DES100 Design a Physical Prototype - Design Summary

Design TIAKI

Team HYPHAE:

• Alice Kim

• Clara Schroeder

• Marco de Kretser

• Skylir Chang

DESIGN STATEMENT

Hyphae will design a data visualisation to encourage sustainable habits in young Kiwis aged between 16 - 24 years old, to reduce food waste. reduce their food waste. This will allow them to save money on excessive food purchases, conserve the environment and create greater respect for our resources. Many young people do have the perception that food waste is an issue which needs to be reduced, however many of them are not motivated enough. Therefore, our design will need to track the proximity of food items expiring in the user's home. Crucially, it will also need to prompt the target user to create better food consumption habits.

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this assignment was to bring information to life in physical forms. Choose a problem, focus on a particular group of people and design a physical visualisation or a tangible user interface as a solution to promote behaviour change.

From a given list of problems, we decided to focus on reducing food waste.

RESEARCH

To gain a broader understanding of the factors surrounding food waste, we conducted secondary research to interpret relevant data and assess visual and physical representations of current design solutions. We identified three key themes that we can implement to our designs; perspectives, systems and usage.

Perspectives:

Changing consumers perspectives around what is food and what isn't could lessen food wastage earlier in the supply chain before produce arrives at supermarkets.

Systems:

Changing the system around what is done with food that is going to be wasted but is still entirely valuable could lessen food wastage in restaurants and households.

Usage:

Changing the usage of food waste created by commercial enterprises and consumers would allow for food used to be optimised even in waste.

VISUALISATION

Final rendered model

Rendered model in context

Storyboard showing the interaction of the design

SPECIFICATION

Considering our target group, age 16 to 24, would not have the budget or need to purchase a new refrigerator with an integrated screen, we aim to make the size of TIAKI compatible with fridges from all dimensions.

The specification will be made from LEDs, an MLA 3D printed grid, a sensor camera, a glass cover, a touch screen and an aluminium frame.

REFLECTION

In reflection, one of our biggest struggles was following the brief. Trying to design something that exhibits information, but is also physical, was something quite challenging for us. Originally our design was very much focused on an intelligent UI displayed on a touch screen, but this was not ‘physical’ enough. Although the touch screen interface was the more plausible/useful design, we had to adapt the idea into a more abstract form to display the data in a physical manner.

Once well within the iteration stage, our team began to comment on whether or not we chose the right topic to focus on — the bane of choice. Ultimately, although we may have found this topic extremely difficult to design for, it challenged us to think outside the box, and have a more critical eye on the service design in our world. With all environmental issues, the problems are deep-rooted in the seemingly ordinary systems that exist in our everyday life. This has taught us to oppose the norm and not take “oh but we have done this for years and it’s worked fine” as an answer.

Looking into the future, we propose the development of an accompanying mobile app. This would receive data from the fridge system and make it available when in the grocery store or at work. This would be beneficial as recipes can be planned prior to meal-time, and no double-ups of food purchases would occur. This makes the design more accessible during everyday life, not only in the fridge.

The app could include features such as the current stats of your food items to keep you up to date on the go. Suggest recipes to create from food which will soon reach the expiry. A shopping list creator with recommendations of your most frequently used items and supermarkets with the best deals for your list. And an educational page containing general information about food wastage, it causes and how to prevent it. Additionally, to improve the sustainability of our design in the future, we would like to use more eco-friendly materials to fit along the design theme of conserving natural resources.

Summary written by Clara Schroeder