walkawayrenee

I’m excited about this project.

Rethink The Food Label | Nutrition. Conversation. Design..

I’ve been interested in this conversation since the beginning of my thesis research. In fact, it was one of the runner-ups for my actual thesis. Many of you who might know my work and process probably know this. In a topic studio on contemporary health issues I attempted to address this issue through the epidemic of obesity. The project involved a semester of research, and a lot of work on the messaging, but the label solutions I created are still on the conceptual level.

My initial goal was to redesign the entire nutrition label. Creating a visual code for the elements of the food. In this idea, each food would be given a map, based on its actual make-up. The system might seem complex, but I envisioned it working as something that could give people a general read on a food’s composition at a glance. I also saw it working as a QR code. Allowing smart phone to scan and bring up more specific nutritional information about the food. I thought about how this might work as a system in a grocery store. These are some initial sketches for the concept.

Since the system would require some degree of learning, like an alphabet, I thought about how to incorporate guides, kiosks, shopping carts, and learning games for young children to teach about food composition.

Anyway, you can see some of the work I ended up producing here. But what I’m really excited about is picking the project back up for this competition, and I’ve been paired with nutritionist and food writer Harold McGee, which I think will be pretty amazing. Another great thing about it is Micheal Pollan is one of the judges, whom has been one of my biggest influences in food politics. One of my label designs even specifically was designed around his common sense approach to eating in his book In Defense of Food.

So stay tuned to see what happens with this over the next few weeks…