phone interview, I came to understand the following:
Inspiration: The client had been trying to maintain a healthy diet for years, but felt like her diet always fell apart when cravings kicked in. She struggled to find foods that satisfied her cravings and hunger without de-railing her diet. She felt there was a lack of resources for discovering healthy snacks, and she heard similar complaints from friends and family.
User: People trying to lose weight and maintain a healthy diet.
Problem: There is a lack of resources for dieters to easily discover healthy alternatives to common cravings.
Hypothesis
Providing healthy snack suggestions to common cravings will help dieters choose healthy food when hunger strikes.
Competitive Analysis
Before going to the drawing board, I wanted to understand what existing diet apps existed and how they did (or didn’t) help people stay on track with their diet. I read app reviews, created accounts with two of the most popular diet apps and used them for several weeks. These apps were MyFitnessPal and MyNetDiary. This helped me understand common features, interactions, and how someone might use a diet app on a daily basis.
It became clear that existing diet apps are designed for users track calories, nutrition, and exercise. While these apps provide some healthy tips, this is not the main intent. This verified there was an opportunity for a new diet app that focuses providing healthy food suggestions.
User Flow
Outlining a user flow helped me define primary tasks for creating an account, logging in, and searching for a snack. I used this flow to create the first round of wireframes that I presented to the client.
Look and Feel
After finalizing the flow, I developed the visual assets. This included designing the app logo, defining a color scheme and typography treatments, and creating custom illustrations and icons.
Final Design
A mobile app that helps dieters discover healthy snacks that satisfy hunger and cravings.
New users are asked to create an account by recording simple demographic and health information. This allows Snack Smart to provide custom dietary information based on the users’ BMI and any diet restrictions.
When a hunger strikes and cravings kick in users tell Snack Smart what they’re about to eat.
Then Snack Smart displays basic nutrition information and quick facts about the effects that food can have on their health. It also provides a list of similar, yet healthier snacks to help users find better alternatives to satisfy their hunger and craving.
If a user isn’t craving a specific food item, they can search for a snack based on common craving categories, such as sweet or salty.
After selecting a healthy snack, user can compare nutrition facts and learn how certain health foods benefit more than just their weight. If a user likes a suggested snack they can save it to their favorites to refer back to later.
