Raven Lakerveld
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Wegwijs in de Voedingsjungle.

An app that guides parents step by step through the eating and taste development of their child.

Client
Voedingsjungle
Role
UX/UI designer (graduation project)
Expertise
UX/UI and visual design
Period
January to June 2022
A hand holding a phone with the Wegwijs in de Voedingsjungle app, showing step 3 and inspiration for meals, at a desk with a laptop

01Challenge

Voedingsjungle is a knowledge and communication agency founded by nutrition expert Michelle van Roost, who also co-wrote the book Wegwijs in de Voedingsjungle. Alongside the book, she developed a step-by-step plan that highlights the key moments in a child’s eating and taste development, such as starting with solid food. The plan was made as a guide for youth healthcare professionals, but in practice it was often handed to parents as well, even though it wasn’t designed for them.

A lot happens in the first 1000 days of a child’s eating and taste development, but this knowledge isn’t always self-evident for parents. Michelle wanted to turn the plan into a digital tool that youth healthcare organisations could purchase and that parents could use on their own.

Design challenge

“How can the digital plan of Voedingsjungle inform, support and encourage parents, from pregnancy until their child is two years old, step by step, so they can positively influence their child’s eating and taste development?”

02Context

The primary target group was parents, from pregnancy until their child’s second birthday, with a first-time mother as the main persona. Youth nurses at the child health clinic also play an important role in informing parents, but they often have little time to explain everything. Through a literature study and interviews with parents, I found six key insights:

  • Parents feel overwhelmed by the amount of (online) information and miss overview and structure.
  • They weigh their own feelings against the advice of professionals, and want their choices to be respected.
  • Their questions at the child health clinic aren’t always answered, which can leave them feeling unsupported.
  • Without knowledge about nutrition, they can miss key moments, for example by starting with solid food too early.
  • They look for recipes online, but still miss inspiration for meals.
  • They would like to share experiences and tips with other parents in the same stage.
Six screens of the Wegwijs in de Voedingsjungle app: the home page with step 3, the overview of all steps, two onboarding screens, the profile and the recipes
A selection of the screen designs: the home page, the overview of all steps, the onboarding, the profile and the recipes.
Stakeholder map with parents of young children at the centre, surrounded by Voedingsjungle and youth nurses, and in the outer ring child health clinics, youth healthcare, the HvA and the Ministry of Health
The stakeholder map, with parents at the centre.

03Approach

I translated these insights into a programme of requirements and user goals. With an inspiration wall, sketching, a morphological chart and a brainstorm with three fellow students, I explored many possible solutions and narrowed them down to three concepts: a personal overview with matching recipes, a food diary with daily menus, and short lessons about nutrition. Based on feedback from Michelle and fellow students, I continued with the personal overview and added the strongest ideas from the other concepts, such as contact with other parents. Michelle’s wish was to keep the house style of the book, but my research showed that its playful, colourful style didn’t fully fit the target group. I therefore designed a new visual identity that feels professional and trustworthy without being clinical, combined with illustrations from the book. I tested the prototype in two rounds of usability testing, first with people around me and then with parents, and used expert reviews with Michelle to improve the flow, terminology and content.

  1. ResearchA stakeholder map, a literature study, interviews with parents and personas.
  2. Ideation and conceptsUser goals, sketching and a brainstorm, leading to three concepts.
  3. DesignThe information architecture, a new visual identity and the screen designs.
  4. Testing and iterationTwo rounds of usability testing and expert reviews to improve the prototype.
Printed pages with the persona of a first-time mother and the product vision, lying on a green notebook on a red side table, next to a pencil and a cup of coffee

04Result

The app Wegwijs in de Voedingsjungle informs, supports and encourages parents in their child’s eating and taste development. It does this in four ways:

  1. By offering information about nutrition in a clear way that is tailored to the parent and child.
  2. With a frequently asked questions page, where parents can find answers and also see which questions other parents have.
  3. By making it possible to meet other parents nearby.
  4. By offering recipes that match the child’s stage.

I worked out the design in a clickable prototype in Adobe XD.

As a next step, I recommended adding more food cultures, so the app becomes accessible to every parent, and expanding it into a broader app for the first 1000 days, with themes such as sleep and relaxation.

View the design rationale ↗View the prototype ↗
Mobile appTailored to each stage and each child
Visual identityProfessional, warm and recognisable
PrototypeClickable, and tested with parents
ContactResponse within 2 working days

Interested in working together? I'd love to hear from you.

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Raven LakerveldUX/UI · Visual & brandinfo@ravenlakerveld.nl
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