The Project
This was a personal project, where my goal was to create an app designed to simplify food purchases and meal planning for users with specific dietary requirements. As someone who follows a plant-based diet, I can find it time consuming to quickly identify foods at a glance which are safe to eat, having been caught out on several occasions by seemingly vegetarian/vegan products which slip animal products into the ingredients.
Having spoken with friends and family members who have a range of dietary requirements, such as diabetes and Coeliac disease, I found that there was a need not only to streamline the process of identifying safe foods, but also to create a platform which provides users with meal inspiration and planning assistance, as well as insight and smart suggestions into how their diet could be improved. It was also clear to me that an app should be tailored specifically to them, in the same way that companies like Spotify provide curated music suggestions through smart playlists such as Discover Weekly. With this background in mind, I was able to plan out the project and begin developing a prototype for the app.
The Solution
Vu is an app which uses the power of AI, data analytics and image recognition to streamline the process of purchasing food, logging items and preparing meals, primarily targeting users with specific dietary requirements.
The core feature of the app is its in-built scanning feature. By using image recognition technology, this allows users to scan barcodes of food products and instantly get a green tick (if the item matches their dietary requirements) or a red cross (if it does not match their requirements). The scanning feature also allows users to scan and log prepared meals, automatically analysing the items on their plate without the need for the user to input each item individually.
Users are also provided with an overview of the item, as well as having the option to add the item to their Vu Book: a virtual recipe book and planner within the app where they can view all of their logged items (or 'Vus').
The Vu Book is where users can view their logged items. Here they can also create recipes, group recipes into menus, or log and organise their meals for each day in their planner.
The user's profile provides AI-powered insights into their eating habits, generating a health score and nutritional breakdown for them on a daily basis. The user can see a timeline of their health score, with smart predictions allowing them to see how it may change over time based on their current eating habits.
Users are also incentivised to keep logging their food intake on a daily basis with a streak system. They are able to grow their own plant within the app, which is watered each day that they are active on it. To keep the plant alive, they are encouraged to fill out their planner each day.
The app has an in-built messaging feature, where users can share food and recipe suggestions with their contacts. They can also speak with the VuBot, who provides smart suggestions and inspiration for recipes or meal planning.
Alongside the app, an end-of-year marketing campaign called Year in ReVu has been launched to raise awareness of the app. Year in ReVu breaks down insights and statistics of a user's eating habits over the past year. They are also shown an Instagram style story, which they can share with friends, encouraging further user engagement and wider public awareness of the app.
Vu
