Environment. Illustration. UX.
EASY EATS
Easy Eats is a series of monthly cooking classes in partnership with the Sycamore Pantry at Indiana State. Using data collection, this concept event was created to help combat food insecurity, teach life skills, and use resources from the pantry. Each month will feature a new dish where students follow alongside an instructor on how to cook basic meals. The ingredients and tools are geared to be low-cost and readily available.
CAMPUS FOOD CULTURE
Interview + Survey
This idea started by researching what universities and institutes' food pantries were like. I went to the Sycamore Pantry to interview the employees and see the space. They discussed the demographics, donations, and resources of the pantry. I then sent out a survey to fellow peers at Indiana State. It asked questions like where they get their food from, if they have been to the pantry before, and if they have not how come.
DESIGNING FROM THE RESEARCH
I started with three different concepts to help combat the problems I found. The first was having a “Cupboard on the Go”, similar to the concept of little free libraries, there would be hot spots around campus to grab food from instead of one central location. The second was an app that would be created on campus to help decrease food waste and instead, be given to students. Each food source on campus would enroll and document at the end of the day what food they would normally throw away but is now available to students. Then finally the third, cooking classes would be offered. The students will follow along with the chef to cook a meal that they can eat that evening and take leftovers home.
EASY EATS: COOKING MADE SIMPLE
I continued with the cooking class idea as this creates a fun learning environment that feeds students while teaching them important life skills. The promotional assets created for this event were yard signs, Instagram posts, flyers, and then a recipe card at the class they would be given to take home. The graphics are illustrations of the meal being created for each month with a fun class name of “Easy Eats”.
THE PRESENTATION
PROBLEM SOLVING WITH DESIGN
This was a very in-depth UX/UI project where the first part of the project was all research-based. One of the big ideas for this project was finding an issue, gathering all the data, and then only from there creating a solution. So it was a difficult process not thinking of a design solution until the very end.