Chris Schaefbauer

Overview

The Family Snack Buddy application is an Android application built to engage families in eating healthier snacks. The application was designed and developed from scratch using a user-centered, iterative design process (more on the process can be found here).

System architecture

The server-side SOAP web service runs on a MAMP stack (Mac-Apache-MySQL-PHP) and synced data between our server and the application running on users phones. Specifically, it allows users to have the most updated version of the snack database on their phones and allows us to store information about the interactions users have with the application, including the snacks they enter.

Features

The Family Snack Buddy application has two separate interfaces designed to support the needs of different family members – the informational interface, designed for parents, and the gaming interface, designed for the children in the families. Users can choose either interface and both versions allow users to:

• Log their snacks by selecting them from a list of common snacks organized by categories, typing the name of the snack, or speaking the name of the snack using voice recognition
• Receive feedback on the healthiness of each snack they enter
• Receive healthier snack suggestions that are small, approachable steps towards healthier snacking
• View their previous snacking history and the overall healthiness of the snacks they are eating
• Review the healthier snack suggestions that they have received since they started using the application
• Send messages to other family members through the application
• View the healthiness of the snacks eaten by their family members

In addition to these features, the gaming interface features an interactive game where users would help a digital avatar progress through various stages of their life, such as completing high school, college, and getting their first job.

Screenshots

Below is a selection of screenshots of the various screens from both the informational and gaming interfaces. More screenshots of different interfaces can be found in a larger gallery.

Informational interface - Home screen

Provides an overview of the user's snacking performance and allows them to navigate to other features of the application.

Informational interface - Snack entry

The user can enter snacks they have eaten by typing the name of the snack, speaking the name of the snack, or selecting it using a category organized, touch-based interface.

Informational interface - Family snack history

Displays the overall healthiness of the snacks eaten by other members of the family. Users registered as parents can tap on the names of other members of the family to see more detailed snacking information for those individuals.

Informational interface - Personal snack history

Provides the user with a list of all their previous snacks as well as their overall snack healthiness based on an average across all their snacks. They can also remove snacks in the case that they accidentally entered one or duplicated an entry.

Informational interface - Snack suggestions

A list of all the healthier snack suggestions that the user has received while using the application that they can review at any time.

Gaming Interface - Home screen

Allows the user to navigate to other features of the application.

Gaming Interface - Snack entry

The user can enter snacks they have eaten by typing the name of the snack, speaking the name of the snack, or selecting it using a category organized, touch-based interface.

Gaming Interface - Feedback on entered snack

After a user enters a snack, they receive feedback on the healthiness of that snack, in this case its in the form of points, and healthier snack alternatives that they could eat instead.

Gaming Interface - Adding a new snack

Feedback that the user receives after entering a new snack. After they submit a new snack, the research team would add it to the snack database for future selection.

Informational Interface - Family snack history

Displays the overall quality of the snacks eaten by other members of the family along with their current phase in the lifespan game.

Gaming Interface - Messaging

User could send messages to their family members directly through the application, with the hope that they would send each other reminders to use the application and to enter their snacks along with motivational messages for eating healthy.

Gaming Interface - Game goal setting

Users could set goals for their avatar that would be achieved by eating healthy snacks and accumulating healthiness points. Goals could be set in whatever order the user chose, however the overall progress of the game was linear.

Gaming Interface - Game progress

Showed the user the goals they had already achieved across the different stages of the game as well as their current goal, the points necessary for that goal, and their overall point count.