MATRIX

A beautiful place to begin every meal for people living with Type 1 Diabetes.

Comment

MATRIX

Inspiration

I live with Type 1 Diabetes.

Every meal requires dozens of small decisions that most people never have to think about. Count carbohydrates. Estimate insulin. Inject. Record. Repeat.

After years of living this routine, I realized the hardest part wasn't the math—it was how clinical the entire experience had become.

Most diabetes apps are built around numbers, charts, and medical workflows. They're accurate and useful, but they often make every meal feel like another task to complete.

Eating shouldn't feel like operating medical software.

That realization inspired MATRIX.

I didn't want to build another insulin calculator. I wanted to create a place that people with Type 1 Diabetes would actually enjoy opening before every meal—a space that feels calm, thoughtful, and human.

Everything in MATRIX is built around one simple belief:

People should spend less time managing diabetes, and more time living.

What it does

MATRIX is an AI-assisted insulin dosing companion for people living with Type 1 Diabetes.

It helps calculate rapid-acting insulin while making the entire mealtime experience simpler and less mentally exhausting.

Instead of searching through endless food databases, users build a personal collection of foods they actually eat. Meals are assembled visually using food stickers, making meal planning feel natural and familiar rather than clinical.

AI quietly assists with insulin calculations and decision-making, while the user always stays in control.

MATRIX isn't designed to replace medical judgment.

It's designed to reduce cognitive load so people can focus on enjoying their meal instead of managing a disease.

How I built it

I approached MATRIX as both a designer and someone living with Type 1 Diabetes.

Rather than starting with technology, I started by redesigning the experience of eating.

Every interaction was intentionally simplified to reduce friction and decision fatigue.

The project combines:

  • AI-assisted rapid-acting insulin calculations
  • Personalized food collections
  • Visual meal composition using food stickers
  • Intelligent meal history
  • A calm, minimalist interface focused on clarity instead of information overload

Instead of treating AI as the main feature, MATRIX uses AI as a quiet assistant in the background—helping only when it's useful and staying out of the way when it isn't.

The goal was never to build a smarter dashboard.

The goal was to build a better daily experience.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge wasn't technical.

It was deciding what not to build.

Most diabetes products naturally evolve toward adding more:

  • More charts
  • More statistics
  • More alerts
  • More dashboards
  • More notifications

At first, I was tempted to do the same.

Instead, I kept asking one question whenever I considered adding a feature:

Does this help people live, or does it simply help them manage diabetes?

If the answer was the latter, it didn't belong on the home screen.

Keeping the interface calm while supporting complex insulin decisions became one of the hardest design challenges throughout the project.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm most proud that MATRIX solves more than a mathematical problem.

It changes how that problem feels.

Instead of opening an app that immediately reminds people they have a chronic illness, users are welcomed into a space centered around today's meal.

Every design decision—from the visual meal stickers to the quiet interactions—was made to reduce stress rather than demand attention.

I'm also proud that MATRIX demonstrates something I strongly believe:

Healthcare software doesn't have to feel like healthcare software.

It can be beautiful, calm, and emotionally supportive while still being clinically useful.

What we learned

Building MATRIX taught me that good healthcare products aren't defined only by accuracy.

They're also defined by how they make people feel.

AI is incredibly powerful, but its greatest value often comes from removing effort instead of adding more features.

I also learned that the best product ideas don't always begin with technology.

Sometimes they begin with a deeply personal frustration that millions of other people quietly experience every day.

What's next for MATRIX

MATRIX is only the beginning.

The long-term vision is to create an intelligent mealtime companion that grows alongside people living with Type 1 Diabetes.

Future directions include:

  • Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) integration
  • HealthKit synchronization
  • Personalized insulin recommendations based on individual patterns
  • Context-aware AI assistance
  • Adaptive meal learning
  • Cross-device support
  • A richer personal food library built from users' own meals

Ultimately, I don't want MATRIX to become the most feature-rich diabetes app.

I want it to become the one people genuinely look forward to opening before every meal.

Because every meal deserves a beautiful beginning.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates