ROCHE
App for Type 2 Diabetes
Innit worked with Roche in France to create an app to help people with Type 2 Diabetes build healthy eating habits through cooking, nutrition education, and challenges to get users moving.
User research: Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease, that requires patients to monitor their blood glucose levels and makes sure they stick with a healthy diet with plenty of exercise. Roche needed users to build healthy habits by using the app regularly. A diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes can cause depression, so giving positive encouragement to improve mental health is just as important.
Problem: Changing unhealthy habits in difficult.
Roche wanted the app to include a lot of features, so what was decided was a rollout plan:
version 1: recipes, meal planning, product scanning, product nutrition, challenges
version 2: glucose meter & activity tracker connection
Solution: Create an experience with delicious recipes for all skill levels that educates the user about nutrition while making a fun experience for the user. The character Phil is a play on the French word for line. He is meant to be your sidekick who helps you in the background.
The homescreen was the last part of the app to be finalized. We knew that eventually the homescreen would be used to track the user’s glucose and activity levels, but those features were scheduled for the second release. We wanted to use the homescreen to motivate and encourage users despite the challenges of Type 2 Diabetes. We came up with a simple “Advice of the day” card that would change every time users opened the app. In addition, we reused Roche’s collection articles to create a challenge experience where users could level up by educating themselves.
Meal planning is seen as a key way to manage Type 2 Diabetes because it helps users track what they are eating and builds healthy habits instead of eating what they have on hand. We reused some of the UI from Innit’s cooking app, but adapted it to best serve users with Type 2 diabetes. We added nutrition tags, a breakdown of macronutrients, and more granular meal planning.
The scan button in the tab bar allows users to scan product barcodes to view a nutrition breakdown and rating for the product.
