A helping aid
for new parents to ensure nutrition intake for children who may be fussy eaters

-Product Design & UX Design-

Duration

6 months

Role

UX Research, UI Design, and Product Design, 3d Modeling, Rendering

OVERVIEW

Cibus is an app that helps parents to encourage their fussy-eating children to consume more healthy food as part of their diet. It also helps new or first-time parents with their experiences with parenting. The goals can be customised according to the child and his or her specific needs in terms of nutrition. Cibus aims to be a helping hand for all parents.

Understanding the problem

Fussy eating is a common problem in young children. Fussy eaters generally have an unwillingness to try out new foods or familiar foods and also have strong food preferences. Fussy eating is classified as a part of a range of eating difficulties. This can lead to concern about the nutrient intake of the child, and the composition of their diet and pave the way to many possible health-related issues as outcomes.

But is it really a problem?

In order to get an empathetic understanding of the users, one-on-one interview was conducted with 14 of them and I learnt about their day to day routines. I also did a user survey with the help of google forms, which was circulated among parents of children whose ages were ranging between 2-8.

From my research, I aimed to find the biggest problems or hurdles that parents face in terms of raising a child, and specifically in their dietary requirements. I enquired about their daily intake as well as problem foods that the child would refuse to eat.

A few of the questions which were asked:

1. Do/did you face any problems in performing any daily activities with the child?

2. What was the solution you found or resolved to for these problems?

4. What are the most time-consuming activities with the child?

5. What are the foods which are difficult to consume for the child?

6. What are some methods/tactics which you use to encourage the child to consume the food?

Key Findings

Most parents use facilitators to help children consume food like offering more screentime, or chocolates.
Children have the most difficulty in consuming bland-looking foods.
Smell is a trigger and can cause aversion to certain foods.
Vegetables and medicines are the most difficult things to make a child consume.

How could I help solve this problem?

After doing my primary and secondary research, I began listing out the requirements of what i want my product to be and the characteristics it should possess.

Requirement Generation

Should be safe
Should not be a choking hazard
Should not react with the contents

Should be relatable to the kids
Friendly
Not give trust issues

Brainstorming

Solution

A set of 'magic bottles' that encourage the child to consume the liquids necessary in its diet, like milk, water, juice etc. The magical powers that the bottle possesses will be transferred to the child when he or she consumes the contents of the cup.

The bottle, containing a sensor will detect when a liquid is poured into the cup, sending a signal to the light which turns on. This indicates that the cup now contains a power that is ready for consumption. Once the liquid has been consumes, the sensor detects the absence of content inside, turning off the light which also sends an audible signal which imitates a "whoosh" sound, alerting the child that he or she has now consumed the powers of the cup.

For the child to understand and easily relate to the product and story I am telling, I have used animals instead of people so all children can relate since it is not based on appearances. Each cup comes with a card explaining the power with the help of graphics since children would perceive reading a booklet as a task rather than a treat.

Each animal was chosen and given its specific power based on how it is in the natural world, hence Giraffe has the power to make you tall, the elephant can make you strong, the octopus can make you smart and the potion (meant for medicines) gives you health.

Solution - Digital Intervention

An easy to use app that encourages children to consume their daily dose of vegetables and nutrients without creating a fuss. The goal was to create something which wasn't too intrusive and did not leave a dependency in the child or parent.

DESIGN OBJECTIVE

The goal was to create user friendly solutions to improve the experience with feeding and gain confidence in parenting methods. To create an app that makes the process more time-efficient and less exhausting.

How can the event of feeding a fussy child be make more fun or incentive for the child?
How can this app help in providing confidence to the new parents with their methods of parenting?