The Problem.
Through my own life, observations, and research, I have identified a big issue with the diets of college students. study found that 95 percent of college students don’t eat the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables and more than 60 percent don’t get the recommended levels of weekly physical activity. These things, coupled with excess alcohol and tobacco use, can lead to serious health problems down the line. I aim to further understand what specific factors are causing college students to be unhealthy and find a way to help.
Pre-Research Goal.
My goal after researching college students and their diets (and factors that effect their diets) is to come up with a possible solution to help college students eat healthier while maintaining every other important aspect in their lives.
Research.
Luckily for me, my target audience are the people I am around every single day: college students. I did my research in two main ways, through surveys and conversations. The first survey I did was through Instagram Stories, a platform that almost all college students use on a daily basis. I also did a more extensive google survey and shared that on social media platforms as well. Below were the four main findings I used in creating my solution.
Post-Research Goal.
After researching college students and their diets, my goal is to encourage students to consider growing their own veggies and herbs and provide students with the resources to easily start a small garden of their own. I will also provide students with care instructions, recipes, and a mobile app that will aid them in keeping their plants healthy.
Research showed that many college students reported limited amounts of free time, school work, and costs get in the way of them leading healthier lives. Therefore, the product needs to be simple enough for them to actually use, and not overly obtrusive into their lives
Solution: Personalized Garden Starter Kit.
The personalized Garden Starter Kit will work by doing multiple things. Firstly, it will send students the veggies + herbs based off of their inputted preferences and space available (and sunlight available in the space). The app will look at the produce that the student likes and send them the plants that will grow most successfully in the conditions available to the user, so there is no concern that the plants will not grow in their space. The app will then provide recipes to the user using the produce they are growing to encourage healthy eating and aid in helping the user keep their plant alive and healthy by push notifications and alerts to help remind them to water, feed, and sun the plant properly. If all else fails, the app has a "plant doctor" feature in which the user can send a photo of their failing plant to receive individualized help on how to help it thrive.
Prototyping, Sketching, and Wire-framing.
LOGO + BRANDING SKETCHES
PACKAGING SKETCHES
APP SKETCHES
PACKAGING PROTOYPE
Final Design Solutions.
