User Experience Research

Meal Planning UX

Duration
8 Weeks
Role
Lead Researcher
Team
Individual
Context
Research Methods
Meal Planning UX

Executive Summary

This research explored the financial and emotional pressures shaping daily food decisions for international students adapting to life in Pittsburgh. I uncovered how currency conversion creates psychological spending barriers beyond actual budget constraints.
Survey Responses
26
Interviews
6
Co-Design Sessions
4
POGs Identified
4
Mapping the student meal decision journey
Mapping the student meal decision journey

Research Hypothesis

Currency exchange creates a psychological barrier making purchases feel inflated. New international students constantly navigate competing pressures: saving money versus saving time.

Key Insights

Insight #1

Currency Conscious

Students constantly convert prices to home currency, creating decision paralysis ($5 coffee feels like a fortune).

Insight #2

Missing Home

Affordable delivery systems from home countries are no longer available, creating a convenience gap.

Insight #3

Stress vs. Savings

Academic stress consistently overrides cost-saving intentions, leading to 'convenience spending' guilt.

Insight #4

Strategic Coping

Despite no fixed budgets, students develop specific coping strategies like bulk buying to justify costs.

Conceptualizing the meal planning tool
Conceptualizing the meal planning tool

Product Opportunity Gaps

POG #1

Mental Load

No tools help reframe local prices. Students need invisible currency management.

POG #2

Decision Support

No system helps make informed convenience-vs-cost tradeoffs based on workload.

POG #3

Cultural Access

Lack of connection to affordable cultural food resources and alternatives.

POG #4

Recipe Hacks

Need for quick, culturally-authentic recipe hacks for novice cooks.

Key Learnings

This research reinforced that financial decisions are deeply emotional. The 'rational' approach of budget tracking fails because it doesn't address the psychological weight of currency conversion. Effective solutions must address emotional needs first.