Brief
Identify a potential opportunity for a self-directed creative project and develop a design brief.
Design
My friend Anique is always cautious when she orders food in restaurant, because of her allergies. Out of curiosity I interviewed her and learned about her struggles. This motivated me to come up with a design brief that could solve her problems. My main objective is to 'help people with allergies to eat out safely'. Stating a quite open brief enables me to explore directions and narrow it down in a later phase of the project. In the brief I provided a number of issues related to the theme to choose from, a storyboard to explain the context and examples of solutions.
Evaluation
Prior to my final brief, I developed a few other ones by taking several kinds of approaches. I learned that opportunities to design for can be found everywhere such as in newspapers, conversations, observations and personal experiences. As I dug deeper into the context, I became more engaged with it. Nevertheless, I found the allergy the most interesting subject, because it was a close issue to me. The idea that I was helping a friend stayed an encouraging factor throughout the project.
Context
My friend Anique went to Planet Hollywood and ordered a burger, which she had tried before, and ate it.
Anique feels unwell and throws up in the toilet
Her skin starts to itch
Her throat thickens and she is out of breath. For the next three weeks she can barely eat.
Poor Anique. It hurts to see my friend go through this.
Facts
1. Allergy is increasing
- Patients hospitalized for food allergies increased by 500% since 1990. ('Why is allergy increasing', 2013)
- In the UK up to 50% of children are diagnosed with an allergic condition. ('Time trends in allergic', 2007)
2. Allergy is relevant for all
Allergy is even a relevant theme for those without allergies.
- I myself am aware of the allergies my friends have and keep that in mind.
- 90% percent of the 20 interviewees (from my peer group) has eaten out before with someone with food allergy.
- Allergies can cause life threatening reactions.
3. Allergic reactions often occur when eating out
- According to an interviewee who has 12 food allergies, she finds it most inconvenient to eat out. Even though she is very careful, accidents do happen, usually through miscommunication or cross contemination.
Main objective
Help people
with allergies
to eat out safely
with allergies
to eat out safely
Specify
Choose the broadness of the context by specifying the following elements. Examples are provided below.
people
How broad is the target audience of this project?
allergies
All food allergies or only the most common ones?
eating out
In restaurants, cafes, bars? What about street food? Which geographical location?
safely
Does the design allow minor allergic reactions or none at all? The latter is recommended.
Problem scheme
Design to tackle one or more issues that cause allergic reactions:
Potential solutions
- Effective guidelines for cooks about hygiene and allergies to avoid cross contamination or accidental use of ingredients with allergens.
- A mobile application with translations of allergens in different languages for travelers in foreign countries.
- Campaigns to increase donations to allergy research
Process
I made a few design briefs as exercise
Research and idea notes about allergies
References
Why is allergy increasing (2013). Available at http://www.allergyuk.org/why-is-allergy-increasing/why-is-allergy-increasing (Accessed on 15 December 2014).
Time trends in allergic disorders in the UK (2007). Available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2111268/ (Accessed on 15 December 2014)
