Content Creation
Kati
Kati was developed as part of the Design Engineering Master's program at Brown University and Rhode Island.
The project was awarded the Hazeltine maker grant to continue developing the project.
Overview of device
A touchscreen device, designed to build healthier relationships with food.
Usage
With Kati
Scan a food item
The device generates a label on the nutritional benefits of the item
The user forms a more positive association with the item.
Without Kati
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The Team
Taehoon Park
Industrial Designer
Amy Vu
Design Researcher
Krithika Balaraman
Digital Designer
The Original Brief
Integrated hardware / software solution for improving diet through improved tracking of consumed calories.
Our Research Insights
• Calorie counting can be triggering and consuming, especially for those with eating disorders.
• Eating disorders can result in obsessive behaviour and negative associations with food.
• Nutritional well-being is about feeling satisfied, not just what you consume
Our Pivot
We decided to pivot away from the original brief of designing for more accurate calorie counting.
Instead, we began to look at other ways to evaluate nutritional value with a focus on those with eating disorders as the user.
Our Solution; Kati
Kati is a device that identifies food, and then displays information about its nutritional benefits.
The device also aids in some of the processes currently utilised in the treatment of eating disorders.
Designing the form
After some rapid prototyping with different form factors, we identified a form that allowed for easy and discreet use, but which housed all the electronic and computational components for the interactions we intended.
Testing the form in use
Designing the form
Pull the device out
Scan a food item
View information regarding the item
End the interaction
Digital Design
Considerations for the digital interface:
Simplicity:
Make it an interaction that’s easy to do multiple times a day.
Positivity:
Validating the users choices, and trying to build positive associations with food and with the device.
Screen size:
Creating elements that are easy to navigate with the smaller screen size.
Designing the 'Labels'
Avoiding triggering words
Using 'nutritionally dense' instead of 'high calorie'
Perceivable benefits
Such as improvement to skin and hair.
Cultural context
‘Must try’ mentality is a strong motivator to try food.
User Journey: The 'scan' interaction
The resting display pushes notifications every few hours reminding the user to eat.
Regular meals and snacks are a big part of ED treatment.
The ‘scan’ feature opens with minimal clicks.
Validate the device identification
A correct validation displays of the labels.
User journey: The ‘Gallery’ feature
The device Gallery allows for sentiment logging, an important part of ED recovery process.
Recorded data can be found in the Gallery, to help identify food patterns and keep track of liked foods.
After scanning an item, it can be logged.
The logs are available in the gallery.
The Gallery is one of four options the user can access from the home screen.
Gallery view
User Journey: First Time Usage
When used for the first time, the device runs the user through a quick tutorial
Testing the digital design
We tested the usability of the unusual screen size using printed decals of our digital interface and clickable prototypes.
We tested the Figma prototype with users and did a walkthrough for feedback from industry expert, Hal Weurtz.
Our Goal
“The goal is by the end of treatment they are not tracking. They are listening to their bodies and eating when hungry. There are no food rules.” -Jennifer Warnick, PhD
Kati is not a nutritional advisor, the purpose of the device is to build healthier relationships with food so users can ultimately address their nutritional need independently and participate freely in food centric social situations.
Deep diving into the digital design
User Journey: Allowing control
The device Gallery allows for sentiment logging. At the end of the scan interaction, Kati allows the user to document the item and add tags to it. This data can be found in the Gallery, to help identify food patterns and keep track of liked foods.
The Settings and Browser features are designed to give the user a sense of control over the device.
These categories allow the user basic features they would be familiar with, and expect in any smart device.
The Food Finder feature allows control over diet. It generates recommendations for the user based on foods they have liked. It uses this information to identify what the users triggers might be and avoid them.
Our Research Methodology
Reviewing scholarly articles
We reviewed over 20 articles on the subject of calorie counting and nutrition.
Interviewing specialists
We conducted in-depth interviews with nutrition consultants, eating disorder specialists and healthtech design experts.
Jeanne Hendricks, RDN
Nutritionist
Inspired Life
Yuseke Miyashita
Designer
GoForward
Anupama Menon
Nutritionist
Right Living
Brett Swope
Founder
Swope Design Solutions
Interviewing users
As a team we conducted:
3 In-depth interviews with users
28 Guerilla interviews with consumers regarding food habits
Becoming users
Each member of our team tested out a calorie counting app to better understand our users.
Healthify
Noom
MyFitnessPal
Understanding eating disorders
Interviewing experts with experience treating eating disorders.
Tracy Bergeron, RDN, CSSD, CEDRD-S, LDN Dietician Nutritionist Brown University
Jennifer Warnick, PhD, Assistant Professor Brown University
Takeaways
Calorie counting is useful for education of the calorific value of different foods, but is hard to sustain, high on effort, time consuming and often detrimental to a healthy relationship with food.
With our insight on the practice, we decided to redefine our brief: