Nutrio — AI-powered nutrition coaching app
Designing a user-friendly nutrition app that helps users build healthier habits through personalized tracking, smart insights, and a structured daily experience.
Role
Product Designer
Industry
Health & Fitness
Duration
2 months
Project Overview
The problem
People want to eat healthier and reach goals (lose/gain weight), but tracking meals is tedious, feedback is unclear, and consistency breaks after a few days.
The Goal
Design a mobile experience that helps users:
set a realistic goal,
log meals quickly,
understand progress clearly (calories/macros),
stay consistent via guidance + motivation (AI coach, streaks, reminders).
My approach
I followed a research-led process: uncover behaviors → define key flows → prototype → validate → iterate, then built a scalable design system for consistency and dev handoff.
Project Overview
The problem
People want to eat healthier and reach goals (lose/gain weight), but tracking meals is tedious, feedback is unclear, and consistency breaks after a few days.
The Goal
Design a mobile experience that helps users:
set a realistic goal,
log meals quickly,
understand progress clearly (calories/macros),
stay consistent via guidance + motivation (AI coach, streaks, reminders).
My approach
I followed a research-led process: uncover behaviors → define key flows → prototype → validate → iterate, then built a scalable design system for consistency and dev handoff.
User Research & UX Process
Research Overview
To understand users’ eating habits, motivations, and challenges around healthy nutrition, I conducted an online survey with 35 participants.
The research focused on daily routines, pain points, motivation drivers, and expectations from an AI-powered nutrition solution.
Participants: 35 respondents
Format: Online survey
Question Types: A mix of multiple-choice, single-choice, and open-ended questions
Key Findings
Based on the research findings, several clear patterns emerged:
Time constraints are the biggest barrier to maintaining healthy eating habits. Users struggle with planning meals and logging food consistently.
Motivation and consistency drop quickly, especially after the first few days, leading users to abandon healthy routines.
Users prefer personalized guidance (meal plans and goal tracking) over generic tips or static content.
Planning and ingredient sourcing create friction, with many users expressing interest in integrated shopping lists and recipe-based grocery solutions.
Design Direction
Nutrio prioritizes speed and clarity over complex tracking, combining personalized guidance with motivational support to build sustainable habits.
User Research & UX Process
Research Overview
To understand users’ eating habits, motivations, and challenges around healthy nutrition, I conducted an online survey with 35 participants.
The research focused on daily routines, pain points, motivation drivers, and expectations from an AI-powered nutrition solution.
Participants: 35 respondents
Format: Online survey
Question Types: A mix of multiple-choice, single-choice, and open-ended questions
Key Findings
Based on the research findings, several clear patterns emerged:
Time constraints are the biggest barrier to maintaining healthy eating habits. Users struggle with planning meals and logging food consistently.
Motivation and consistency drop quickly, especially after the first few days, leading users to abandon healthy routines.
Users prefer personalized guidance (meal plans and goal tracking) over generic tips or static content.
Planning and ingredient sourcing create friction, with many users expressing interest in integrated shopping lists and recipe-based grocery solutions.
Design Direction
Nutrio prioritizes speed and clarity over complex tracking, combining personalized guidance with motivational support to build sustainable habits.
Defining the Experience
This section translates research insights into concrete UX decisions.
Personas
Research revealed two primary personas with different goals, guiding feature prioritization and interaction design.
Defining the Experience
This section translates research insights into concrete UX decisions.
Personas
Research revealed two primary personas with different goals, guiding feature prioritization and interaction design.
Key User Needs
Fast and effortless meal logging
Clear understanding of daily progress
Ongoing motivation and accountability
Support with meal planning and shopping
3 Key User Stories
When I’m busy, I want to log meals quickly so I can stay consistent.
When I lose motivation, I want encouraging feedback so I don’t give up.
When planning my week, I want personalized meal suggestions so healthy eating feels manageable.
Key User Needs
Fast and effortless meal logging
Clear understanding of daily progress
Ongoing motivation and accountability
Support with meal planning and shopping
3 Key User Stories
When I’m busy, I want to log meals quickly so I can stay consistent.
When I lose motivation, I want encouraging feedback so I don’t give up.
When planning my week, I want personalized meal suggestions so healthy eating feels manageable.
User Journeys & UX Flows
This section visualizes how Nutrio supports users throughout their journey, translating needs and scenarios into structured experiences.
User Journeys
Based on the defined personas and user stories, I mapped two key user journeys to understand users’ expectations, pain points, emotions, and opportunities across different stages of the experience.
Emma Carter — Busy Professional
Emma’s journey highlights the need for speed, personalization, and low-effort planning.
The experience focuses on reducing friction during daily usage while reinforcing motivation through visible progress, personalized suggestions, and habit-building features.
Alex Johnson — Health Beginner
Alex’s journey emphasizes guidance, clarity, and approachability.
The experience is designed to feel supportive and non-overwhelming, offering step-by-step guidance, optional depth, and simple explanations to help build confidence over time.
User Journeys & UX Flows
This section visualizes how Nutrio supports users throughout their journey, translating needs and scenarios into structured experiences.
User Journeys
Based on the defined personas and user stories, I mapped two key user journeys to understand users’ expectations, pain points, emotions, and opportunities across different stages of the experience.
Emma Carter — Busy Professional
Emma’s journey highlights the need for speed, personalization, and low-effort planning.
The experience focuses on reducing friction during daily usage while reinforcing motivation through visible progress, personalized suggestions, and habit-building features.
Alex Johnson — Health Beginner
Alex’s journey emphasizes guidance, clarity, and approachability.
The experience is designed to feel supportive and non-overwhelming, offering step-by-step guidance, optional depth, and simple explanations to help build confidence over time.
Key Journey Takeaways
Across both journeys, a few consistent patterns emerged:
Users need early quick wins to stay engaged
Motivation must be reinforced continuously, not only at onboarding
Progress should be clear and instantly understandable
Core UX Flows
Based on the journeys, Nutrio’s experience was structured around a small set of core flows that directly support habit formation:
Onboarding & Goal Setting
AI Coaching & Guidance
Meal Logging
Progress Tracking
Based on the journey maps, I structured Nutrio around a small set of core UX flows that directly support habit formation.
Key Journey Takeaways
Across both journeys, a few consistent patterns emerged:
Users need early quick wins to stay engaged
Motivation must be reinforced continuously, not only at onboarding
Progress should be clear and instantly understandable
Core UX Flows
Based on the journeys, Nutrio’s experience was structured around a small set of core flows that directly support habit formation:
Onboarding & Goal Setting
AI Coaching & Guidance
Meal Logging
Progress Tracking
Based on the journey maps, I structured Nutrio around a small set of core UX flows that directly support habit formation.
Key Screens & UI
This section shows how the defined flows were translated into concrete screens and interface decisions.
Selected Wireframes
Before moving into high-fidelity UI, I created low-fidelity wireframes to validate information hierarchy, core interactions, and flow clarity.
Onboarding & goal selection
Fridge → Shopping Flow
Progress Overview
Final UI Screens
Home / Daily Overview/Community
Key Screens & UI
This section shows how the defined flows were translated into concrete screens and interface decisions.
Selected Wireframes
Before moving into high-fidelity UI, I created low-fidelity wireframes to validate information hierarchy, core interactions, and flow clarity.
Onboarding & goal selection
Fridge → Shopping Flow
Progress Overview
Final UI Screens
Home / Daily Overview/Community
Meal Logging
Shopping List — From Planning to Action
Progress (Daily & Weekly)
AI Coach — Personalized Planning
Through a conversational flow, the AI coach gathers user habits, translates insights into a personalized plan, and generates a weekly diet tailored to individual goals.
Recipes — Turning Plans into Action
Recipes act as the execution layer of Nutrio, helping users apply their personalized plans through easy-to-follow meals.
Each recipe is designed to connect seamlessly with meal logging, shopping lists, and fridge availability.
Community — Motivation Through Shared Progress
The community section supports motivation by allowing users to share progress, meals, and achievements with others.
Rather than being the core experience, it acts as a lightweight social layer that reinforces consistency and accountability.
Meal Logging
Shopping List — From Planning to Action
Progress (Daily & Weekly)
AI Coach — Personalized Planning
Through a conversational flow, the AI coach gathers user habits, translates insights into a personalized plan, and generates a weekly diet tailored to individual goals.
Recipes — Turning Plans into Action
Recipes act as the execution layer of Nutrio, helping users apply their personalized plans through easy-to-follow meals.
Each recipe is designed to connect seamlessly with meal logging, shopping lists, and fridge availability.
Community — Motivation Through Shared Progress
The community section supports motivation by allowing users to share progress, meals, and achievements with others.
Rather than being the core experience, it acts as a lightweight social layer that reinforces consistency and accountability.
Design System
A modular design system created to ensure consistency, scalability, and smooth developer handoff across the product.
Foundations & Tokens
Core foundations such as color, typography, and spacing were defined using semantic tokens and variables to maintain consistency and support future scalability.
Core Components
Scalability & Handoff
The design system was structured to support scalable reuse and smooth developer handoff across the product.
Button Documentation
Buttons were documented with clear anatomy, variants, states, and usage guidelines to ensure consistent implementation across the product.
Design System
A modular design system created to ensure consistency, scalability, and smooth developer handoff across the product.
Foundations & Tokens
Core foundations such as color, typography, and spacing were defined using semantic tokens and variables to maintain consistency and support future scalability.
Core Components
Scalability & Handoff
The design system was structured to support scalable reuse and smooth developer handoff across the product.
Button Documentation
Buttons were documented with clear anatomy, variants, states, and usage guidelines to ensure consistent implementation across the product.
Outcomes & Learnings
Outcomes
Nutrio was designed as a habit-focused nutrition experience that connects planning, execution, and reflection through clear and scalable flows.
Layered progress (daily, weekly, long-term) for clarity
Reduced friction in meal planning and logging
Scalable system supporting future features
Key Learnings
Flexibility supports consistency
Users stay engaged when guidance adapts to their habits.
Layered feedback prevents overload
Separating daily and weekly insights keeps progress understandable.
Systems enable speed
A strong design system made iteration faster and more consistent.
Challenges
Balancing guidance without feeling restrictive
Simplifying multiple interconnected flows
Communicating system depth without visual overload
Outcomes & Learnings
Outcomes
Nutrio was designed as a habit-focused nutrition experience that connects planning, execution, and reflection through clear and scalable flows.
Layered progress (daily, weekly, long-term) for clarity
Reduced friction in meal planning and logging
Scalable system supporting future features
Key Learnings
Flexibility supports consistency
Users stay engaged when guidance adapts to their habits.
Layered feedback prevents overload
Separating daily and weekly insights keeps progress understandable.
Systems enable speed
A strong design system made iteration faster and more consistent.
Challenges
Balancing guidance without feeling restrictive
Simplifying multiple interconnected flows
Communicating system depth without visual overload
