SUMMARY
TIMELINE
Nov 2023
TEAM
4 Designers
SKILLS
Product Strategy
UX/UI Design
Visual Design
TYPE
Designathon
Encouraging college students to order healthier through an accountability partner.
DoorDash’s mission is to revolutionize food delivery by providing a convenient and health-conscious experience for all users, especially college students. They aim to promote food transparency through clear nutritional information, meal recommendations, and calorie tracking. However, college students still struggle to eat healthily due to limited options, busy schedules, and tight budgets. Our mission was to design an experience to encourage college students to be more conscious of their health.
We introduced Dash, the DoorDash Dog that acts as an accountability partner to motivate users to eat healthier.
CONTEXT
Access to meals has never been easier thanks to food delivery services.
It provides a convenient solution to those who don’t have the time, energy, or ability to get/make meals themselves… AKA most college students.
However, DoorDash noticed that many of their users, especially amongst college students, had the tendency to order unhealthy options.
THE PROBLEM
Students typically order unhealthy on delivery apps, negatively impacting their health.
Preliminary research on the current landscape of food delivery apps reveals how despite being a convenient resource, it often ends up being damaging to students and their health. With the increase in reliance on digital tools, there must be a way to encourage college students to be more conscious of their health and diet.
75%
of students order food online at least once a week.
– JOURNAL OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINE
2 in 3
students believe that food delivery apps negatively impact their heatlth.
– JOURNAL OF NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES
61%
of online orders were found to be unhealthy.
– UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
This designathon challenged us to address this problem through the following prompt:
How might we encourage college students to be more conscious of their health and diet?
RESEARCH
Understanding why and in what situations students use DoorDash
Laziness
Many students are too exhausted from their responsibilities to cook.
Late at night
Limited late-night dining options and safety concerns make delivery a preferred choice, though options tend to be unhealthy.
No car
Students without a car have fewer food options, making delivery a more accessible solution.
RESEARCH
Understanding what influences students' DoorDash orders
Cravings
Students order based on specific food cravings, often leading to unhealthy choices.
Affordability
High delivery and service fees make cost a key consideration, with healthier options generally being more expensive.
Friends suggestions
Peer recommendations shape eating habits, reinforcing shared preferences for healthy or unhealthy foods.
KEY INSIGHTS
DoorDash's use-case inherently entails unhealthy choices
Many of the leading reasons college students use DoorDash and the main drivers of the choice of their orders point to unhealthy choices. Therefore, we were faced with the unique challenge of attempting to change the main use-case of DoorDash.
IDEATION
Structured ideation for impactful solutions
Keeping all of the above in mind, we decided to use the diverge-converge brainstorming method because it would generate the most amount of ideas in a short period which was necessary given the limited time we had. After we individually brainstormed solutions, we placed the following markers on the ideas we came up with to help us categorize and organize our thoughts.
TANGIBLE
Practical and likely to be implemented
DELIGHTFUL
Most likely to delight
LIKE
Any idea we personally liked
BLACK HORSE
Most out of the box idea we like
CONSTRAINTS
DoorDash is not a health app, and thus our solution should not present itself as such.
While this would pose many restrictions as the use case of DoorDash often entails unhealthy food, it was crucial that we did not deviate from their brand identity. DoorDash is NOT a health app, and therefore our solution should not present it as so. Instead, it should be subtle such that it seamlessly fits into their brand.
CONVERGING
Final Solution: Gamifying healthy habits
As a team, we converged on the idea of the pet that "eats" what you eat to act as an accountability partner. It aligns with DoorDash's brand identity, appeals to the target user of college students, and integrates many of the common themes from our ideation. This solution would hold users accountable (but not too accountable) to encourage healthy habits.
THE DETAILS
Creating a seamless brand fit with the details of our solution
What should the pet be?
Because we didn't want to make this virtual pet a dominant feature in DoorDash, it was important that this feature felt seamless and natural. Thus, we ultimately decided on the most "pet" pet of them all: a dog.
What should it look like?
To match the design of the pet to DoorDash's brand as much as possible we looked through DoorDash's style guide and noticed that their style consisted of illustrations that were rather simple in shape and filled with flat colors.
Using Procreate, I drew the dog to replicate this style.
Where should it be?
We struggled to find the right balance between the visibility and subtlety of the virtual pet. We wanted it to be noticeable enough to reinforce accountability without dominating the interface or disrupting the user experience. Additionally, we placed the virtual pet in a ‘room’ to strengthen the sense of ownership and connection, reinforcing the idea that it is truly the user’s pet.
FINAL SOLUTION
Meet Dash, the DoorDash Dog – Your companion to eating healthy
Dash is an accountability partner to encourage college students to eat healthier. Dash's health and mood will be based on the user's recent orders.
Healthy orders = Happy Dash
Unhealthy orders = Sad Dash
Dash’s Mood
The appearance of Dash will change according to the user’s recent orders. They can learn more about it by clicking on Dash from the homescreen.
Nutritional Trend
Users can understand Dash’s mood and health through their recent orders and nutritional trends.
Personalized Goals
The user can personalize their meal recommendations through their dietary goals, allergies, and budget.
Dash's Cravings
DoorDash will suggest meals based on the user’s recent orders and their goals. This will help to nudge users’ towards healthier options.
Customization
Users can customize Dash to help them form a stronger emotional bond with it, which increases its effectiveness as an accountability partner.
IMPACT
Dash's impact: why this solution works
According to Pearson’s Law, performance improves when measured and improves exponentially when both measured and reported. Publicly committing to goals increases the likelihood of completion to 65%, while having an accountability partner raises the success rate to 95% (Source: The Medium).
Here are some other reasons why Dash would be an effective companion:
Mindful eating habits
Using the visual indicator of Dash's health, users will be more mindful of their orders.
Informed food choices
The nutritional tracking system allows users to stay informed of their intake and keep track of their orders.
Reward system
Users are directly rewarded for healthy habits, further promoting mindful eating.
REFLECTION
Share your silly ideas :)
I loved working on this project and I am so proud of my team and I for what we accomplished in 5 hours.
Overall, I believe we were able to analyze the problem and break it down into its most essential components well. We came up with a unique solution that stays true to DoorDash’s brand and would tangibly encourage college students to eat healthier. For future considerations, we could potentially introduce a social feature so users can share their customized pet and their wellbeing with others, as well as rethink the placement of Dash.
Unfortunately, due to logistical reasons, our team was unable to officially place in the Designathon. However, I would like to thank my teammates: Bobo Khat, Hosea Chen, Laney Fong, and Ian Park for participating in this design challenge with me. I had an amazing time :)
NEXT UP →
Encouraging college students to order healthier through an accountability partner
DoorDash
2023