Metabolic's Customized Meal Planner is an AI-driven web-app tailored to women who struggle with losing weight. Unlike calorie counting apps or static meal plans and recipes, the CMP is unique, offering a highly personalized, adaptive culinary journey that promises an easy and seamless way to stick to a healthier lifestyle.
I led a cross-functional team to bring the experience to life.
_PROJECT
Metabolic Customized Meal Planner App
_DATE
2021-2022
_MY ROLE
Product Design
Product Management
User Research
A Quest to Automate Success Stories Uncovers Amazing Customer Insights
CRAFTING PERSONALIZED NUTRITION
WITH AN INTELLIGENT MEAL PLANNING APP
WITH AN INTELLIGENT MEAL PLANNING APP
CRAFTING
PERSONALIZED
NUTRITION
Beginning with a quick assessment, the app would collect information about the user's unique metabolism and biometrics, hormones and cycle, activity-level, stress reactivity, as well as food, diet, cooking, and budget preferences.
From there, the app crafts a completely custom meal plan that evolves in real-time based on user's feedback loops, both self-reported and through third-party wearable data.
THE BIG IDEA
The challenge was to create an effortless and effective nutrition plan to compliment the Metabolic Renewal program, a weight loss solution for women. The Customized Meal Planner, intended to run along side the pre-existing weight loss program, aimed to simplify the process of sticking to an effective eating plan.
The app experience would need to address the complexities of first finding the "right" diet, then bringing it to life through meal planning, shopping, cooking and ultimately eating.
The goal was to create an effortless way for our users to stick to a diet plan.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
PROJECT
OVERVIEW
THE DESIGN CHALLENGE
LEARN
LEARN _
STEP 1
IMPACT ON DESIGN
These insights led to several key feature ideas that were pivotal in shaping the product:
The Metabolic Profile: A comprehensive initial assessment and subsequent "Metabolic Blueprint" were introduced to create meal plans tailored to the individual's specific needs.
Dynamic Recipes: Flexibility was key. Users needed to be able to adjust the recipes in their plan and have the plan dynamically adapt to maintain calorie and macro targets.
Monthly Check-Ins: A feature that continuously evolves the plan by monitoring the user's weight, hormones, and activity-levels, ensuring real-time adjustment of calorie and macro targets.
Online Grocery Delivery: To save the time it takes to shop, we integrated with services like Instacart, Amazon Fresh, and Walmart for seamless, same-day grocery delivery.
INITIAL RESEARCH
The foundation of my user research was based on pre-existing customer survey data, as well as "VIP Customer Interviews" with those who had success with Metabolic's programs. This approach offered deep insights into the successes, struggles, and aspirations of our customers, fostering a strong sense of empathy and understanding.
KEY CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
Dieting is Hard: Users found sticking to a diet challenging, compounded by confusion from diet trends and trying to choose the "right" diet (e.g., Keto, Paleo, Vegan).
Zero Time: The most common complaint from our customers was their lack of time. Many struggle to prioritize their health and wellness due to their demanding roles as busy working professionals and caregivers.
Meal Planning Takes Time & Effort: The process of meal planning is overwhelmingly time-consuming, a significant barrier for this busy demographic.
ESTABLISHING THE VISUAL IDENTITY
ESTABLISHING THE VISUAL IDENTITY
THE STYLE GUIDE
I developed a comprehensive style guide, ensuring a cohesive and consistent visual experience across the app. This style guide was key in defining the color schemes, typography, imagery, and overall aesthetic of the CMP.
It's important to note that the CMP was developed under the brand Metabolic Living, which has since evolved into Metabolic. The brand had yet to be fully developed, so with this project, I had freedom to expand on the existing VIS.
LO-FI WIREFRAMES
CREATING HI-FI DESIGNS
DESIGN _
VISUAL DESIGN & PROTOTYPING
After finding alignment I moved on to high-fidelity designs and prototyping. This stage was crucial for not only layering on the brand and visual identity, but also to help visualize user flow and functionality.
REFINE
REFINE
STEP 4
EVOLUTION OF THE FEATURES
As we developed the product, I continued to explore advanced features, such as extensive progress tracking and closing feedback loops by tracking sleep, hunger, mood, energy and cravings. And by tracking this information, providing users with recommendations and custom metabolic experiments.
This evolution aimed to enhance the CMP's ability to serve as a "metabolic detective" for users, helping them to discover their most effective metabolic tools to achieve the transformation they were after.
DESIGN
DESIGN _
STEP 2
WIREFRAMING
After sketching, I leveraged Adobe XD to transition my initial concepts to low-fidelity wireframes.
These wires expanded upon the initial ideas, adding depth, detail, and functionality to the UX.
IDEATION
I started the design phase with extensive competitive research to understand the market landscape and features of similar apps and services. This research, combined with the foundational customer insights, helped me pinpoint the essential feature set for MVP.
To begin ideation, I white-boarded rough sketches to get base-level ideas down. These early concepts were shared with leadership for feedback, refinement and early alignment.
START PAGE
REFINEMENT:
DAY SELECTION
WEEKLY PLAN VIEW
DAY VIEW
RECIPE DETAIL
START PAGE
REFINEMENT:
DAY SELECTION
WEEKLY PLAN VIEW
DAY VIEW
RECIPE DETAIL
LO-FI WIREFRAMES
The CMP concept was met with high praise during initial user testing, receiving positive feedback across the board. Testers were particularly impressed with the detailed metabolic profile and the app's adaptive learning capabilities which tailored meal plans to their changing needs and preferences.
Financial projections estimated that the CMP had potential to bring in $17M in incremental revenue annually.
REFLECT
REFLECT
This project's journey was marked by significant learnings around user needs in the diet and nutrition space, and underscored the need for customization for effective wellness programs.
DELIVER
DELIVER
STEP 3
IDENTIFYING PAIN POINTS & OPPORTUNITIES
Testing with customers revealed areas for improvement, such as making onboarding more concise, allowing users to engage more with their weekly check-in data, and the desire to manually adjust their metabolic blueprint.
THE MVP
Over the course of the year, I led a small cross-functional team to develop the MVP. The base feature set included the onboarding assessment, a personalized metabolic blueprint profile, leading to user's bespoke meal plan including daily menus tailored to their calorie target and unique macronutrient profile.
The recipes included in the plan were curated based on the user's metabolic profile, as well as their specific preferences, allergies, and intolerances. The CMP itself included a database of over 2,000 proprietary Metabolic dietitian-designed and taste tested recipes, tailored to the various diets, macros, and palettes.
TESTING WITH REAL CUSTOMERS
Testing with customers revealed areas for improvement, such as making onboarding more concise, allowing users to engage more with their weekly check-in data, and the desire to manually adjust their metabolic blueprint.
