Step 03 / 11

Who we design for

Four personas, each with an empathy map and a four-stage user journey, and the improvement opportunities the team found along the way.

Khaled Hamad17 · Student Amal Al-Saadi34 · Administrative Assistant Faisal Al-Harith28 · Software Developer Sara Al-Fahad24 · Teacher
Scroll

From research to personas

From the interviews and desk research, the team defined four personas: two people who want to lose weight, one who wants to build muscles and one living with a gluten allergy. Each one got an empathy map, a persona card and a user journey.

lose weight Khaled Hamad 17 · Student · Riyadh Profile + empathy map lose weight Amal Al-Saadi 34 · Administrative Assistant · Riyadh Profile + empathy map build muscles Faisal Al-Harith 28 · Software Developer · Riyadh Profile + empathy map diseases and allergies Sara Al-Fahad 24 · Teacher · Riyadh Profile + empathy map

4

personas, each with an empathy map

16

journey stages (4 per persona)

40

feelings rated on the journeys — 16 of them red

39

improvement opportunities across the four journeys

Counted on the Empathy Maps and User Journeys boards.

Empathy maps + personas

What they say, think, do and feel

Keep scrolling: the four personas slide past.Each profile sits next to its empathy map.

Persona 01 / 04

Khaled Hamad

Segment · lose weight
Age
17
Marital Status
Single
Occupation
Student
Location
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Khaled is an introverted teenager. He likes to spend his time playing video games, and usually eats fast food and a lot of snacks while playing. He began to feel depressed due to his lifestyle and eating habits, so he wants to start a healthier lifestyle and follow a diet with his nutritionist.

Goals

  • Follow the diet plan to reduce weight
  • be proud of his look
  • have a healthy life
  • find enjoyable foods while keep making progress

Pain Points

  • comes back to his old habits
  • can not find suitable meals or snacks that fits his diet (meals don’t contain micro nutrition values on it)
  • can not cook
  • binge eating when he is stressed

Empathy map · Khaled

What do they Think?

  • he needs assistance with dieting
  • if his lifestyle haven't changed he will be sick or die
  • it is hard to stick to a diet

How do they Feel?

  • motivated to see results
  • scared of the idea of failing
  • ashamed of his body
  • He is upset when his mother does not cook

What do they Say?

  • due to my heavy weight my only solution was to start dieting with a nutritionist
  • I am used to eat while doing things..like playing
  • I want to feel good about myself
  • I'm afraid I'll get sick or die

What do they Do?

  • follow a diet plan with his nutritionist
  • cooks unsatisfying meals when his mom doesn't cook
  • He goes to markets and restaurants but cannot find items to buy
  • binge eating sometimes when he feels stressed

Persona 02 / 04

Amal Al-Saadi

Segment · lose weight
Age
34
Marital Status
Married
Occupation
Administrative Assistant
Location
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Amal is a hardworking mother juggling a demanding job and raising three kids. With her busy schedule, she can barely find time for a healthy lifestyle. She is determined to become the best version of herself and wants to be a positive role model for her children.

Goals

  • Reduce weight to maintain a healthier lifestyle
  • Develop a consistent and sustainable eating and exercise routine
  • fix her relationship with food and her body image
  • feed her family good healthy food

Pain Points

  • High cost of healthy food
  • Unsatisfying taste and lower portions of healthy food
  • Lack of time and energy
  • Emotional triggers which lead to binge and emotional eating
  • Difficulty Maintaining a Routine
  • lack of meals option containing micro nutrition facts

Empathy map · Amal

What do they Think?

  • Healthy food is expensive I can’t afford it and it’s not tasteful
  • I can lose weight I just need to be disciplined
  • if I lose the weight I will be a good role model for my children

How do they Feel?

  • Stressed and overwhelmed by her busy schedule
  • Frustrated with her inconsistency
  • Discouraged by the high cost and low portions of healthy food
  • Motivated to improve self-confidence and well-being

What do they Say?

  • I find it hard to stick to a diet.
  • Healthy food is always so expensive.
  • I want to be fit and confident.
  • Balancing work, kids, and a healthy lifestyle is exhausting.

What do they Do?

  • Eats junk food due to convenience and cost
  • Orders food instead of cooking.
  • Attempts various diets like keto, fasting and low carbs

Persona 03 / 04

Faisal Al-Harith

Segment · build muscles
Age
28
Marital Status
Single
Occupation
Software Developer
Location
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Faisal is the son of the company's manager. He always tries to appear more masculine, strong, and trustworthy. He wants to prove to everyone that he is capable of being the new lead.

Goals

  • Build and maintain muscle mass effectively
  • Develop a balanced routine of intense training and adequate recovery
  • Stay motivated and consistent with workout plans
  • Overcome self-doubt and manage realistic expectations

Pain Points

  • Difficulty ensuring proper nutrition and meeting dietary requirements
  • Overwhelmed by vast and often conflicting information on muscle-building
  • Struggles with motivation during periods of slow progress or plateaus
  • Self-doubt and high expectations regarding results and timelines
  • lack of time

Empathy map · Faisal

What do they Think?

  • Considers muscle-building is essential to become a strong man
  • if I don’t reach my daily protein intake I won’t have the muscles I wanted
  • Desires to maintain a consistent and effective fitness routine.

How do they Feel?

  • Frustrated by slow progress
  • Motivated to improve his body and be more muscular
  • Stressed by the challenge of balancing his job with his fitness goals.
  • guilty if he can’t reach protein goal

What do they Say?

  • I want to have big bulky muscles
  • Finding time to workout and meal prep with my job is tough.
  • it is hard to stay motivated when progress is slow.
  • A high-protein diet is essential for my goals.

What do they Do?

  • Engages in regular strength training and muscle-building exercises.
  • Follows a high-protein, low-carb diet.
  • Stays updated with the latest muscle-building techniques and supplements.
  • He tries to prepare a meal but fails and orders food

Persona 04 / 04

Sara Al-Fahad

Segment · diseases and allergies
Age
24
Marital Status
Single
Occupation
Teacher
Location
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Sara started her new job this month. She always dreamed of becoming a teacher. She wants to fit in, but feels left out when her coworkers gather to order food and she can't join because of a gluten allergy.

Goals

  • Manage her allergies effectively through diet
  • Simplify meal planning and find convenient, safe food options
  • blend in and join people for eating

Pain Points

  • Difficulty finding suitable food options that align with allergies
  • High cost and limited availability of allergen-free products
  • Complexity of meal planning and ingredient substitutions
  • Challenges in maintaining a balanced diet within dietary restrictions

Empathy map · Sara

What do they Think?

  • Considers food as a form of medicine.
  • Feels overwhelmed by the need to constantly find new recipes and substitutes.

How do they Feel?

  • Stressed by the complexity of meal planning and finding safe food options.
  • left out when she can’t join people to eat
  • Frustrated by the high cost and limited availability of allergen-free products.

What do they Say?

  • I can’t eat my favourite meals anymore
  • It's hard to find good allergen-free food, and it is expensive.
  • A healthy diet makes me feel better in the long run.
  • I need to meal prep but sometimes I don’t have time

What do they Do?

  • Searches for suitable affordable food option
  • Tries to always meal prep

Empathy board · quick cards

Three more people, in pain points and needs

Next to the four personas, the empathy board logs three people in a lighter format: their pain points and their needs. Names are left out here.

Respondent 1Age 31

Pain points

  • hungry at night
  • micro nutrition facts provided
  • time and meals restriction of food delivery apps

Needs

  • lose weight fast
  • a place to eat
  • fast delivery

Respondent 2Age 31

Pain points

  • busy worker
  • attached to certain foods
  • low knowledge about healthy eating
  • high cost of healthy food
  • strict diet
  • non-customized meals of diet control companies

Needs

  • fresh food
  • to eat same food but different portions
  • lose weight to play basketball

Respondent 3Age 23

Pain points

  • no time for cooking
  • low quality of sleep and focus after eating specific food
  • high minimum order amount
  • high price of healthy food
  • due to lack of options she can’t be consistent

Needs

  • lots of salads
  • guidance with what to eat and how will that affect her
  • flexible diet plan
  • reasonable amount of food

User journeys

Where it hurts, and where So’rah can help

Each persona walks through four stages. For every stage the board lists the tasks, how they feel (green, amber or red) and the improvement opportunities the team found.

  • 12 positive
  • 12 mixed
  • 16 negative

The board draws no emotion curve. The feeling line under each journey’s stages is drawn from the board’s feeling ratings. Opportunities tagged “also …” appear in more than one journey: select one to light it up everywhere.

Journey 01 / 04 · Khaled Hamad

Khaled is an obese teenager he wants to start living healthy.

goal: help Khaled reach weight loss and live like a normal teenager.

Action

Feeling linedrawn from the board’s feeling ratings

Task list

Feeling adjective

Improvement opportunities

01Search for a nutritionist

Task list
  1. ask family and friends for a nutritionist
  2. search online for a nutritionist
Feeling adjective
  • Excited to start the journey (positive)
  • he feels confused about which nutritionist he should pick (mixed)
  • scared about the unknown (negative)
Improvement opportunities

02Start the diet plan

Task list
  1. make appointment
  2. went to the clinic with his family
  3. weigh himself on an InBody test
  4. the nutritionist calculated his micro needs
  5. the nutritionist asked him about the food he likes and gave him a diet plan
Feeling adjective
  • confused about what foods he likes (mixed)
  • ashamed to see his weight (negative)
  • Safe he feels like he is in good hands (positive)
Improvement opportunities

03Follow the diet

Task list
  1. see what he can eat every meal
  2. ask his mother to prepare his food
  3. go to the clinic every week to track the progress
Feeling adjective
  • happy to see result (positive)
  • confused of how to compare results (mixed)
  • tired of restriction (negative)
  • feels lonely (negative)
  • afraid that he didn’t lose any weight (negative)
Improvement opportunities

04Maintain weight lost

Task list
  1. keeps dieting and tracking weight
  2. workout
Feeling adjective
  • happy to achieve goal (positive)
Improvement opportunities

Journey 02 / 04 · Amal Al-Saadi

Amal is a busy working mom, she wants to reduce her weight to maintain a healthier lifestyle

goal: help Amal reach weight loss in an easy budget friendly way.

Action

Feeling linedrawn from the board’s feeling ratings

Task list

Feeling adjective

Improvement opportunities

01Set daily calories limit

Task list
  1. weigh herself
  2. search for a calories calculator
  3. open calories calculator and set her weight loss goal and her information

*Redo the same process every time she loses weight

Feeling adjective
  • Excited to start the journey (positive)
  • She feels confused about how to set up her goal (mixed)
  • Unsatisfied of the way she has to update her progress and plan her goal (negative)
Improvement opportunities

02make a diet plan

Task list
  1. Start checking the amount of calories in common foods
  2. search online for diets and meal plans
  3. try to match food and make a suitable plan
  4. try different plans and diets
Feeling adjective
  • Overwhelmed and lost by the choices (mixed)
  • Unsatisfied with the food taste (negative)
  • Unsatisfied with the food portions (negative)
Improvement opportunities

03Track progress

Task list
  1. take measurements and save them on her phone notes
  2. take body photos
Feeling adjective
  • happy to see result (positive)
  • confused of how to compare results (mixed)
Improvement opportunities

04maintain weight lost

Task list
  1. keeps dieting and tracking weight
  2. workout
Feeling adjective
  • happy to achieve goal (positive)
  • tired of restriction (negative)
Improvement opportunities

Journey 03 / 04 · Faisal Al-Harith

Faisal is a hard-working ambitious man he wants to be stronger and build big muscles

goal: Help Faisal reach his goal in the fastest and most effective way

Action

Feeling linedrawn from the board’s feeling ratings

Task list

Feeling adjective

Improvement opportunities

01Set daily calories limit

Task list
  1. weigh himself
  2. search for a calories calculator
  3. open calories calculator and set his fitness goal and his information

*redo the same process every time he makes a progress

Feeling adjective
  • Excited to start the journey (positive)
  • he feels confused about how to set up his goal (mixed)
  • Unsatisfied of the way he has to update his progress and plan his goal (negative)
Improvement opportunities

02make a workout and diet plan

Task list
  1. Start checking the amount of calories and protein in common foods
  2. search online for diets and meal plans
  3. try to match food and make a suitable plan
  4. start taking supplements
  5. start to workout
Feeling adjective
  • Overwhelmed and lost by the choices (mixed)
  • Unsatisfied with the food taste (negative)
  • Dissatisfaction with a certain amount of food that he must eat (negative)
Improvement opportunities

03Track progress

Task list
  1. take measurements and save them on his phone notes
  2. take body photos
Feeling adjective
  • happy to see result (positive)
  • confused of how to compare results (mixed)
Improvement opportunities

04maintain fitness

Task list
  1. keeps dieting and tracking weight and muscles growth
  2. workout
Feeling adjective
  • happy to achieve goal (positive)
  • tired of restriction (negative)
Improvement opportunities

Journey 04 / 04 · Sara Al-Fahad

Sara is a new teacher who wants to fit in with her coworkers

goal: help Sara to fit in and eat with her coworkers

Action

Feeling linedrawn from the board’s feeling ratings

Task list

Feeling adjective

Improvement opportunities

01learn about her condition

Task list
  1. search online about her condition
  2. read about how eating affects her overall health
  3. learn about what to eat and what to avoid
Feeling adjective
  • She feels worried about herself (mixed)
Improvement opportunities

02Set a restriction food list

Task list
  1. write a list of restriction food from different resources
Feeling adjective
  • Overwhelmed by the many restricted food (mixed)
  • Unsatisfied with the food she can eat (negative)
Improvement opportunities

03make a meal plan

Task list
  1. write a meal plan on paper
  2. get the ingredient
  3. prep the meals
Feeling adjective
  • comfortable with her body (positive)
  • Unsure if the meals will stay delicious (mixed)
  • Tired of so few options (negative)
Improvement opportunities

04join others for eating

Task list
  1. bring home prepared food
  2. can’t join and eat with them in occasions
Feeling adjective
  • happy to sit with them (positive)
  • sad she can’t eat with them the same food (negative)
Improvement opportunities

Case presentation · persona

One persona, three goals

The case presentation sums this step up in one persona, Amal Al-Saadi, and three of the four goals from her persona card.

Amal Al-Saadi

34 years old

Goals

  • Reduce weight to maintain a healthier lifestyle
  • fix her relationship with food and her body image
  • Develop a consistent and sustainable eating and exercise routine

Also on her persona card: “feed her family good healthy food”

Next · Step 04 With the people defined, the next step is structure: information architecture and user flows.