I am a UX researcher driven by a constant curiosity about humans and their problems. With a background in Visual Communication Design, my research utilises visuals as a communication and analysis tool to get actionable insights.
Major Project
Kommo
A community-based service that transforms diets
Kommo is a service that assists its users in reducing their meat intake gradually, transforming users to put more mind into their diet by providing a platform to build community and achieve personalised goals together. The service prompts users to break the mundaneness of food by enabling them to create healthy meals out of unfamiliar ingredients.
Overview
Background
As awareness grows regarding the link between food and health, one in eight UK adults intends to adopt a plant-based diet (Raven, 2023). However, changing diet is often perceived as a daunting experience. A solution is required to assist the transition, making the experience as frictionless as possible.
Objective
- Understand how individuals who eat meat and those who do not approach food.
- Identify the enablers and barriers of transitioning to a plant-based diet to create a frictionless experience.
- Ideate a solution that enables UK young adults to reduce their meat intake.
Outcome
- Behavioural change in the form of improved awareness of food choices leads to meat reduction.
- Help users navigate the dietary changes with less stress, resulting in a sustainable change.
- Fostering a sense of community and social support among users with similar dietary goals.
User Research
Autoethnography
As someone who has never tried a plant-based diet, I need a way to empathise with my target user. Therefore, I started my research by challenging myself to follow a plant-based diet for a week. I then documented what I saw, heard, and felt throughout the journey.
Interview
I conducted three interview rounds with individuals who consume meat and who do not. The first round is a semi-structured interview to understand how they approach foods—followed by a round of bull’s-eye diagrams to prioritise the factors influencing their food decision. The session ended with participants creating weekly meal plans, revealing their food behaviour through actions, not just words.
A day in the life study
I did a day-in-the-life study to ensure I could provide a frictionless transition for the target user. I asked the participant to eat plant-based for a day and then prompted them to report their experience through a messaging app. Through this, I got to identify the enablers and barriers and map their experience.
Key Insights
Data was then collated and analysed with an affinity map to extract key insights:
01
They want to feel better mentally by eating a meal they believe to be balanced. However, removing the meat feels like pulling the nutrition, which prevents them from switching their diet.
I put “they believe” in the statement because what matters the most is the feeling of being mindful of their food, not the actual nutritional content.
02
They tend to get stuck in a food routine, making food mundane. Therefore, they get a sense of enjoyment from breaking the routine at the beginning of the transition, which later becomes tedious.
So, we need to provide a mundane-breaking experience throughout the experience and not just the beginning.
Kommo: Change Together for the Better
How it Works
Connect users with a mentor
Kommo provides a platform to connect users with their chosen mentors and enables them to tackle personalised challenges as a team. The challenge is tailored to each user’s unique needs and objectives. This way, users are more likely to commit to the challenge and contribute to the community.
Explore ingredients together
Working with a vegan marketplace, Kommo transforms a subscription box into an experience to prompt culinary exploration. A group challenge will be activated when the community purchases a subscription box. They must use the ingredients provided and log their meal to contribute to the challenge.
Create balanced meals with ease
Kommo will provide a meal guide to enable users to make a meal from the provided ingredients. The app will recommend recipes tailored to the user’s food preferences to make unfamiliar ingredients seem familiar. The suggested recipes are also tailored based on the user’s pantry inventory. This information would also be used to recommend a way to replace missing ingredients, creating a frictionless experience.
Visionary Thinkers
Visionary Creators
Visionary Makers