Student Profile

My name is Andrew Corkery studying the Master of Arts in User Experience and Service Design at MTU. This programme allowed me to expand on my knowledge of digital design and broaden my view of service design to be more focused on user needs and the user experience

Project Overview

For my Masters project, I created a mobile application that supports those with food allergies to make food decisions to better manage their diets. The key features of the app are food logging, recipe creation & allergy education. This application was tested with people with food allergies to better suit their needs. It was found that users wanted to become more educated on food allergies and their different severities, as well as support to safely prepare foods for people with allergies.

Background

Research has shown that the diagnoses of food allergies have been rising in the past 10 years. In fact, one in two adults are likely to be diagnosed with an Adult-Onset Food Allergy as early as their 20s.

Food allergies play a significant role in the economic costs for an individual. In 2013 it was reported that direct and indirect costs for children in the United States with food allergies come to over $3,000. These costs don’t include the additional costs of dining out at venues and having to order from a more restricted menu, due to dietary limitations. Over the years we have seen a rise of allergy-friendly solutions and applications such as “Find Me Gluten Free” which facilitates users to be able to dine out at gluten free catering venues. However, no such application exists for people with food allergies, who need to eat carefully and conduct extensive research before dining out.

Problem/Context

Currently, there is no efficient, effective way for people with food allergies to be able to manage their condition by tracking their food consumption. This makes it difficult for those with food allergies to manage creating recipes or dining out without extensive research. This can also be said for access to resources to better understand their allergies or other major allergies that exist.

We have seen with “Find Me Gluten Free” & “MyFitnessPal” that digital technology can provide a means of allowing users to be more aware of what they are consuming and what options are available to them. However, these solutions are limited in their capabilities, as they cater for a general audience rather than a specific group with specialised needs, i.e. people with food

Solution

• “Allergy Guard” is a mobile application that allows users to better understand food allergies and how to best accommodate them through:
• Food logging - users can see the ingredient contents of items that they store on the application.
• Access to recipes and being able to create and alter existing recipes to accommodate food allergies.
• Information on restaurants and their ability to cater for food allergies
• Access to resources to better understand food allergies
• This digital solution may help to allow users to feel more confident in their knowledge of food allergies and how to cater for others with this condition