Digital Media Design Capstone: Project Overview and Status Report (9/7/18)
Project Elevator Pitch
The Stories on Our Plates is a meal kit experience that is paired with educational content for foodies and home cooks. This product is designed to help students develop a deeper understanding of and appreciation for food, while learning to cook new cuisines. By providing a platform to study the history and culture of food, I aim to cultivate a community of learners and spark thoughtful reflection about the role of food in society. As a result of this experience, learners will develop the curiosity and skills to investigate and recognize the value of food beyond how it tastes.
View my final capstone proposal
Project Milestones
Milestone #1: Finalize the user journey map (September 9)
Milestone #2: Draft content and wireframes for “How It Works” and one module of the course (September 30)
Milestone #3: Test onboarding and course module prototype (October 15–21)
Milestone #4: Launch pilot (November 11–17)
Milestone #5: Project finalization (December 8)
Grading Rubric
Project Status Report
Over the summer, I’ve been focused on audience research, developing an initial draft of the user journey, and sketching out the product experience.
For audience research, I developed a 20 question survey designed to collect the following information:
- General demographics relevant to my project
- Food content consumption habits
- Experience with meal kit services
- Experience with courses or workshops on food
This information informed the way in which I deliver content: the length, media, and devices, how I can leverage the positive aspects of meal kit services and educational food experiences in my course, and avoid their pitfalls.
I collected nearly 150 responses to the survey, which I distributed via my personal network. Here are my key learnings from the survey:
Most respondents who consider themselves both foodies and home cooks (what I consider “super food enthusiasts”) were 25–44 years old. Disclaimer: Survey was sent out through friends and family and their networks via email and Facebook, which likely skewed the results.
Respondents spend up to 2 hours per day engaging with content about food and their top sources of content are blogs, magazines, tv shows, and news articles. This tells me that my audience prefers substantive, longform content sources.
Of respondents who are using or have used meal kits, their top motivators for subscribing is the convenience of having dinner delivered to their door and the opportunity to cook new dishes.
Many respondents did not have any interest in meal kits. They found the packaging to be wasteful, and felt that sourcing and designing their own meals was what brought them joy in cooking. I’m curious if the reframing of the meal kit as a means for learning to cook unfamiliar dishes with rare ingredients, if they would feel the same. I’m also curious if there is another version of my course that doesn’t necessarily include a meal kit or a just a partial meal kit — just include instructions and a spice packet, for example.
The top three cuisines respondents were interested in learning more about were Thai, Indian, and Mexican cuisines.
While the learnings from this survey don’t necessarily prompt me to alter my concept drastically, I believe it works well as a screener for recruiting users for testing in later stages of the design process.
I also developed a draft of the user journey and a sketch of the course portion of the product experience. (see images below)




What I intend to accomplish in September:
- One-on-one interviews for initial feedback on the concept
- Finalize the user journey to including further detail on the interaction flow
- Begin design of low-fidelity prototype of one week of the course
Note: I will be getting married on September 15 and going on my honeymoon, so my project will be on hold from September 12–September 22.
