Wholesome
TIMELINE
3 Months
MY ROLE
Solo Student Project for Google UX Design Professional Certificate
TOOLS
Figma
Project Overview
Wholesome is a smart meal planning and delivery platform designed to help users maintain a healthy diet without the hassle of cooking or meal prep. It bridges the gap between meal planning and delivery by offering personalized meal recommendations based on dietary preferences, fitness goals, and budget. Unlike existing solutions, Wholesome provides direct meal ordering, cultural food customization, and flexible pricing options.
Problem
Lack of budget control, personalization, and convenience makes meal planning frustrating.
Without the ability to control expenses, users hesitate to commit to meal plans, resulting in inconsistent meal choices and difficulty maintaining healthy eating habits.
Solution
A meal planning solution that offers budget control, personalization, and reliable delivery for a hassle-free experience.
White Paper Research
Affordability is a key factor in food choices, often limiting access to healthier options.
A white paper research on food prices and consumer behavior titled Cost and affordability of nutritious diets at retail prices: Evidence from 177 countries highlights that financial constraints significantly influence dietary decisions, with many individuals prioritizing cost over nutritional value.
"Higher food prices tend to push consumers toward cheaper, less nutritious alternatives, leading to potential long-term health consequences."
Competitor Analysis
Competitors offer meal planning but lack integrated delivery for convenience.
Through a competitive analysis of Samsung Food, Eat This Much, and Lifesum, I examined their product offerings, unique selling points, mobile app experiences, and features. While these platforms excel in meal tracking and nutrition guidance, they do not offer a convenient, end-to-end solution that includes meal delivery. This gap presents an opportunity for Wholesome to differentiate itself by integrating meal planning with a seamless ordering and delivery experience.
User Interview Process
Users were more likely to stick to a meal plan when it was both convenient and aligned with their fitness and lifestyle goals.
To better understand meal planning behaviors, I conducted interviews with six participants. These conversations provided insights into how users plan their meals, the challenges they face, and their expectations from a meal planning and delivery service.
Some of the Research Questions:
How do you currently plan your meals during the week?
What factors influence your meal planning choices?
What challenges do you face with meal planning, and how do you think they could be solved?
Do you track nutritional and calorie information? If so, what challenges do you encounter?
Have you used meal delivery services before? What do you like or dislike about them?
Are you interested in trying new cuisines? If so, what barriers prevent you from accessing or preparing them?
The Main Insight
Users want a meal planning solution that balances budget control, personalization, and convenience, including seamless meal delivery.
Through the user interviews, three key themes emerged:
User Persona
A representation of our target users, highlighting their goals, frustrations, and a brief story to provide context for their needs.
Design
Setbacks in quality control led to a shift toward Wholesome becoming the direct meal provider.
At first, I envisioned a platform where multiple food vendors could offer meals, allowing users to choose from different providers. However, I realized this approach would make it difficult to track meal quality, ensure accurate nutritional information, and maintain pricing consistency. Instead, I pivoted to a model where Wholesome itself would provide the meals, ensuring better control over ingredients, portion sizes, and overall meal quality.
Testing and Improvements
1 Major Improvement in my design
Final Screens and Prototype
Here’s a look at the high-fidelity designs showcasing the user experience and key features. A clickable prototype is also available for a hands-on exploration of the platform’s functionality.
Conclusions and Lessons Learned
Through this process, I gained valuable insights into user needs and design decision-making. If I were to do this again, I would:
Iterate as much as possible early on – In the beginning, I focused heavily on the initial concept, but more iterations in the wireframing stage would have helped refine the user flow sooner.
Focus more on trade-offs with each direction – Although allowing multiple vendors seemed like a scalable solution, it became clear that quality control and pricing consistency would be harder to manage. Evaluating trade-offs earlier would have saved time.
You didn’t fail—you just found 100 ways that didn’t work – Some design choices didn’t resonate with users, but each iteration brought me closer to a solution that truly addressed their needs.
People don’t always know what they want until they see it – Many users requested AI-generated meal plans only after seeing the prototype, showing that real feedback often comes from interaction, not just discussion.