From Data to Dabba

Bridging the Nutrition Gap – Designing Personalized, Nutritious Vegetarian Meals for the Everyday Hustle.

A UX case study on personalized vegetarian meals for Students and Professionals living away from home

Swapnil Maheshwari • UX/UI Designer • May 2025

Problem Overview

The Everyday Nutrition Struggle

  • Students and working professionals living away from home often struggle to maintain a balanced vegetarian diet due to:

  1. Limited time

  2. Repetitive food options

  3. Low nutritional awareness

  4. Hygiene & trust concerns in tiffin/delivery services

  • This impacts health, focus, and energy.

What Sparked this Idea?

  • 💡 While observing friends and colleagues living away from home, I noticed a common struggle: finding nutritious vegetarian meals amidst hectic schedules.

  • 🍕 Most relied on junk food or repetitive tiffin services, leading to complaints of digestive issues, low energy and boredom with meals.

  • 📊 Data from national health reports confirmed this as a widespread nutrition gap, not just an isolated issue.

Double Diamond Design Thinking Process

Veg-Vibe — “From Data to Dabba”

Design for Nutritious Vegetarian Meals

Used a Double Diamond process—Discover → Define → Develop → Deliver—to explore why students and young professionals away from home struggle with balanced vegetarian nutrition and to create Veg-Vibe as a solution.

Problem Validated by Data

Key Data & Statistics

  • 75% of Indian students & young professionals live away from home (Ministry of Education, 2023).

  • 72% report eating nutrient-deficient meals regularly.

  • 38% rely on processed/fried snacks daily.

  • Only 28% meet daily recommended healthy food intake.

  • Lifestyle health risks linked to poor diets: obesity (28.6%), diabetes (11.4%), hypertension (35.5%). (India Today, NFHS, ICMR)

📌Interpretation: These figures confirm that poor nutrition and skipped meals are not isolated problems, but widespread among young Indians living independently. The high prevalence of frequent processed snack consumption indicates a strong need for convenient, protein-rich vegetarian options and increased nutrition awareness.

RESEARCH APPROACH

How I further researched the Problem?

  • Methods: 10 in-depth interviews + 21 survey responses

  • Participants: Students & working professionals, and their parents living away from home.

  • Focus: Daily meal habits, pain points, coping strategies, and attitudes toward vegetarian meal services

Pain Points

  • ⏳ Busy schedules → meals skipped or replaced by junk food.

  • 🍱 Tiffin/dabba services feel repetitive, unhealthy & bland.

  • 🚚 Late deliveries disrupt work/lunch routines.

  • 🥦 Users lack clear information about nutrition in meals.

Insights

  • Users want healthy meals made effortless.

  • Convenience and variety are as important as nutrition.

  • Trust in hygiene & reliability influences meal choices.

  • Personalization can motivate users to stick with healthier habits.

PERSONAS

Target Users : 🎓 Students in Higher Education & 💼 Young Urban Professionals

Name: Aditi Sharma
Age: 25
Education: MBA
Occupation: Digital Marketing Manager

Aditi Sharma

"I want to eat healthy, but after a long day, cooking feels like a burden — and ordering junk is just easier."

Goals:

• Maintain a healthy lifestyle

• Find balanced vegetarian meals

• Track daily nutritional intake easily

Frustrations:

• Repetitive food choices

• Lack of information about nutrition

• Late deliveries that don’t align with working hours

Rohan Verma

"I don’t have the time or tools to cook, and the hostel food isn’t helping me stay fit or focused."


Goals:

• Find affordable vegetarian meals that are healthy and filling

• Avoid processed and oily food

• Track calories and improve fitness

Name: Rohan Verma
Age: 22
Education: B.Tec
Occupation: Student

Frustrations:

• No knowledge of nutritional content

• Inconsistent quality and hygiene

• Limited variety

Empathy map

Problem Statement

Students and professionals living away from home often struggle to maintain a balanced vegetarian diet, leading to skipped meals, reliance on junk food, and poor nutrition.

How Might We…

Translate Challenges into Meaningful Design Opportunities?

⏰ HMW help users plan or receive meals without disrupting their busy schedule?

🥦 HMW provide affordable, personalized vegetarian meals that fit cultural and dietary needs?

📊 HMW educate users about their nutrition in a simple, visual, and habit-forming way?

👩‍👩‍👦 HMW reassure parents about their child’s food journey while they’re away from home?

🍲 HMW bring variety and excitement to meals to prevent monotony?

🎯 HMW make nutrition tracking more engaging, light-touch, and rewarding?

Design Goals

🎯 To design a personalized vegetarian tiffin service app that helps students and professionals living away from home:

  • Access affordable, homestyle vegetarian meals delivered through trusted tiffin providers

  • Receive personalized meal plans aligned with cultural and dietary preferences

  • Track daily nutrition in a simple, visual, and engaging way

  • Balance health, convenience, and affordability in everyday food routines

Introducing Veg-VIBE

“Meals that feels like Home — Personalized, Nutritious, and Delivered.”

A personalized vegetarian tiffin service app that combines the reliability of homestyle tiffins with the intelligence of nutrition tracking.

  • 🍱 Personalized Tiffins → meals tailored to goals, preferences, and culture

  • 📊 Nutrition Tracking → simple, visual, and habit-forming

  • 💰 Affordable & Accessible → homestyle meals at student/pro budgets

  • ❤️ Comfort & Care → reassurance for users and their families

✨ From the goals and insights, conceptualized Veg VIBE — a personalized vegetarian tiffin service app that turns data into dabba.

Competitive Landscape

🎯 Goal: Understand how existing apps serve users looking for healthy, personalized, vegetarian meals—especially office-goers and students—and identify gaps Veg-VIBE app can fill.

Opportunities for Veg-VIBE

•Offer a nutritionally balanced veg tiffin tailored to individual health goals.

•Create an experience that feels like food from home, not just delivery.

•Use local vendors + nutrition APIs to drive affordability + personalization.

•Add features like AR onboarding coach (“ nutrition coach”), gamified tracking, and rewards.

  1. Food Delivery Apps (Zomato, Swiggy): Convenient but expensive, no nutrition focus

  2. Nutrition/Fitness Apps (HealthifyMe, MyFitnessPal): Track food, but no meals

  3. Local Tiffin Services: Affordable but inconsistent hygiene, repetitive, and no personalization.

  4. Personalized Meal Delivery Apps (Jio natural/Eat.Fit): Rigid personalization, not student friendly, its expensive, limited options.

Story board

User’s nutrition journey with Veg- VIBE

USER: Aditi – A 19-year-old design student living in a PG in Bangalore.

Morning Chaos Aditi skips breakfast again, juggling college prep & stress with an empty stomach.

The Concern
Her mom gently asks if she’s eating well, sparking a quiet moment of self-reflection.

First Delivery
Her first warm, balanced meal arrives — comforting, colorful, and truly hers.

Discovery
A scroll through social media leads her to Veg-VIBE: meals made just for her.

The Habit Builds
Days later, she’s eating mindfully, tracking progress, & sharing it with her mom.

The Transformation
Healthier, more grounded, and in control, Aditi embraces her new food journey.

Personalization Begins
She sets her preferences and watches her nutrition plan come to life.

Veg-Vibe App Design

High-Fidelity Screens: From Onboarding to Meal Tracking

Brand logo

This logo combines the familiar Indian tiffin box with fresh green leaves to clearly convey Veg-Vibe’s promise of homestyle vegetarian meals delivered with, personalized nutrition.

View Prototype Here.

1. Splash screen & home page

Appetising First Impression The splash screen blends brand identity with an inviting food shot to instantly communicate Veg-Vibe’s promise of healthy, personalised vegetarian meals.

3. Daily Meal Recommendations

(Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner cards with nutrition info)

Smart Daily Suggestions
The home screen displays breakfast, lunch, and dinner recommendations with key macro-nutrients so users can plan balanced meals at a glance.

2. Onboarding- Goal Selection

(Balanced Nutrition / Weight Management / Energy & Focus)

Personalizing at First Touch Users choose their health goals during onboarding so Veg-Vibe can tailor meal plans to specific outcomes.

4. Nutrition Insights Dashboard

(Protein, Iron, Fibre, Calories rings + Weekly progress)

Transparent Tracking
A simple dashboard that visualises nutrient intake versus goals and weekly progress, nudging users to stay on track.

5. Cart & Checkout

(Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner with price + Apply coupon)

Convenience to Conversion”
A clear cart view summarising selected meals, delivery location and cost, with an easy ‘Pay’ button to complete the order.

Suggested Additions to the Veg-VIBE

1. Health Profile Enhancements

•Medical Conditions (e.g., Diabetes, PCOS, Thyroid)

•Allergies (e.g., Nuts, Soy, Gluten)

•Supplement Intake (e.g., B12, Iron)

2. Behavioural & Lifestyle Inputs

•Sleep Patterns

•Stress Levels

•Mindful Eating Habits

3. Reminders & Notifications

•Mealtime Reminders

•Hydration Alerts

•Weekly Progress Nudges

4. Community & Engagement

•User Reviews & Ratings

•Challenges (e.g., “7-Day Iron Boost Challenge”)

Expert Q&A or Live Sessions

5. Gamification Elements

•Badges for Milestones (e.g., “Protein Pro”)

•Streaks for Consistency

•Leaderboards (optional, for social motivation)

6. Multilingual Support

•Language Preferences (e.g., Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, etc.)

7. Subscription & Support

•Plan Options (Free, Premium, Family)

•In-app Support Chat, FAQs & Help Center