Chyelle Milgrom: Making Wellness User-Friendly
During her final year as a BBA Strategic Design and Management student, Chyelle Milgrom partnered with Gallo Wine on a project organized by faculty member Hala Malak. The goal? To explore market insights into the health and wellness industry. When she discovered that the term “health” has a variety of meanings, Milgrom set about creating an interactive data tool that could reveal what health means to different people and how that could shape their purchasing behavior and other activities in health-fostering ways.
Milgrom’s solution came in the form of “How Healthy Are We?” (HHAW), a gamified digital questionnaire exploring eight dimensions of health and designed to yield information about health habits and perceptions. On the website, Milgrom notes that while similar market surveys have been released, none fully consider design and user experience.
HHAW has shown that an individual's habits and convictions dramatically influence purchasing. But the survey can offer more than basic market insights. Milgrom says it can be helpful both to individuals seeking to better understand their health habits and to governments, institutions, and businesses. “HHAW is not attempting to tell individuals whether or not they are healthy,” writes Milgrom. “Instead, it aims to help people see the patterns in their health-related consuming habits so they can understand what prompts them to want, use, and even stop using products. The end goal is the self-awareness that factors into health—as well as an understanding of the ways marketers can manipulate us toward less health-fostering decisions.”
Since graduating, Milgrom has worked as a Web designer and quality assurance tester. Reflecting on her education, she says it revealed her aptitude for “management, recognizing patterns, and decoding data into valuable insights that help develop strategic business acumen.” As Milgrom continues to build her career, she says, she’s determined to create work with social impact.
