Interface Analysis

Heuristic Analysis for Fooducate

Visibility of system status

Overall, Fooducate has a good visibility of system status that users are informed about what is happening, for example, whether something is loading or refreshing, at most times.

• Example 1:

When users first sign up for the application, they will receive notifications about the status of confirmation email.

• Example 2:

The spinning wheel appears when a page is loading or refreshing.

• Example 3:

When a FOOD item is added to the tracker, users will receive a notification on the top of the screen.

However, I think it would be more noticeable if the notification appears in the middle of the screen. Also, it is interesting that there’s no such notification when a WATER item is added to the tracker.

• Example 4:

The icon of the current page is always lightened up, and users can also know what page they are currently on by looking at the top banner.

Match between system and the real world

Fooducate presents information in a natural way that also makes sense to the users. For literal language, words, phrases and concepts are easy to understand and Fooducate follows real-world conversations that users are familiar with. For graphic language, the icons are reasonable that users can easily know the meaning of them.

However, people from different backgrounds have different preferences for units of measurement but the units that Fooducate uses are singular. For instance, the app asked my height and weight when I first singed up, the only units they provided are ft/in and lb but I usually use cm and kg, therefore I have to convert them by googling.

User control and freedom

Users have freedom to tap anywhere and everywhere in the app. Users can always go to any page by tabbing the icons no matter which page they are currently on. Also, Users can easily edit their tracker by clicking “Edit” and they can like, unlike, save, and unsave a recipe by simply tabbing on the icons.

Consistency and standards

Fooducate follows a great consistency and standards that they don’t use different wording for the same concept, action, and situation. Also, the layout and color scheme for interface are consistent.

Error prevention

A confirmation will pop out when you try to log out.

However, when users are creating a password for their account, there is no tooltip outlining some guidelines for password creation. And users only need to enter the new password once, instead of entering twice for confirmation.

Recognition rather than recall

Fooducate presents important options visibly, for example, the adding function.

Since the main purpose of Fooducate is to track users’ own diet, the app recognizes the users every time they open the app or sign in after logging out. One amazing function is that, if users add an item into their tracker for several times, Fooducate will mark that item as Top Product and it will stay on the top of the food list. Also, if users often have a specific combo, for example, a salad and a can of soda, Fooducate will recommend users to save the combo as a meal and users can simply add the meal to their tracker next time.

However, Fooducate doesn’t provide many tutorials and support options marked in the main menu. Also, I think that would be great to have auto-complete or recommendation when users type in the search box.

Flexibility and efficiency of use

In addition to basic features, Fooducate provides premium features for users who have specific needs.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

I don’t think Fooducate has a style of minimalism, but it has the most necessary information and functions that users may need, and the interfaces are well-organized(layout, colors, etc.).

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

I only received one error message so far. And in the error message, Fooducate told me precisely what was going wrong and how I could fix the problem.

Help and documentation

Although there are not many tutorials and support options on the Fooducate app, I think it is fine because the app is easy to use overall. It does have a contact function that allows users to send emails to Fooducate for help.

And on the measurement setting page, Fooducae provides some information about specific items.

Supplemental Method: Cognitive Walkthrough

Task: Record how much water I drink for a day.

Steps:

1. Click the plus sign on Tracker and click WATER.
2. Edit the number of cups of water and the time I drink it.
3. Click Add.
4. Repeat these steps every time I drink water till the end of the day.

Findings:

• I can only edit the number of cups, but I am not sure if the “cup” here means the measurement unit or a physical cup, I couldn’t find any information about this anywhere.

• I drank a cup of water at 4:47pm and drank another cup at 5:15pm. When I looked at my tracker, I found that Fooducate automatically counted it as I drank two cups of water at 4:47pm.

• Users are only allowed to add pure water here; however, I think liquids like coffee, tea and juice should also be tracked using this function. I had some black coffee in the morning and I wanted to add it to my tracker, since I can only add pure water using the WATER function, I tried to add it as a FOOD item. But when I tried to add it, the “cup” problem occurred again. Assume that the “cup” here means the measurement unit, I still have to convert the amount I drank into cups which means I have to do the calculation.

Comparative Analysis of Existing Applications

Application 1: MyFitnessPal

• Users are allowed to choose their preferred units of measurement.
• Tooltips are given for password and username creations.
• There are two main parts on the Homepage, one is the calorie tracker and another one is articles about fitness and recipes.
• Weight, water, food, exercise, and status can be tracked in the app.
• Food items need to be added by meals(breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks).
• When adding water item, users are allowed to type in a specific number of the volume and change the units.
• Users can add food items by searching for the restaurants that near users' location and users can request for restaurant menus that MyFitnessPal currently does not have information about.
• MyFitnessPal doesn't have auto-complete or suggestions for searching either.
• The navigation bar always stay at the bottom that users are free to go to any page whichever page they are currently on.
• Premium membership is purchasable in the app.
• MyFitnessPal provides detailed plans for users to lose calories and stay healthy.
• Reminders/notifications are sent when users don't open the app for a while.

what does MyFitnessPal do better than Fooducate?

• The units of measurements are changeable.
• MyFitnessPal provides a good variety of help such as frequently asked questions, contact support, and service status.
• MyFitnessPal provides suggestions for users when they found the user name is already taken by others.
• Users are allowed to type in the volume of water they drink by themselves.
• MyFitnessPal provides plans and challenges to motivate users.

what does MyFitnessPal do worse than Fooducate?

• The homepage is a little messy, and the color scheme is monotonous(basically just white and blue).
• There are no pictures for food.
• There are ads on Homepage.
• Too much information is put under the More tab and it takes users some time to get what they want, for example, the Community function.

Application 2: MyPlate

• Users are allowed to choose their preferred units of measurement.
• MyPlate provides recommendations for users' weight goal based on their measurements.
• Error messages are given when users' username, email address, and password do not meet the requirements (help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors).
• Users can add breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, exercise, weight, and water into their tracker.
• Food item can be added by searching or scanning bar code.
• The navigation bar always stay at the bottom that users are free to go to any page whichever page they are currently on.
• Premium membership is purchasable in the app.
• Reminders/notifications are sent when users don't open the app for a while.
• There are two main parts on the Homepage, one is the calorie tracker and another one is healthy recipes.
• MyPlate provides meal plans and workout plans.
• MyPlate uses a beautiful color scheme.
• There are Store and Library under Setting, but they both direct to the same page.

what does MyPlate do better than Fooducate?

• MyPlate has auto-complete or suggestions for searching.
• Users are allowed to create new food.
• Little tutorials of the app are provided for new users.

what does MyPlate do worse than Fooducate?

• There are ads on Homepage.
• There are no pictures for food.

Design Trade-Off for Fooducate

• Allow users to use their preferred units of measurement.
• Add auto-complete or suggestions for searching.
• Add some tutorials/app tour for new users.
• Show notification for every item that is newly added to the tracker, and put the notification in the middle of the screen.
• Add tooltip outlining some guidelines for username and password creation.
• Add more helpful information such as Frequently Asked Questions.
• Allow users to add other liquids such as coffee and tea as water items.
• Add some workout plans and challenges.
• Be more precise with the time when an item is added.
• Allow users to connect their smart wearable devices such as Apple Watch with Fooducate.