Venner is an expert organization specializing in food education, promoting a vegetarian diet, and reducing food inequality. They wanted to tackle the challenges of vegetarian eating with a digital service that would get children and their families excited about vegetables, learn about their benefits, and taste them without prejudices. The result is a mobile application that encourages children to spend time with veggies, eat them and feed them to a tiny tummy bacterium called Vegemi.

Getting kids to eat their veggies

Many children and adults have prejudices against vegetables, which is reflected in their eating habits. A bad diet can be directly linked to growing health problems not only in Finland but around the world. The Vegemi mobile app was created to tackle the problem and get children and their families more interested in veggies and to learn more about them. The ultimate goal: do good for people and the planet.

Creating an entirely new character and app

We created a mobile application with a central character, the mischievous Vegemi. Vegemi is a tiny tummy bacterium, an avid eater of all vegetables, and an enthusiastic adventurer. A fun and visually appealing character, storytelling, and gamification of the experience were important in making the app both attractive and engaging. The character and the application were meant to increase the appeal of vegetables, highlight their effects on the body, and encourage children to spend time with vegetables. Vegemi was designed to grow beyond its original application, allowing the character and its story expand as needed.

Designing for children

The app was designed mainly for children aged 4–7, because the impact of food education is greatest in early childhood. For this reason, the content had to be easy to use and understand. Gamifying the experience was important in order to attract and engage children. We started by developing the character, name, and story, followed by brainstorming the functions and experiential aspects of the application. The design process occurred in agile sprints. The character, story, and features such as image recognition were validated with a group of children at an early stage.

Quick and nimble

The application was implemented for the client in the most agile manner possible. It was developed natively for both iOS and Android right from the MVP stage. Currently, the available language versions are Finnish and English.