Pivot: A Taste of Culture through Sauces
by Jada Jones
The Problem
Individuals become at risk to cultural assimilation and can potentially lose their ethnic identity and sense of culture due to strong “American” culture.
Research Question
How can individuals new to America prevent cultural assimilation in order to maintain their ethnic identity?
Success Statement
My goal was to understand how and why do these cultural issues occur. I enhanced my understanding of ethnic identity and patterns of association to determine how they are correlated. This research led me to comprehend the sense of belonging when being identified with a certain ethnic group.
Once I gained insight on these issues and I found a design solution that could aid in helping people learn about their ethnic identity, how to express it and learn from others who are experiencing this issue as well.
Target Audience
College aged individuals who are looking to unveil more about their identity, sharing their identity with others and being open / empathetic to learning about others cultures and identity.
Research
Throughout my life I’ve had conversations with family members and experienced the feeling of losing my sense of culture or or ethnicity. My mom comes from a mixed race background, caucasian mother and black father, as well as a caucasian grandmother and black grandfather. At a young age I don’t think she understood the risks of being involved in a mixed race relationship during the 50’s. Personally, she has never experienced an ethnic identity crisis because it’s very difficult to find where African Americans came from due to captivity.
She has had conversations with coworkers and friends about this topic and they have felt like their traditions and religious duties have been Americanized. I reached out to these people first hand and capture their stories and ethnic struggles. My plan of attack is to ask if they have felt any type of loss or broken connection to their original culture. If so, then ask them to explain what types of things have faded throughout the years.
This topic is very relevant today because of the overpowering values than Americans have established that has made other cultures disappear. Immigrants and children of these immigrants have had to adapt to the way Americans live life but Americans don’t adapt to how other culture live life. In my thesis I will try to create a way where someone, who is curious about their original culture and where they came from, can learn more about their ethnicity and celebrate the way their ancestors did and teach their kids and family about it too.
People of all ages that have felt like that have lost a part of their culture, ethnic identity and self identity. These people need to feel like they’ve lost something that is hard to get back. They need to reconnect back to where they came from and honor their generational traditions again.
Design Process
I like to start my design process with sketches. Sketches show the process from start to finish, pencil to a digital vector. I establish a logo for my brand to give my brand an identity first. Next i created a type logo that could stand alone and represent the brand, in addition to showing customers the country of the sauce. From there decided what type of box would be communicate my brand to new users. The box had to be small enough to fit in a mailbox and customers hands, lightweight and professional looking. Once I nailed down the dimensions of the box, it was time to determine what was going into the box. The pre-measured spices are in small packets and the ingredient card is a standard picture size so the recipe is easy to read and can be easily stored.
Design Solution
Pivot is a spice kit that provides the necessary dry ingredients to prepare a sauce from the country of your choosing. The kit includes a recipe card, the country of origin of the sauce, and conversations starters in the form of coasters.It encourages individuals to prepare the most important part of the meal, share the meal with friends and family, and engage in conversations about cultural experiences through empathy.
