How Luncher taught me about classism and accessibility in app design
Back in February I was interning at CP+B, and one day we all had small postcards advertising the new Luncher App on our desks. The premise of the app is to gamify taking photos of your food. You take a photo through the app, describe what it is and where you got it and then submit it to a regional pool. After the submission window is closed members vote on the “best” lunches in their area. Once the voting window is closed, the person with the most votes wins a prize for having the best lunch.
As an avid picture taker of food, I had a lot of fun with Luncher. Being at an internship that paid me pretty well and had a 24/7 fully stocked kitchen also meant that I had the ability to create delicious lunch meals on my own, or get something gourmet from a food truck.
After my internship ended and I started working at the grocery store Starbucks, I found that I used Luncher less and less. And for me, the real reason for that wasn’t so much that I couldn’t take a picture of the food I’d bring from home or the deli sandwiches on sale- it was because I didn’t think my lunch was cool enough.
Being on Luncher when it first launched there was a pretty small pool of users, most of them seemingly in the advertising industry or agency scene. A lot of lunches were of beautiful salads or gourmet meals from nice restaurants with nice lighting. No longer having access to the time to set up a nice shot or to put together a simple, colorful meal was discouraging. I didn’t think anyone would up-vote my chicken and rice Tupperware bowl or my ham and cheese sandwich.
Lunchers user base may have expanded by now, so maybe there’s a wider range of incomes and demographics showcasing their lunches. But going from a position where I had more resources to spare on nice food and the time to do so versus when I didn’t and how that affected my behavior towards an app was really eye opening. Before that point, I didn’t really understand just how exclusionary new software or applications could be. I had always assumed since smartphones had become so accessible that apps were a way for all sorts of people to enjoy them without restrictions- Unlike going out to eat or buying new clothes or toys.
So, my takeaway from this experience was to endeavor to design accessible, affordable and realistic applications for people. To really think about who was using them, how and why or if these big ideas would even help people. And going through the IXDMA program really drove that home as well, since I was surprised to learn there was such a big emphasis on empathy and understanding your user base. And as a closing note, I have nothing against Luncher, I actually had a lot of fun using it, and it changed my perspective on an important subject, so thanks!
