Welcome to the Soylent case study, where my passion meets innovation and a pinch of healthy curiosity drives bold digital design.
This project was born out of my commitment to crafting solutions that blend technology, convenience, and a user-first mindset. Soylent isn’t just a redesign project; it’s a journey to reimagine digital nutrition for busy professionals, fitness enthusiasts, and anyone seeking a smarter approach to health.
The idea emerged while noticing how modern lifestyles crave simplicity and reliability in nutrition, just like they do with their beloved digital apps. My goal was to create an engaging product that doesn’t just deliver a function, but weaves delight, seamlessness, and trust into every interaction. From early brainstorming through late-night wireframing, fuelled by oat lattes and a dash of ambition, this project has been an exercise in iterative design, rapid testing, and relentless refinement.
Soylent’s digital solution needed to support a user base ranging from mactose intolerance to on-the-go young professionals. The challenge? Build something scalable, friendly, and able to manage subscriptions, product launches, and direct engagement through personalized experiences and transparent communication channels.
As lead designer and UX strategist, I was hands-on in every step: research, ideation, persona modeling, journey mapping, interface design, and user testing. Collaboration with UX Collegues and early users was vital for tuning the product’s voice and its competitive edge. My approach combined persistence, a dash of fun, and a commitment to making each interaction matter.
In the following chapters, you’ll find a deep dive into each phase: from primary and user research to personas, flows, design, testing, and results. Stay tuned for how curiosity, collaboration, and methodical UX craft shaped Soylent’s evolution into a robust and competitive digital experience.
Every solid project starts with asking the right questions and listening, really listening, to potential users. For Soylent, my mission was clear: uncover deep nutritional needs, digital habits, and emotional triggers behind everyday food choices. The research phase combined methodical rigor with a bit of creative spark (yes, there were digital sticky notes everywhere).
Research Goals
Understand target users’ nutrition pain points in digital contexts
Identify the most valued features and frustrations in existing solutions
Explore psychological motivators: convenience, trust, and self-improvement
Methods Used
Surveys: To collect quantitative data from busy professionals, students, and tech enthusiasts regarding their meal routines and product expectations
User Interviews: In-person and remote discussions to dive into lifestyle, digital behaviors, and desires for seamless solutions
Contextual Inquiry: Observing users interacting with nutrition and subscription app ecosystems
Competitive Analysis: Reviewing leading apps and services in the sector to map opportunity gaps and UX benchmarks
Key Findings and Insights
Users crave frictionless onboarding and clear guidance throughout the nutrition journey
Personalization is vital: users want curated product recommendations and easy access to subscription management
Trust is a major challenge, open communication and validated nutrition facts emerged as decisive usability factors
Many users abandon platforms within the first week if the app lacks clear feedback or process transparency
Research Assets
Research spreadsheet with 15+ survey responses and 5 user interview syntheses
Affinity diagrams clustering pain points and “wish list” features
Comparative analysis matrix for direct, indirect, and aspirational digital products
Designing for real people (not just hypothetical users) is the only way to create products that genuinely resonate. After immersing myself in the world of digital nutrition through primary research, it was time to bring those insights to life through detailed, actionable personas.
Personas for Soylent were built from the ground up, directly informed by research: survey data, interviews, contextual observations, and competitor analysis. The process followed industry best practices, clustering attributes, synthesizing findings, and never adding details that didn’t directly enhance empathy or product alignment.
Age: 27
Occupation: Freelance Designer
Location: Cracow, Poland
Goals: Stay healthy while working long hours, optimize nutrition with minimal effort
Tech Habits: Heavy app user, values fast onboarding and smart reminders
Pain Points: Gets overwhelmed by too many options, loses trust if nutrition claims aren’t clear
Motivations: Efficiency, visible health gains, positive feedback loops
Quote: “If it saves me time and actually works, I’m all in.”
Behavior Patterns: Prefers automating routines, loyal to brands that reward progress, occasionally shares milestones on social media
Creating and validating personas allows the design process to remain deeply user-centered, turning insights into memorable, relatable reference points for ideation and critique. Personas inform the user journey mapping, user stories, and help prioritize features, ensuring that solutions serve defined needs and not just design ambitions.
After immersing in research and empathizing through detailed personas, the next step was to crystallize the core problems to solve, and generate inventive, user-focused solutions with a healthy dose of creativity. Here’s how this pivotal phase unfolded for Soylent.
Using persona-driven analysis, key problem statements emerged:
Users struggle to consistently manage healthy digital nutrition routines due to information overload and low trust in product claims.
Personalization is often superficial, offering little real value or ongoing motivation.
Onboarding in nutrition apps tends to be either overwhelming or underwhelming, either too much up front, or not enough guidance.
Many platforms ignore progress tracking and positive reinforcement, causing users to drop off after initial curiosity wanes
After countless iterations, testing cycles, and refinements guided by research and user feedback, the final Soylent product emerged as a robust, user-centric platform designed to revolutionize digital nutrition.
Personalized Nutrition Dashboard: Dynamic, clean interface displaying tailored nutrition plans, progress visualizations, and easy access to product ordering.
Seamless Onboarding Flow: Engaging guided setup that adapts to user input, reducing friction and boosting early retention.
Transparent Product Information: Nutrition facts backed by verified sources, prominently displayed to build trust and confidence.
Gamification & Social Features: Habit streaks, community challenges, and shareable milestones fuel motivation and user engagement.
Integrated Customer Support: Responsive chat and FAQ access promote user satisfaction and timely issue resolution.
