DATE

05/11/2022

Eat Well

A meal subscription & delivery platform designed for students.

Platform

Mobile App

Role

UX Designer

Duration

4 Weeks

Struggling to Eat Well: My Personal Experience

Back in college, meal times were a constant struggle. The hostel food was barely edible, takeout drained my budget, and cooking wasn’t an option with packed schedules. My friends and I often skipped meals, ate whatever was cheap, or ended up feeling sluggish from unhealthy food choices.

Fast forward to my UX career, and I saw an opportunity—what if students had access to affordable, nutritious, and hassle-free meals? Turning my own experience into a real solution felt like the perfect challenge, leading me to design a meal plan subscription tailored for students.

Problem

Students in hostels or rented apartments struggle to maintain a healthy diet due to poor food quality, high costs, and lack of time. Hostel meals are often unappetizing, leading to skipped meals, while frequent food orders are too expensive for limited budgets. With packed schedules, meal planning and preparation add extra stress, making it harder to eat well consistently.

Impact

Health

Poor nutrition results in low energy, poor focus, and potential health risks

Budget

Frequent food ordering is costly and unsustainable for students

Convenience

Meal planning is time-consuming, leading to irregular eating habits.

Solution

EatWell is a meal subscription and delivery platform designed specifically for students, offering pre-curated meal plans tailored to their dietary preferences, schedules, and budgets. Students can subscribe to weekly or monthly plans, ensuring they receive nutritious, affordable, and hassle-free meals without the burden of meal planning or high costs

Key Benefits

Nutritious & Tasty Meals – Unlike unappetizing hostel food, EatWell offers balanced, diet-specific meal plans to ensure students eat well.

Nutritious & Tasty Meals – Unlike unappetizing hostel food, EatWell offers balanced, diet-specific meal plans to ensure students eat well.

Affordable Subscription Plans – Weekly and monthly plans make healthy eating budget-friendly, eliminating the high costs of frequent takeout

Affordable Subscription Plans – Weekly and monthly plans make healthy eating budget-friendly, eliminating the high costs of frequent takeout

Time-Saving & Hassle-Free – No need for meal planning, grocery shopping, or cooking—students get ready-to-eat meals that fit their schedules.

Time-Saving & Hassle-Free – No need for meal planning, grocery shopping, or cooking—students get ready-to-eat meals that fit their schedules.

Flexible & Personalized Options – Students can choose meals based on their dietary needs and preferences, ensuring variety and satisfaction.

Flexible & Personalized Options – Students can choose meals based on their dietary needs and preferences, ensuring variety and satisfaction.

Preference Onboarding Screen

To ensure students receive meal plans tailored to their unique needs, the onboarding flow gathers key details:

Users select their health goals > Helps tailor meals to personal fitness and wellness needs.
Choose dietary preferences > Ensures meals align with lifestyle choices (e.g., vegetarian, keto).
Mark allergens > Prevents exposure to ingredients that may cause health issues
Set a budget > Allows students to choose meal plans that fit their financial limits

To ensure students receive meal plans tailored to their unique needs, the onboarding flow gathers key details:

Users select their health goals > Helps tailor meals to personal fitness and wellness needs.
Choose dietary preferences > Ensures meals align with lifestyle choices (e.g., vegetarian, keto).
Mark allergens > Prevents exposure to ingredients that may cause health issues
Set a budget > Allows students to choose meal plans that fit their financial limits

Meal Subscription

Users start on the Home Screen, where they browse and select a meal plan. After reviewing the plan details, they proceed to customize the duration, meal count, meal selection, time slot before completing the payment

01

Select Plan Duration & Start Date

Users choose weekly or monthly plans.
Select a start date for the subscription
shows a cost breakdown based on duration

Users choose weekly or monthly plans.
Select a start date for the subscription
shows a cost breakdown based on duration

02

Select Meal Count & Time Slots

Users pick how many meals per day (e.g., 1, 2, or 3 meals).
Select preferred meal delivery times (e.g., Breakfast at 8 AM, Lunch at 1 PM)

01

Select Delivery Location

Select delivery location

Select Delivery Location

Users pin their delivery location on an interactive map

Users pin their delivery location on an interactive map

Users pin their delivery location on an interactive map

02

Fill In Delivery Address

Add Delivery Address

Fill In Delivery Address

Users enter their address, building name, and any specific instructions.

Users pin their delivery location on an interactive map

Users enter their address, building name, and any specific instructions.

01

Payment

Select delivery location

Payment

Show order summary (plan, meals, delivery details, total price)
Offer multiple payment methods
apply promo codes if available.

Users pin their delivery location on an interactive map

Show order summary (plan, meals, delivery details, total price)
Offer multiple payment methods
apply promo codes if available.

02

Payment Confirmation

Add Delivery Address

Payment Confirmation

Display "Payment Successful" message with transaction details.
Show subscription details
CTA: "Go to Home & Manage plan

Users pin their delivery location on an interactive map

Display "Payment Successful" message with transaction details.
Show subscription details
CTA: "Go to Home & Manage plan

01

Home Screen (Post-Purchase Experience)

Display upcoming deliveries details
Show Active Plan Details (start & end date, meals per day, delivery schedule) and manage them

Option to explore other plans or extend the current plan

Users pin their delivery location on an interactive map

Display upcoming deliveries details
Show Active Plan Details (start & end date, meals per day, delivery schedule) and manage them

Option to explore other plans or extend the current plan

How I Got Here

Understanding the User

Conducted a survey with 30+ students living in hostels/shared apartments and interviewed 8 students to gather deeper insights.

While I personally faced meal-related challenges in college, I needed to validate whether this was a widespread issue. The goal was to uncover common pain points and assess if a structured meal solution was needed
Designed a structured survey and user interviews to explore
Meal habits and skipping patterns
Food affordability and budgeting challenges
Health impacts of irregular eating
Pain points with current meal options

Conducted a survey with 30+ students living in hostels/shared apartments and interviewed 8 students to gather deeper insights.

While I personally faced meal-related challenges in college, I needed to validate whether this was a widespread issue. The goal was to uncover common pain points and assess if a structured meal solution was needed
Designed a structured survey and user interviews to explore
Meal habits and skipping patterns
Food affordability and budgeting challenges
Health impacts of irregular eating
Pain points with current meal options

Survey Insights

70%

Students found hostel, Shared apartment food unsatisfactory

45%

frequently skipped meals due to poor quality, time constraints, and cost

65%

spent over ₹2,000-3000 weekly on outside food, leading to financial strain

70%

70%

reported fatigue noticed weight changes due to irregular eating.

Interview Insights

Poor Meal Quality & Variety – Many skip meals due to lack of healthy, tasty, and diverse options.

Time & Budget Constraints – Finding affordable and convenient meals is a challenge, leading to irregular eating.
Health Consequences – Students experience fatigue, digestive issues, and lack of focus due to poor nutrition.
Desire for Affordable Solutions – Students want a structured, cost-effective meal service tailored to their needs.

Poor Meal Quality & Variety – Many skip meals due to lack of healthy, tasty, and diverse options.

Time & Budget Constraints – Finding affordable and convenient meals is a challenge, leading to irregular eating.
Health Consequences – Students experience fatigue, digestive issues, and lack of focus due to poor nutrition.
Desire for Affordable Solutions – Students want a structured, cost-effective meal service tailored to their needs.

The research confirmed that students need more than just food—they need a structured meal solution that fits their lifestyle, budget, and health goals

Exploring Solutions

To explore various ways to tackle food quality, affordability, and accessibility, I used the How Might We (HMW) framework to generate potential solutions. After evaluating them based on scalability, user impact, and feasibility, I narrowed it down to a meal subscription and delivery platform

To explore various ways to tackle food quality, affordability, and accessibility, I used the How Might We (HMW) framework to generate potential solutions. After evaluating them based on scalability, user impact, and feasibility, I narrowed it down to a meal subscription and delivery platform

Conducted a survey with 30+ students living in hostels/shared apartments and interviewed 8 students to gather deeper insights.

While I personally faced meal-related challenges in college, I needed to validate whether this was a widespread issue. The goal was to uncover common pain points and assess if a structured meal solution was needed
Designed a structured survey and user interviews to explore
Meal habits and skipping patterns
Food affordability and budgeting challenges
Health impacts of irregular eating
Pain points with current meal options

Prototype: Bringing the Vision to Life

With a validated idea in place, I transformed EatWell into a tangible, user-friendly experience by analyzing indirect competitors, defining the user journey, and refining the design from wireframes to high-fidelity UI.

Conducted a survey with 30+ students living in hostels/shared apartments and interviewed 8 students to gather deeper insights.

While I personally faced meal-related challenges in college, I needed to validate whether this was a widespread issue. The goal was to uncover common pain points and assess if a structured meal solution was needed
Designed a structured survey and user interviews to explore
Meal habits and skipping patterns
Food affordability and budgeting challenges
Health impacts of irregular eating
Pain points with current meal options

Competitive UI Exploration

Since there wasn’t a direct competitor for EatWell, I examined successful apps in related domains to identify key UX patterns

HelloFresh

Personalized meal selection & subscription mode

Swiggy

Seamless meal ordering & checkout experience

Lifesum

Personalized dietary tracking for potential future enhancements

Wireframes: Structuring the Experience

I designed wireframes to define the app’s structure, starting with user flow-based sketches and refining them into high-fidelity designs

Final Design: Bringing EatWell to Life

With refined wireframes in place, I developed high-fidelity UI mockups, ensuring a seamless, intuitive experience for students.

Future Enhancements

To further refine EatWell and enhance the student meal experience, future iterations will focus on solving key pain points identified during the research phase:

Nutritional Tracking & Gamification – Encouraging healthier eating habits by providing meal insights, tracking progress, and introducing rewards. This helps tackle unhealthy eating patterns and lack of awareness about nutrition.
Meal Credit System – Offering credits for skipped meals that can be redeemed later, preventing food wastage and improving meal flexibility for students with unpredictable schedules.
Budget Control Tools – Implementing smart budgeting features that suggest cost-effective meal plans and track spending to address affordability concerns.

These enhancements will further bridge gaps in meal accessibility, affordability, and personalization, making EatWell an even more student-friendly platform.

To further refine EatWell and enhance the student meal experience, future iterations will focus on solving key pain points identified during the research phase:

Nutritional Tracking & Gamification – Encouraging healthier eating habits by providing meal insights, tracking progress, and introducing rewards. This helps tackle unhealthy eating patterns and lack of awareness about nutrition.
Meal Credit System – Offering credits for skipped meals that can be redeemed later, preventing food wastage and improving meal flexibility for students with unpredictable schedules.
Budget Control Tools – Implementing smart budgeting features that suggest cost-effective meal plans and track spending to address affordability concerns.

These enhancements will further bridge gaps in meal accessibility, affordability, and personalization, making EatWell an even more student-friendly platform.

Conclusion

EatWell simplifies meal access for students by offering an affordable, nutritious, and convenient meal subscription service. Through user research, competitive analysis, and iterative design, I created a solution that balances quality, cost, and accessibility.

Future updates like nutritional tracking, budget control, and a meal credit system will enhance the experience further.

Thanks for reading! 🧡 feel free to connect!

Future updates like nutritional tracking, budget control, and a meal credit system will enhance the experience further.

Thanks for reading! 🧡 feel free to connect!