IIT Delhi UX Hackathon

During September 2024, my class group of 4 people participated in a 6 hour in person UX hackathon conducted by IIT Delhi. 300+ teams participated, out of which our team "Nothing Beats a Jet 2 Holiday" got shortlisted to top 10 and finally won the winner title. This presentation explains the work that was done in that crunching 6 hour time period

Team Members: Desingh Paal, Shivani Adhana, Swagat Mohapatra, Vangogh

Role

UI Designer

Scope

Wireframing, UX and Product Design

Timeline

6 Hours

Platform

Mobile app

Problem Statement

Design a mobile or web solution in the “Food Tech” space such as smart meal planning, nutritional guidance, or reducing food. Focus on effortless tracking, inviting visual cues, and actionable tips for users of all ages.

Research Methodology

Lisiting Initial Hypothesis

Literature Review

Refined
Problem Statement

Users across age groups struggle with meal planning, nutrition balance, and food waste, while current tools feel complex and fail to engage. We need a Food Tech solution that blends smart meal planning, community support, nutrition guidance, and gamification with effortless tracking, visual cues, and actionable tips to build lasting healthy habits.

On Campus Primary Research

We carried out interviews and conversations with users about their meal planning habits, nutritional needs, and food waste practices to understand them better. This helped us gain deeper insights into their daily challenges, motivations, and expectations, ensuring that our solution was grounded in real user needs rather than assumptions.

Interview Insights

Last Minute Food Decisions

People often decide meals at the last minute, leading to unhealthy or repetitive food choices.

Practical and quick food options

Middle aged users wanted quick, practical meal suggestions that save time.

Too much cognitive overload on users

Many users said nutrition data feels overwhelming. They prefer simple, visual cues.

Unaware of required meal portion

Food waste mostly comes from overbuying or overcooking, not lack of awareness.

Wasting extra food

Leftovers are rarely reused because people don’t know creative ways to repurpose them.

Rewards and gamification promotes app usage

Gamified elements like streaks, progress rings, and badges made users feel motivated and consistent.

Need for reminders, nudges and clear instructions

Older users preferred reminders and clarity over playful gamification.

Need for groups with people following similar habits and goals

Community features (sharing meal ideas, challenges) were seen as motivating and made healthy eating feel less isolating.

Affinity Mapping

To get a better understanding and undestand coreproblems users face in various target group brackets, affinity mapping was carried to organise user insights into clear patterns.

Competitor Analysis

User Personas

Ideating Solutions

Wireframes

Branding

App Features

Final UI Screens

Conclusion

The EatWise project demonstrates how thoughtful UI/UX design can transform the way individuals and families in India approach healthy eating. By combining AI-powered meal planning, effortless tracking through voice and manual inputs, and gamified visuals that engage users of all ages, EatWise bridges the gap between nutritional awareness and daily practice. Our design process, grounded in secondary research and user insights, emphasized simplicity, accessibility, and actionable guidance. The result is a solution that not only encourages healthier choices but also reduces food waste and fosters long-term sustainable habits. EatWise goes beyond being just another food app it is a user-centric tool designed to make healthy living both practical and enjoyable.