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CLIENT
Blank Plate
ROLE
Design Researcher, Project Manager
LOCATIONNew York City/ Remote during Covid-19
TEAM
4
Helping communities facing food injustice reimagine their relationship with food.
METHODS USED
Personal Interviews, Co-creation sessions, Cultural Probes- Diary Studies, Visual Design
Blank Plate wanted to pitch their creative culinary program to funders to expand their model in neighborhoods facing food injustice.
BACKGROUND
Blank Plate is an organization that aims to create social change toward food equity for communities that lack access to fresh and nutritious food. They have developed a creative culinary program where local teens learn culinary skills, participate in story telling and sensorial activities, and engage with community in order to rebuild their relationship with food. They have been successfully running the program in The south Bronx, NYC and are looking to replicate the program in other neighborhoods facing food insecurity for whom they have developed a 'Train the Trainers Playbook' which will act as a guide to adopt the Blank plate program.
RESULTS
Blank Plate was seeking assistance to find new partnerships, funders and communities that lack food equity. But we understood that the success of this scale-up was highly dependent on their core product - The Train the Trainers Playbook, which was not fully ready to be viewed, understood and used by a new community and funder. We worked on coherently re-structuring the book, increasing visual and textual clarity of their goals and their process and developing additional details to make their story and the impact of their work louder and clearer.
BLANK PLATE'S CREATIVE CULINARY PROGRAM IN HUNT'S POINT
THE BEGINNING
Blank Plate's playbook had not been tested. We wanted to find out if it is fully ready for new community members and funders to view and use.
Our deliverables
Instead of finding new food deserts and funders, we decided to make sure the book was comprehensive, functional and engaging.
THE PLAYBOOK RESEARCH
It was important for us to understand the exact purpose, usage and content of the playbook. We used several qualitative research methods to understand Blank Plate's intentions and goals as well as to identify how the existing book can be more efficient in delivering it's impact.
Trusting the first instinct
We read the book ourselves and made a list of our initial thoughts. We made note of our first-hand experience- what parts were clear to us, questions that came up, what was exciting to read...
Clarifying doubts with the client
We interviewed Mai to ask questions about the usage and content of the boo, how the system's logistics work. We understood her guiding principles and values in working with a new community and what the brand personality must convey to the reader.
"The program is a flexible, modular and self-run system adapted for the community and run by the community."
Conducting Secondary research to understand how a guidebook can be instructional as well as modular.
To better understand how facilitation guides and workbooks function, we explored various visual and structural techniques that make it easy and intuitive for a user.
Testing comprehension and functionality of the existing book with a community leader.
​Since the intended user is a community leader, we tested it with Sloan Leo to gauge how they perceive the usage of the book.
"I love the idea of collective storytelling over food. But tell me WHY I should use this book? What value is it giving me? What does the ideal food relationship look like?"
CO-CREATING NEW CONTENT FOR THE BOOK
The makers of the program were the right people to answer these missing questions since they had done years of research and knowledge in the arena. We designed an online co-creation session to understand the value and impact of the program.
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CREATING CULTURAL PROBES
In order to collect stories and experiences of the current students and facilitators in Hunts Point, Bronx, we developed a cultural probe in the form of a diary.
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Unfortunately, the pandemic struck us and we were unable to visit the workshop and launch the probes. Nevertheless, these ideas remain with Blank Plate to be used for monitoring impact at a later time.
EMERGING INSIGHTS & NEXT STEPS
We learnt that there were big Gaps between the incredible value of the program and it's translation into the book. We addressed each gap with either redesigns or adding new pages to the Playbook.
Gap 1
Blank Plate has been successfully running for almost 10 years, with a clear vision and mission. They have a lot of knowledge and insight on the issue food justice and equity.
But the playbook lacks clarity in explaining it's importance. The content is repetitive and the reader may get lost in the structure.
We introduced a page that explained Blank Plate with it's clearly defined goals.
and a page that shows Blank Plate's journey, highlighting key success moments
and a page that articulates what food injustice looks like and what success looks like and engages the reader in self reflection.
Gap 2
The workshop includes many stages and requires diverse skills, from developing a curriculum to making constant efforts for grants & sponsors.
But the text heavy pages might not be able to efficiently explain the stages and make the reader feel confident about taking up tasks if one does not have prior experience of the skills needed.
We introduced a detailed description page with each stage of the process to help the reader plan and prepare
We introduced a QR code system to store and easily access a library of resources
Gap 3
Blank Plate model is very flexible. The playbook is not a prescription, but a guidebook. The community is free to configure their own curriculum.
But the visuals and information makes the workshop feel more structured and fixed in its approach. It misses opportunities to make the reader actively participate while reading the book.
Redesigned their visuals to clearly explain how configuring the workshop is possible
BIG THANKS
To Mai, our dearest mentor - thank you for your patience, kindness and generosity!
To Mahima, Shuyu and Amwaj for being the absolute super team!
Making sense of Global conversations during Covid-19
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