Exposition — A Personal Start
This project started as many others: with a personal story.
My friend and i were talking about developing some web-app together. At first, it didn’t feel like the start of anything big. There was no grand plan — just curiosity and love for product development.
But then, as ideas and anecdotes flowed, we found out a common point: We both had partners that were celiac. We experienced by first hand some of the social difficulties of being a celiac: being out of your bubble is a challenge.
So we took this personal and starting with a lot of assumptions we define a first move/direction: we wanted to improve the experience of finding gluten -free food outside home, when eating out with friends or family.
In case you dont know, celiac is a health condition of intolerance to gluten, a protein present in the majority of our current diet.
You can't be eating while wondering if you'll feel sick afterward.
— Research participant
Inciting Incident — The Problem Nobody Talks About
At first, we thought the challenge was simply -finding gluten-free places-. But listening to people with celiac disease revealed a deeper layer: insecurity and fear when eating out, feeling like a burden in social situations, and low trust in scattered information.
Rising Action — UX Discovery
We interviewed 8 people with celiac disease across ages and experience with the condition. We aimed to uncover what's essential when searching for gluten-free food, the main difficulties, and how (or if) technology is used to solve it.
Sample
8 participants
Age Range
26–51
Experience
6 months — 10 years diagnosed
Key Findings
Validated patterns shaping the product direction
Dispersed Information
People spend time/energy across search engines, social media, and word-of-mouth. No single, trusted source.
Social Debt
Eating out triggers discomfort and exclusion. Many avoid gatherings to not "complicate" the group.
Safe Places
Safety (cross-contamination), then variety, price, and taste. Finding all four in one place is rare.
Climax — A Shift in Direction
Findings reframed the goal. Beyond "mapping gluten-free places," we needed to centralize trusted information, enable a community with credible reviews/testimonials, and provide real-time tools (geolocation, filters for safety/variety/price).
Resolution — From Insights to Solution
Strategy, features, and product direction
Centralize trusted information
Aggregate places, add structured attributes, and elevate celiac-relevant details.
Geolocation & real-time proximity
Surface nearby safe options instantly, contextual to daily routines.
Trust & Community
Celiac-first reviews, testimonials, and contributor reputation for credibility.
Relevant Filters
Safety, variety, price, taste—aligned to the mental model discovered in research.
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Listening changes the path: early assumptions were incomplete until tested with people.
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Not just functional: social and emotional impact mattered as much as logistics.
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Human-centered design: empathy + iteration aligned the product to real mental models.
Next Steps
Validate flows with real contexts (commuting, social plans), refine contribution model, and prototype trust signals for reviews. Explore partnerships with certified gluten-free directories and local communities.