Bon Appetit
ROLE
Research,Prototyping, Wireframe
Hardware & Software Developing
tools
Figma
Arduino
llustrator
Photoshop
Duration
2 months
Project Overview
This project aims to develop an innovative digital plate designed to assist individuals with eating disorders and fitness enthusiasts. The plate will incorporate advanced technology to aid in managing eating habits and nutritional intake.
Introduction
It's not just any plate, though.
This one's special because it's designed to help people who find eating tough, like those dealing with eating disorders, and folks who are super into staying fit.
The idea is to use some smart tech to keep an eye on what you're eating and help you manage your meals better.
Think of it as your food buddy that knows exactly what you need, whether you're trying to overcome challenges with eating or just want to make sure you're getting the right nutrients to stay in shape.
Research
Background
Amidst the fast-paced modern lifestyle and cultural pressures, many grapple with eating issues, from binge eating to anorexia, exacerbated by a flood of generic health advice and social media-driven body ideals.
Despite numerous digital health tools, there's a glaring need for personalized solutions that address the complex psychological and emotional dimensions of eating, highlighting the gap between current resources and the nuanced realities of individual dietary habits.
The Tracking Dilemma
While diet tracking offers numerous benefits, it also presents a dilemma as it can lead to obsessive behaviors and exacerbate eating disorders in some individuals.
Findings suggest health tracking technologies like My Fitness Pal can sometimes exacerbate or trigger disordered eating.
Findings indicate that tracking technologies, while intended to enhance health, may actually worsen or trigger eating disorder symptoms in some users.
This paper reveals that health apps can unintentionally aggravate anorexia or bulimia by focusing on metrics like calories and weight loss
Improve eating habits
Why diet tracking is important?
Promotes Weight Management
Increases Nutritional Awareness
Supports Long-term Health Goals
Our Users
Interviews
🍑
🥝
🌽
Competitive Research
Painpoints & Needs
Persona
Ideation
Why a PLATE?
🍽️
Direct Meal Interaction
Universal Use
Simplicity and Accessibility
Background
Amidst the fast-paced modern lifestyle and cultural pressures, many grapple with eating issues, from binge eating to anorexia, exacerbated by a flood of generic health advice and social media-driven body ideals.
Despite numerous digital health tools, there's a glaring need for personalized solutions that address the complex psychological and emotional dimensions of eating, highlighting the gap between current resources and the nuanced realities of individual dietary habits.
Our Functions
Nutrient Ratio Displays
The design includes segmented partitions that guide food portions based on nutrient ratios. Adaptable to individual needs, it simplifies meal planning and ensures balanced, health-focused meals.
Color Changing Technology
Studies show that plate color can significantly influence appetit (ref). Using color psychology, the plate changes colors to subtly impact eating habits, encouraging healthier food choices through strategic cues.
Incentives and feedback
The concept uses visual and haptic feedback to motivate users toward dietary goals. By recognizing progress, it offers encouragement and rewards, keeping users aligned with their nutritional objectives.
Companion App for Tracking and Analysis
A companion app will complement the plate, allowing users to easily log eating habits and track nutrition. With meal logging, analysis, and personalized progress tracking, the app offers insights to optimize dietary health.
Sketch
Prototyping
Icons
Users input their personal physical info and goals, as well as their restrictions and preferences, the project will generate a suggested dietary plan for them according to these data
Main Page - Choose Mode
After inputting personal info, the main page shows major functions of our app. Users can choose "mood" mode for changing the color and stimulate different vibes for different appetite, or use the digital plate for regulating their meals.
The nutrient segment display guides users to allocate their food according to personalized ratio recommendation.
Testing & Iteration
We plan to redesign the appearance of our product to make it more visually appealing. Previously, due to the rush to produce a prototype and limitations in our equipment, the final design was quite basic.
We aim to rethink the materials and shapes used and consider practical aspects like cleaning. This includes using waterproof materials and designs that are easier to clean.
In the customization features, we need to implement boundary settings to prevent users from setting extreme dietary goals that contradict the health-oriented purpose of our product. For example, we must devise ways to gently discourage users from setting unhealthily diets like low-calorie or non-carbs/non-fat targets.
We want most of the interactive actions to occur on the plate itself, rather than overly relying on the app, like most products currently do. We plan to maximize the use of our sensors and LED interaction modules to enhance the interactivity of the plate.
We aim to improve how we record eating habits, which may require integrating functions like photography. However, we need to consider whether users are willing to photograph their food before eating and how we can streamline the process of setting up the plate and app to enhance user experience by reducing redundancy and simplifying operations.
Refinement on outer look
Set boundaries for users
More Physical Interaction
Reconsider the User Behavior Flow