7 Creating first prototype
7.2 Building the prototype
There were many questions that arose during the prototyping of the application features. First of all - groceries delivery. Research showed that there are no open APIs that we can use with Wolt, Foodora or retail stores such as Kesko, Alepa or Lidl. The only solution here is to use our own delivery system.
In the beginning, it could be based on manual order processing. We get the email with the list of groceries from the customer and then buy them and organise delivery. This will require some
agreement with warehouses. Which seems complicated and difficult to accomplish if we will take into account the resources that we have. But that could be a good idea for expansion of the application in later stages.
Another problem is connecting people with the dietitian. To make this feature more affordable than in the regular health centre in Finland we planned to outsourcedietitians. This raises questions: will Finnish people trust foreign doctors? What would be a concern? How can we prove the professional level of the dietitian?
We found another solution, to create a chatbot with the help of a professional dietitian and integrate it with our application. Which will require the participation of the real dietitian only once while building the chatbot conversation logic and then it can be reused.
Another concern is that we can’t give medical consultation without any blood tests, so we decided to stick with a nutritionist consultation instead of a dietitian.
The main differences between the dietitian and nutritionist are listed for example in the article of Kamini Senthilathiban (26 Oct 2018/Career Planning, College Advice, Degree, Dietetics, Nutrition) Table 8. Differences between dietitians and nutritionists.
Dietitian Nutritionist
treats medical conditions of people via medical nutrition therapy
works with basically healthy people to improve their eating habits
the specialisation quite often is heavily regulated by law and requires a medical degree
is not regulated by law and does not require medical degree however the special certifications are obviously needed
works in medical environment works in commercial environment
Chat where the user will answer the questions about what he eats during the day and then get the adjusted menu for himself. And it will be a paid service. A real nutritionist will check the weekly meal plan that was generated for the user and add his comments and recommendations.
The application will have two types of consultations one is basic which includes general advice on how to eat more healthily and facts about nutrition which will be developed as an AI chatbot. And another one is a paid service where the user can send his daily menu for approval and comments from nutritionists.
Also, we found out that there are already many apps with just general recipes and delivery and it is not unique and not really profitable so we decided to focus on more special needs of people, for example, if people have some particular targets (to lose weight, to improve immunity), or they have an intolerance of some particular products (lactose, gluten) or they decided to become a vegetarian or vegan and they need totally change their menu. In this case, we can provide them with a weekly menu based on their very particular requests as well as some advice, for example regarding vitamins and supplements (which do not require blood tests).
Important things to remember while creating mobile apps are UX and UI and how to provide them as good and competitive as possible. This means creating a mobile experience that will make our users
all the time is an important part of efficient development but besides that, we can outline some other important points:
Use Native Components and familiarity In the mobile application
If users already know the native UI element, it will be easy for them to follow the steps, as they will intuitively understand the application. Many users like to see familiar features and buttons. Familiarity also includes common symbols, icons, or colours, to convey a message certain elements of an interface should be familiar to users. (Patel, H., 2018)
Keep application design simple and clear
If they find an obstacle while using the application they may get frustrated or spend more time than expected, losing their way in the meantime. Unnecessary features and functionalities of the application will also confuse the users. Thus, we are going to follow a minimalistic design approach, avoiding confusion and ambiguity on the interface in order to create a simple and highly usable mobile application. (Patel, H., 2018)
Improve the search feature Ιn the application design
Users are going to download and install our application intending to achieve their goal regarding their daily eating habits or changing and improving their daily diet. So it is important that our application has clear and good navigation and all the important links are easy to find. The easy navigation design and the advanced search and information architecture will all improve the usability of our application to a great extent. (Patel, H., 2018)
Animated transitions and aesthetics
Animated transitions are another effective way to create natural flow when moving from one page to another. The user would also like to see an animated transition in-app whenever they complete an action. (Patel, H., 2018)
Here are some key practices for effective animation implementation (Patel, H., 2018.):
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Don't have animations without prior user action.●
The animation should be used in a way that the user can understand how to complete an action.●
It is OK to have one or two animations in your app, though don't overload it with animations.And making the interface more aesthetic will also be more attractive for users.