Eat better. Live brighter.
Healthnut
UI/UX Case Study
All-in-one dashboard
Combine nutrition, exercise, and progress tracking in a single, easy-to-navigate interface to reduce app fatigue and streamline user experience.
Personalized Insights
Use user data (goals, habits, preferences) to deliver tailored tips, feedback, and reminders that help users stay motivated and on track.
Progress Visualization
Offer charts, milestones, and trend summaries to help users see their improvements over time and stay encouraged.
Habit-Building Support
Include gamification, streaks, and goal setting to build healthy routines in a fun, engaging way.
Possible Solution
Many people struggle to stay on top of their health goals due to busy schedules and fragmented tracking tools. Existing apps are often overwhelming or lack personalization.
Healthnut aims to simplify wellness tracking with an intuitive, all-in-one platform that supports nutrition, exercise, and progress in a way that fits users’ daily lives.
Problem Statement
Target Audience
20-35 year olds
Busy lifestyle
Improve health goals
Any experience level
Pain points
Struggle with time and motivation
Limited tech exp
The Approach
I followed a human-centered design process, starting with user research to understand goals, pain points, and habits around health tracking. From these insights, I defined key needs and prioritized features that emphasized simplicity, personalization, and accessibility. I iterated through wireframes and prototypes, incorporating user feedback to refine a clear, intuitive experience that supports sustainable wellness habits.
Design Thinking Process
To create Healthnut, I applied a Design Thinking approach focused on understanding users deeply, defining clear problems, ideating creative solutions, and rapidly prototyping to test and refine the app. This iterative, user-centered method ensured the final design effectively addresses real needs while remaining simple and engaging.
Emphasize
Define
Ideate
Design
Test
Conducted user interviews and surveys
Analyzed research insights
Brainstormed a variety of solutions
Created wireframes and prototypes
Gathered user feedback on prototypes
Emphasize Phase
I conducted user interviews and open-ended surveys to understand people’s habits, challenges, and goals related to nutrition and fitness. This helped me uncover pain points like difficulty in tracking meals consistently, lack of motivation to exercise, and uncertainty on calorie or nutrient needs. These insights guided my understanding of real user needs and informed the design direction.
Qualitative Research
Can you tell me about your current health and wellness routine?
How often do you exercise or engage in physical activity?
Have you ever tracked your calories or nutrition? If so, what tools or apps have you used?
What motivates you to track (or not track) your food and nutrition?
What challenges have you faced when trying to log your meals?
How do you feel about measuring things like calories, macros, or portion sizes?
Do you track your workouts or activity levels? If so, how?
What features would make tracking your fitness easier or more enjoyable?
What’s the most frustrating part of trying to stay healthy?
Are there any features you wish existing health apps had?
What motivates you to stay healthy or eat well?
How often would you realistically use a health tracking app?
Interview Questions
Many users said logging meals or workouts manually takes too long, causing them to stop using tracking apps after a few days or weeks.
Users want personalized guidance, not just data, such as having simple suggestions based on their habits (e.g., “try eating more protein in the morning”).
Several users said they lose motivation when they don’t see progress or when the app doesn’t encourage them regularly.
Users appreciated quick, efficient logging through barcode scanning or food libraries.
Users want all-in-one solution to track food, workouts, and health metrics.
Beginners want a need for user-friendly explanations or visuals.
Users who stayed consistent often mentioned that reminders, streaks, or daily goal check-ins helped them stay on track.
Key Insights Derived
To support my qualitative findings, I conducted a survey with 5 participants to gather numerical data on users’ health and nutrition habits. The survey included multiple-choice and rating-scale questions to measure:
Quantitative Research
65% of users said they have tried tracking nutrition,
but only 28% do it consistently.
Tried Tracking
Consistent Tracking
65%
28%
The top reason for lack of consistency was "too time-consuming" (52%).
Inconsistent
Consistent
52%
48%
78% of users said they would be more likely to stick with an app if it offered personalized recommendations.
Yes
No
78%
22%
76% preferred simple visuals over detailed nutritional breakdowns
Yes
No
76%
24%
These findings helped validate the patterns observed during user interviews and informed key design decisions, such as simplifying logging flows and offering simple visuals and personalized recommendations.
Key Insights Derived
Based on user interviews and surveys, I created two personas to represent common goals, behaviors, and pain points. These helped guide design decisions and ensure the app meets real user needs.
User Persona
Goals
Eat healthier, stay active, and lose 10 pounds
Frustations
“I don’t have time to log every single thing I eat.”
“Most apps are too technical and overwhelming.”
Needs
Quick, efficient logging
e.g., barcode scanning or saved meals
Personalized tips based on her activity/habits
Visual progress tracking for motivation
Emily
Age
23
Occupation
College student
Fitness Lvl
Beginner
Goal
Lose weight
Location
San Diego, CA
Tech comfort
High
Biography
Emily is a full-time student juggling school, part-time work, and social life. She wants to build healthier eating habits but finds it hard to stay consistent. She’s tried calorie tracking apps before but stopped using them because they felt tedious. Emily is motivated by visuals, reminders, and easy-to-use tools.
Goals
Gain muscle, maintain weight, optimize energy
Frustations
“Some apps don’t show the correlation between nutrition and exercise.”
“Switching between fitness and food apps is a hassle.”
Needs
Integrated food and fitness tracking
Customizable goals
Macronutrient breakdowns
Syncing with wearable devices
David
Age
35
Occupation
Software Engineer
Fitness Lvl
Intermediate
Goal
Gain muscle
Location
Austin, TX
Tech comfort
Very High
Biography
David works remotely and sits at a desk most of the day. He exercises 3–4 times a week and pays attention to his protein intake. He’s data-driven and likes tracking both his workouts and meals, but wishes it could all be done in one place. He uses a smartwatch and syncs his fitness data regularly.
Define Phase
Empathy Map
Feels
Overwhelmed by complex tracking apps
Guilty when she forgets to log meals or skips workouts
Motivated when she sees progress or gets encouragement
Frustrated by how hard it is to stay consistent with healthy habits
“Am I eating the right things?”
“Tracking my food shouldn't take more time than eating it.”
“If it were easier, I’d probably stick with it longer.”
Thinks
Says
"I want to eat healthier but I’m always so busy."
"I’ve tried tracking before but it was too much work."
"I wish there was a simpler way to stay consistent."
Does
Eats on campus or orders takeout
Starts tracking with apps but stops after a few days
Scrolls through fitness tips on TikTok and Instagram
Uses her phone for most tasks, including planning and reminders
Visual Design
Easily switch between core sections like Home, Food Log, Activity, and more.
Stay on track with timely reminders for meals, water, and workouts.
Smoothly scroll to explore your daily summaries and stats in different visuals.
View key health data like Macros, Steps, and Calories Burned breakdown at a glance.
Access and customize your personal info, goals, and preferences.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Sagittis purus lectus blandit netus elementum.
Navigation Bar
Notifications
Scrolling Feature
Statistics
Profile
Daily Total Summary
Typography & Colors
Fonts Used
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
I chose the Righteous font for its clean, rounded style that feels friendly and motivating.
In addition, I chose SF Pro Text for its clarity, versatility, and modern feel.
Bold
Regular
Medium
Light
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
1234567890
Righteous
Colors Used
Primary Color
#FFCB05
Text Color
#FFFFFF
BG Color
#003353
#008C73
#814714
Text Color
#000000
Secondary Color
#006187
SF Pro Text
I saw an opportunity to improve Healthnut’s usability and visual hierarchy to make it easier for users to navigate, input data, and stay motivated. While the original design lacked clarity, I preserved its personalized features and enhanced the visual appeal by using a cleaner layout, consistent iconography, and a calming color palette. I included various nature-inspired shades of green to evoke feelings of health, wellness, and balance.
Initial Wireframes
Designing Healthnut allowed me to explore how thoughtful design can support both physical and mental well-being. By improving usability, visual clarity, and personalization, I created a more intuitive and motivating experience for users. The addition of features like the Journal reflects my belief in designing for the whole person—not just their fitness goals, but their emotional journey as well. This project reinforced the importance of user-centered thinking, consistency in design systems, and the value of wellness-focused UX.
Conclusion
Built in Figma, these prototypes were designed with accessibility and consistency in mind, incorporating user feedback to ensure the interface is intuitive, engaging, and easy to use.
This prototype demonstrates an alternate user flow for logging into a preexisting account, allowing me to showcase my prototyping skills and attention to user experience details.
Results
Results
This prototype demonstrates the onboarding pathway for new users, guiding them through account creation and personal information entry to personalize their experience with the health and fitness tracker.
Prototypes
After months of completing this capstone project, I chose to completely redesign Healthnut to address issues with clarity, navigation, and user engagement. The original app felt overwhelming and didn’t support long-term motivation. I aimed to create a more intuitive and supportive experience.
Through this project, I learned the importance of designing for both functionality and emotional connection, and how small UX choices can significantly impact user engagement and well-being.