Digest Diary
Role: UX Researcher & Designer
October - December 2024
A design that can improve the quality of life for users with gastrointestinal conditions
My personal passion project
As someone personally affected by IBS, I understand the overwhelming challenge of managing a lifelong gastrointestinal condition. Even with my background education in nutrition, I can only imagine how much harder it is for those without the necessary knowledge, or access to support and resources.
This experience fuelled my passion to design Digest Diary—a tool that simplifies the journey, empowers users with personalized insights, and helps them improve their quality of life faster and more effectively.
The Problem
People diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and irritable bowel disease (IBD) often struggle to manage their condition due to the complex and lengthy trial-and-error process of identifying diet and lifestyle triggers.
Traditional methods to navigate these illnesses can be overwhelming and time-consuming, making it difficult for users to consistently log symptoms, analyze patterns, and make informed decisions. As a result, many individuals experience prolonged discomfort, unpredictable flares, and a lower quality of life.
Digest Diary aims to bridge this gap by providing an easy-to-use, accessible, and inclusive tracking system that simplifies the process of identifying triggers and adapting to new diet and lifestyle protocols. This system will ultimately help users take control of their condition more effectively and improve their health outcomes.
Exploratory Research
Research Goals:
- Determine the main causes of frustration and stress for users learning to navigate their diagnosis
- Understand how users want to be supported through the management of their condition
User Interviews:
- I conducted user interviews with five individuals: 3 with IBS, 2 with IBD
- The data collected from these user interviews helped develop key findings and insights that shaped the problem statement, 'how might we' statements, and key areas of focus for the solutions
Key Findings:
- Users have felt a lack of support from their health care teams, which negatively impacted their experience navigating their illness.
- Majority of users have to spend a lot of time daily, planning many aspects of their life around their conditions limitations and symptoms.
- Users have multiple areas of their life consistently, negatively impacted due to their illness, especially physically and socially. Stress makes their symptoms and managing their condition worse.
Competitive Analysis
- A competitive analysis featuring a direct and indirect competitor was conducted. Findings and insights were gathered to help answer our own research questions and learn more about the target audience.
- Recommendations for our project development were gathered based on the gaps in UI design, accessibility and usability in current competitor products:
Being recognized and supported in healthcare is an asset
Keeping cost in mind and offering a free base version or a free trial will offer financial accessibility for all users
Being inclusive of all GI conditions will help set them apart from many competitors
User Persona
Alex, 22
Recently Diagnosed with IBS
Alex was recently diagnosed with IBS and is struggling to navigate her new reality. She often feels frustrated and overwhelmed trying to figure out what foods trigger her symptoms. Alex is determined but often feels discouraged when setbacks happen. She values clear, simple guidance and tools that make managing IBS less stressful.
Empathy Map
Thinks
- “Why is this happening to me?”
- “I wish there was an easier way to figure out what foods are safe.”
- “I don't want my whole life to revolve around my IBS.”
Feels
- Frustrated and discouraged by unpredictable symptoms
- Anxious about eating out or trying new foods
- Isolated when others don't understand what she's going through
- Hopeful when she has a good symptom-free day
Says
- “I don't know what to eat anymore.”
- “I'm so tired of feeling sick all the time.”
- “I just want to enjoy food without stressing about it.”
Does
- Tries different diets but struggles to stick to them
- Spends hours researching IBS but gets overwhelmed by mixed advice
- Cancels plans last minute due to flare-ups
- Starts food tracking but forgets to keep up with it
Pains & Frustrations
- Uncertainty about what to eat without causing flare-ups
- Anxiety around social situations and eating out
- Struggles with tracking symptoms and identifying patterns
Gains
- Find an easy way to track food, symptoms, and stress levels
- Learn which foods are safe and which to avoid
- Regain a sense of control over her health and daily life
Alex's Current Cycle
How Might We (Improve)?
Journey Map: Improved with Digest Diary
- to keep track of changes, patterns and trends
- gain awareness on their potential food and situational triggers, health and physiological fluctuations
- learn how to manage their condition better
- to scan food log to find food sensitivities, trigger & flare causes
- notify users of potential trigger foods with pop-ups
- focus exclusively on illness management, not weight loss, calories, etc.
- AI generated insights based on diet, stress levels and physical symptoms trends
- updated daily, feedback guides users to implement necessary diet and lifestyle changes
- easy to understand advice
- personalized support to assist in navigating their illness
- bridge the gap in the current health care system where resources are inaccessible
- educational purposes to improve health outcomes for users
Creating a Design System
Bringing the vision to life
I started this project during the first semester of my UX design program, with just three months of experience using Figma. Now, having completed the program and with several more months of hands-on experience in UI design, my perspective on design has evolved significantly. With a refined skill set and a deeper understanding of design principles, I wanted to revisit and enhance my original work to better reflect my current abilities. The following section highlights my design evolution and the growth of my skills along the way.
Original Design
Updated Design
Dashboard page, before logging
Symptom logging
Dashboard page, after logging
Conclusion
My ultimate goal of this app is to help users like Alex find relief from their ongoing challenges of managing a chronic gastrointestinal condition. Every feature in the updated UI design are crafted with these users in mind, to support their journey towards better health and a more comfortable life. This project is still a work in progress as I continue to iterate, rework, refine the design. My long-term goal is to bring this app to life, so that it can help real users with similar health struggles someday. Thank you for reading - stay tuned for more updates!
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I create thoughtful, inclusive and accessible experiences that make a positive impact—let’s design something meaningful together.
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