Discover how every meal you make can help create a healthier, more sustainable world.

This project aims to connect the dots between what we eat and the health of our planet unraveling a simple but overlooked fact: our diets have a profound impact on the environment.

The staggering statistics are clear: animal agriculture consumes 83% of farmland and is a leading cause of climate change. Yet, many of us don’t associate this with the food on our plates.

Inspired by global initiatives and armed with data, I set out to transform insights into actionable information, aiming to make the environmental impact of our diets visible and empower everyone to make positive changes for a healthier Earth 💪🏼.

The Journey Begins

The journey to create Food Print began as a deeply personal exploration.

After changing my diet four years ago, I immersed myself in understanding the ramifications of our modern food systems on the environment. I discovered that many people overlook the origin of the food on their plates—the intricate journey it takes to reach us and the lives, both human and animal, involved along the way. This disconnect is largely due to human psychology; our minds often struggle to comprehend issues that aren’t immediately visible. The distant implications of climate change can slip from our awareness, making the need for education and awareness more pressing than ever.

Qualitative Research

I surveyed 10 people for this project and their answers echoed the disconnect.

• "I care about the environment, but I don't know what more I can do besides recycling."


• "I know dietary choices matter, but I wish someone could tell me exactly what to eat."


• "Climate change is important, but I doubt my actions can make a difference."

Quantitative Research

This data underscores a critical need: to make the ‘invisible’ impacts of our diets visible and to empower individuals to take meaningful action..

The Bases

My Audience

I went through many ideas that I refined while testing it on users.

The first iterations of the app focused on presenting evidence and allowing users to interact with data on how different diets affect the world.

However, feedback from users indicated that, while they found this information intriguing, it did not engage them and they still felt uncertain about what dietary choices to make for themselves.

Enter Gamification

As humans, we need motivation to do...well...almost everything. So to ensure I effectively fostered user engagement, I resorted to the Octalysis Framework by Yu-kai Chou and his 8 core drives of human motivation.

From core drive 1 of making people feel they have a bigger purpose to core drive 8 and the feeling of loss if users don’t keep up what they are doing, I decided to consider each motivator to create a compelling and motivating user experience.

1. Epic Meaning & Calling: My idea was to make users feel like heroes on a mission to save the planet through their daily choices.

2. Development & Accomplishment: By displaying a score based on their food choices as well as cumulative metrics such as land spared, CO2 reduced, animals helped, and water saved, users can visually and numerically see their accomplishments, which fuels their motivation to continue making positive changes.

3. Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback: Personalized diet profiles and actionable recommendations for improvement. AI chat feature, "Ask Seed," further enhances this drive by providing personalized assistance and responding to user queries, making the experience interactive and dynamic.

4. Ownership & Possession: Users can track their dietary habits and environmental impact. This sense of ownership is strengthened through the detailed diet profiles and cumulative achievements.

5. Social Influence & Relatedness: The app encourages community engagement through collective challenges such as Veganuary.

6. Scarcity & Impatience: "Food Print" leverages the drive of scarcity by introducing limited-time community challenges and seasonal events. This drive keeps the app dynamic and engaging, encouraging users to return regularly.

7. Unpredictability & Curiosity: The app keeps users curious and engaged by continually offering new articles and resources in the Explore tab. The AI chat, "Ask Seed," adds an element of unpredictability by providing personalized and varied responses to user queries.

8. Loss & Avoidance: The visual representation of the world on a low score taps into the drive of loss and avoidance. This drive encourages users to maintain their good habits and strive for continuous improvement to avoid losing their progress.

User Flow

Finally, I created high-fidelity prototypes using Figma for both dark and light modes, incorporating feedback from potential users and peers to refine the design.