For this Calcium Calculator™ Mobile App, I led UX research and concept development on a health promotion team at BC Dairy Association, translating user insights into a clear, evidence-based product direction. I also served as project manager, leading the partnership with Tactica and guiding UI design execution to ensure alignment with user needs, interaction goals, and overall product vision.
Problem
Many Canadians don’t realize they aren’t getting enough calcium, nor do they know what to do about it.
Challenge
Transform a validated, static nutrition education tool into an interactive mobile experience that not only improves self-assessment accuracy, but also motivates users to take daily action toward meeting their calcium needs.
Solution
The Calcium Calculator™ Mobile App is a fun way to find out how much calcium you get from the foods you eat and to make a plan to eat better.
“I would definitely recommend (this app) to my patients and clients… I think having an app that is so user friendly will help them get closer to their goals.” -User Interview #2
Research
Upon receiving the project brief, we recognized the complexity of translating a clinically validated, print-based nutrition tool into a mobile experience. To ensure we preserved its effectiveness while enhancing usability and engagement, we deconstructed the challenge into key research goals focused on understanding user behavior, evaluating the impact of moving from print to digital, and identifying opportunities to improve accessibility, accuracy, and actionability.
Research Goals
Improve accuracy of calcium intake and self-assessments.
Evaluate relevance of a digital calcium assessment tool.
Establish ongoing engagement.
Drive sustainable behavior change through goal setting.
Research Methodologies
User Journey
User Experience
Literature Review
User Journey
User Experience:
Interviews
2 rounds of user testing.
Ages 34-50.
6 participants.
In-Person and Virtual Interviews
Key Insights:
Overall, the app was very well received and described as “easy to use”, “user friendly”, “educational” and “very straight forward”.
It was not immediately clear that an action plan was the main mechanism to get more calcium.
Opportunity to improve the navigation for viewing more food items or action plans.
Users were split between food photos or illustrations.
User Experience:
Mood Boards
Key Insights:
Users preferred the color scheme of Mood Board #1.
User Experience:
Wireframes/Lo-Fidelity
Hi-Fidelity
Key Insights:
Have a clear affordance for users so they understand how to see more food items. For example, add left and right arrows next to the food item or Action Plan.
83% of users had expectations of seeing charts or graphs that tracked the action plans that they completed and how much calcium they got.
They wanted to see this information over a period of time to better understand their progress.
Literature Review
Most Canadians aren’t getting enough calcium.
1 in 4 women and 1 in 8 men over 50 have osteoporosis.
The Calcium Calculator™ is a nutrition education tool that was validated against a traditional information brochure among 216 women aged 19 – 49. The researchers found that more women had completed a self-assessment when using the Calcium Calculator brochure than the traditional brochure, and that the Calcium Calculator group had more accurate assessments of their calcium intake.
Ulmi, S, McGowan, P, Gray, D, & Savoy, D (1999). Moving beyond information: Evaluation of a nutrition education tool based on a theoretical model. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 53(2),S49-S53.
Based on national data most Canadians have inadequate calcium intake, as high as 86.9% in adult women between 19-50 years. Apart from the importance of adequate calcium intake alone, this nutrient has been shown to be a reliable predictor of overall diet quality in women. A study of 452 females aged 14 to 86 years consistently found that diets low in calcium were likely to be low in 12 other nutrients.
Health Canada (2012). Do Canadian adults meet their nutrient requirements through food intake alone? Canadian Community Health Survey, Cycle 2.2 Nutrition. Retrieved on May 22, 2018 from: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/hc-sc/migration/hc-sc/fn-an/alt_formats/pdf/surveill/nutrition/commun/art-nutr-adult-eng.pdf
Rafferty, KA, Barger Heaney, J, & Lappe, JM (2011). Dietary calcium intake is a marker for total diet quality in adolescent girls and women across the life cycle. Nutrition Today, 46(5), pp.244-251. doi: 10.1097/NT.0b013e318230e5b5
Launch
Developed in 2018, the validated Calcium Calculator™ app is designed to help users improve their dietary calcium intake. With over 2,000 downloads, it sure helps you keep your calcium on track.
