Allergo
Detecting food allergy using symptoms Please view on desktop
Contribution
Discover, Define, Ideate, and Visual design
Duration
4 weeks
Team
3 Members
Problem
Detecting food allergic symptoms
Manas loved traditional Indian sweets but never knew that the nuts used in some of his favorites were causing his constant stomach aches and rashes. It wasn’t until he had a severe reaction, ending up in the emergency room, that he was diagnosed with a nut allergy.
Food allergies in India lead to around 30,000 emergency cases every year, with up to 200 people losing their lives. Many like Manas are unaware of what’s causing their symptoms.
Solution
App + Wearable
Manas discovered or solution that changed everything for him. Remind him to log his meals, making it easier to track what he was eating. It would also monitor his symptoms, helping him spot patterns he hadn’t noticed before. The best part? It alerted him about potential allergic triggers in his food, giving him peace of mind before every meal.
With this, managing his food allergy became easier, and Manas finally felt in control.
Learnings
One day, I was trying different methods for a project, hoping to gain great insights. But it wasn’t working. Then I learned that using many methods doesn’t guarantee success and the process isn’t linear. The key is to choose the right method based on the situation and goals.
Effectiveness of the solution
App + Wearable has the potential to significantly improve the lives of food-allergic individuals, reduce the strain on the healthcare system by preventing severe allergic reactions, and tell the specific meal causing allergic reactions.
How it started
The project began when we noticed how food allergies were affecting more and more people in India. These allergies, caused by certain proteins in foods, which lead to reactions that range from mild discomfort to serious, life-threatening conditions like anaphylaxis. But it’s not just about the food—people’s environment, culture, and even finances play a big part in how they manage their allergies.
We wanted to investigate the everyday challenges faced by those with food allergies and assess how well the healthcare system supports them. Our goal was to create a solution that would make it easier for people to manage their allergies and live healthier, safer lives.
The Process
The process wasn’t straightforward—it involved many iterations to reach the final outcome. Instead of following a linear path, we had to go through several rounds of refining and adjusting, each one bringing us closer to the solution.
Discover
Why the process
To understand the topic, problem space, ask questions, and get into people's shoes to identify problems.
What the output
Problem faced by people, Food allergy as a topic its cause and effects.
Learnings
Research will stretch out. Define clear goals and outcomes to stay focused and concise.
Secondary Research
Delving into various scholarly articles, medical studies from reputable sources. By examining the existing body of knowledge, we have gained a comprehensive understanding of this critical health issue and got to know about various new things in healthcare domain.
Primary Research
To gain deeper insights into the healthcare system in India and needs, pain point and motivation of people related to food allergies. Our research involved surveys and interviews, enabling us to gather firsthand data from healthcare professionals and peoples with food allergy. This approach allowed us to uncover valuable information about peoples with food allergy and current state of food allergy diagnosis, treatment, and overall healthcare accessibility in India .
Insights
Done affinity mapping as we have too much data to process and to group related information together, discover patterns, and identify common themes.
Define
Why the process
To define the information gathered using flow, cultural, and sequence model. Defining persona for the allergic person and doctors. At last identifying our problem.
What the output
Insights from different models, along with discoveries from the research phase, helped identify the key problem to address.
Learnings
A decision has to be made using the available knowledge and resources to move forward at a given time.
——————Conclusion——————
Problem Identification and Prioritization
Here we identified the obstacles in food allergy management and decided which ones were the most important to address..
Affinity mapping (Categorizing different gaps found from the models)
At this stage, all the gaps, breakdowns, and issues identified are categorized to focus on key problems. Key problem themes are listed below.
Prioritizing problems
Prioritizing problems using critical vs feasibility matrix to know which problem to tackle. After that we have given rating (knowledge of topic, time constrain, creativity) to the high critical and high feasible problems to come to a specific problem to tackle.
Prioritized problem after ratings from every group members
——————Key arguments——————
Process followed to arrive at the conclusion.
Flow model
Why the process
Understanding where communication happens, the artifacts used for communication, people involved.
What the output
Breakdowns/issues. Communication breakdowns, or unnecessary steps in the process.
Insights (breakdown in model)
Healthcare perspective
Insights (breakdown in model)
Allergic persons perspective
Sequence model
Why the process
Clearly document the exact steps users follow when performing tasks.
What the output
Provide insights/breaking down into their workflow and thought processes.
Insights (breakdown in model)
Food allergic person encountering food allergy for the first time.
Insights (breakdown in model)
Food allergic person in emergency when exposed to allergic food.
Cultural model
Why the process
Understanding the problem faced by allergic individual in their decison making process.
What the output
Provide insights/breaking down into their workflow and thought processes.
Insights (breakdown in model)
Influences on healthcare practice in India
Insights (breakdown in model)
Influences on Food allergic person in India
Persona of doctor
Persona of allergic person
Defined user and context
——————Details——————
If you want to see the details, click here
Ideate
——————Conclusion——————
The Concept
A mobile first application for person having food allergy which connects with a wearable device to provide user with a easy and engaging experience of monitoring food allergic symptoms, reminding you to record your meals, alerting you of potential allergenic triggers, and helping in managing of your food allergy condition.
Wearable concept
The app should be more than just a device for tracking and saving image with the use of wearable the app can easily measure real-time body symptoms and environment using sensors and alerting user about any possibility of emergency.
——————Key arguments——————
Process followed to arrive at the conclusion.
HMW(how might we)
After finalizing problems we combined two problem and made HMW from it and framed it in a way that is more open ended yet specific and actionable for diverse solutions.
Brainstorming solution using HMW
Sensors
Researched about sensors which will make the symptoms detection possible.
Interface design
——————Conclusion——————
——————Key arguments——————
Process followed to arrive at the conclusion.
Task flow
Emergency action plan. How a person will navigate the app during emergency.
Information Architecture
User scenerio
Iterated wireframe
Reflection
Seeking early insights from experts in the field will guide the project in a more informed and effective direction.
Gather and document research data as early as possible to streamline the process with missing important insights.