NutriHero.
Not all heroes wear capes, some just eat broccoli.
An immersive application targeting families to encourage healthy eating habits and mitigate the consumption of harmful chemicals found within processed food among children aged 7-10.
Background
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC's) are found in many food products, healthcare items, skincare items, as well as packaging, and can have adverse long-term impacts on both adults and children globally. Over 13,000 chemicals are associated with the plastics used in food packaging, but merely 7,000 currently have enough data to determine human impacts, 50% of this has been been discovered to have one or more hazardous properties of concern.
The Problem
A major route of exposure to such chemicals is through ingestion, when food is consumed which have been packaged with plastics containing BPA or phthalates, or processed with Dioxin (all EDC’S), and can lead to reproductive issues or impacts to fetal/ child brain function and development. Due to rises in fertility issues within the UK, with 1 in 10 women now experiencing PCOS, alongside lack of update within the school curriculum surrounding food in key stages 1-3 since 2014, this project aims to gamify the concept of healthy eating and educate children (aged 7-10) about the dangers of EDC's.
Role
Scope of work produced
All outcomes of the project.
Brand identity which aims to engage both adults and children.​
Interactive app prototype to depict the working of the digital product.
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Campaign roll out plan and outcomes to depict how the app would roll out and attract attention.
Timeline
October 2024 - November 2025
6 week project.
01 Research
The starting point
Initial research related to exploring the impacts of processed food, and how this impacts the endocrine system, whilst also exploring how many young children this currently impacts in the UK.
Key finding: UPF’s contain high levels of EDCs, and although a mere 29.2% of foods were categorised as UPF’s, the proportion increases for baby snacks (48%), baby cereals (53%) and baby biscuits and rusks (73%) (Waitzman, 2023). Consumption at this age causes long term health impacts and fertility issues in the future and should be mitigated.
Pain points
02 Define
Meet our target users
Otterlie James: Primary Persona
Age: 7
From: Guilford, Surrey
Currently in her first year at Cranleigh preparatory school.
Bio:
Born in the royal surrey county hospital, Otterlie, also known as Ottie, has grown up in the suburbs of Guilford. She is an older sister to her brother River, and would love more siblings but her mother and father have told her it is not possible to have any more children.
Interests:
Playing sports, she does multiple extra-curricular activities. She also enjoys playing on different apps on her mum's phone or family tablet, but her mum limits screen time and what she can play. Most of the time they must be educational.
Pain points:
She doesn't mind vegetables, but does not understand why her mum gets so angry when she doesn't eat them. She also find much of the educational games she plays very boring.
Sue James: Secondary Persona
Age: 39
From: Guilford, Surrey
Married, stay at home mum of two (to Otterlie and River)
Pain points:
Finds the everyday struggles of parenthood exhausting. Like 1 in 10 women in the UK, Sue has PCOS and struggled with conceiving, which led her to do much research into how diet can aid hormonal balancing, also discovering the dangers of EDCs within this process.
Bio:
Due to childcare expenses, and Darren's success at the accountancy firm he works at, the couple agreed that Sue would stay at home to raise their two children.
03 Ideate
Brainstorming application features
How might we...
Create a platform which is fun but educational for children like Otterlie?
How might we...
Create a tool that educates children but also helps parents with advice?
How might we...
Position this to be in collaboration with a supermarket in the UK to expand reach?
Key takeaways
The application should be immersive and fun whilst also educating children on the dangers of EDCs in a simplified manner to enhance digestibility.
Ideas of how this could be achieved began to surface, inspiring ideas relating to the personification of key elements to further engage younger audiences.
04 Prototype
User flow
Low-Fidelity sketches
05 Design
To follow intentions to engage younger audiences, the three key EDC chemicals found within processed foods which are believed to be most harmful were personified as 'villains'. The users were also able to select and customise their own 'hero' avatars, to further immerse them into the game.
The EDC Villains
NutriHero avatars
NutriHero Wardrobe
Application contains personalisation feature where users can dress their heroes with items of clothing bought within the apps store. Coins are earned through their healthy eating habits, creating incentive to change among children.
06 Final UI
Onboarding
Project was created in collaboration with Tesco, where admin (parent) users are able to connect their clubcards to track shopping history and earn Clubcard points based on their family's healthy eating habits.
App architecture
Scan your plate!
The game
After the game
Food recommendations are sent directly to the admin's account.
07 Roll-out
08 Next steps
Time management
Within this project, time management was an integral element in ensuring deadlines were met due to the large scope of work and smaller time frame.
Visual communication is key
Due to the complexity of the concept and problem being addressed, a significant challenge within this project was communicating this as much as possible through visual elements for the concept deck to feel more digestible to readers.
Incorporate motion design skills
Due to the time frame, it was not possible to incorporate any motion graphics within this project, so to revisit, this would be something to add.