Empathy for the Food System
Rejecting human centered food design in favor of systems centered food design.
The most important commandment in human centered design is to empathize with the user. Design is all about having a deep understanding of the user and then bending the product or service into shape to create that ideal human experience. Innovation happens when designers can successfully create that ideal experience in the face of constraints — cost, resources, materials, etc.
A classic example of this is seen when the design agency IDEO dutifully observed small children as they brushed their teeth to gain insight on how they might improve the process. They noticed that kids’ tiny hands had trouble gripping conventional, skinny toothbrushes. So after much brainstorming and prototyping, IDEO redesigned the toothbrush handle to be much fatter, thereby making it easier for a 3 year old to hold. It seems like such an obvious move in hindsight — most brilliant designs are — but what it did was bend the current assumptions around the toothbrush in service of a better experience for the users in question.
In food, we’ve grown accustomed to the idea that products and services have been designed with our needs in mind. From having access to cheap tomatoes all year-round, to buying a shatterproof plastic soda bottle with a resealable cap, to being able to buy a virtually…
