Mealmate – Kristen Luu

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Mealmate - helping users on meals planning in a fun and engaging way.

Character design, Brand identity, Visual design

Introducing 'The hungry monster', a mascot to encourage users to stick to healthy meal planning.

BACKGROUND

For many people, the challenge of finding time, energy, and motivation to plan balanced meals tailored to their nutritional needs is daunting. Mealmate, a meal planning app, needed to connect emotionally with its users, helping them overcome this barrier in a fun and engaging way.

USER INSIGHT & CONCEPT

We identified that food cravings often feel like an overwhelming urge — a "monster" inside us. Instead of fighting it, we aimed to turn this feeling into a positive, motivating force. Developing a mascot was an essential task for my role in this project‭. ‬It's important to inject a sense of life‭, ‬and personality into the‭ ‬brand‭. ‬It gives audiences a persona to relate to and form a connection with‭—someone friendly‭, ‬with perhaps a maternal aspect to‭ ‬feel familiar and trustworthy‭.‬

Designed a range of friendly monster mascots. These characters served as playful reminders to guide users back to healthier food choices.
Created a warm, encouraging tone with messages
Balanced informative content with humor to ensure the app felt supportive rather than prescriptive.
In-app guidance to help users make healthier choices.
Social media content and relatable scenarios.
Email marketing campaigns with motivational tips and recipe ideas tied to the characters' storytelling.

A group of monsters with different personalities‭: ‬smart‭ (‬always planning‭), ‬lazy‭ (‬to cook‭), ‬cheerful‭, ‬always hungry‭, ‬busy doing something else‮…‬‭. ‬ Personalities that are related to users‭.‬

BRAND EXPRESSION

Encouragement
Educational
Fun & Friendly

SUMMARY

The character system created long-term storytelling opportunities, helping Mealmate sustain engagement beyond just recipes. By turning food cravings into fun, empowering reminders, Mealmate shifted the narrative from restriction to positive behavior change — all with a dash of charm.