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My Student Knowledge Object - Gif

Lecture series

In the lecture from Bryn Pears, we learnt about how a gluten free food company functions and some of the challenges Bryn has experienced in marketing his company ‘Sillyyaks’. It was interesting to see how his packaging and logo evolved and its limitations in regards to costs. For example, to hear that 60% of the production costs got to packaging, seemed a surprisingly high number. This was a learning curve in the sense that having the skill to create great design in conjunction with being economical with materials, is what some companies prioritise.

It seemed he believed that in this niche market, design was less important but ensuring aspects such as, the ingredients are spot on to ensure the products selling point - to have no ‘may contain traces of ...’ clauses. I didn’t entirely believe in this statement however. I believe the ‘gluten free’ message on the packaging could have been clearer on the label so people can actually recognise what is being sold.

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In Sam Cutri’s lecture it was interesting to see the production line of ice cream. He enforced the message of the importance of learning about the product (including the product cycle) before creating the product or packaging as this helps shape aspects like the materials and shape of the packaging. In addition to this, the legal requirements are vital before designing the label.

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In Rohit Khot and Yan Wang’s lecture they focussed more on the technology of food, looking into the idea that food can be defined as a variety of things, a cultural identity, a multi sensory pleasure or a source of energy. This idea relates to my group project, as people are required to guess a food without seeing what it is, purely through questions on its characteristics.

Yan Wang characterised food further, looking at the sounds created when eating. She also explained how food can be a social, gaming experience - for example she showed virtual reality and robotics games designed to promote meaningful social interactions around awareness of food health.

In this lecture we were also reminded of food ecology, the cycle of food and the science behind different foods and how they respond in our bodies. For example, chocolate releasing endorphins. I also found interesting the effect food has on health - both mental and physical and how negative relationships with food arise.

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In Reg Abos’ lecture she explained the importance of visual representation to understand information quickly and easily. It was interesting how she explained that the new digital era has increased the popularity of visual data as statistical data is more freely available. It could also be argued our verbal language is becoming more restricted through our own doing - an example being the increase of text acronyms and emojis. It definitely seems as though people are shifting -towards more visual approaches to information.

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The idea of ‘eating together as an embodied methodology’ i.e the discussion created over food was an occurring theme throughout Georgia’s lecture. She gave examples of The bloomsbury group’s house painting where the table symbolises the exchange of ideas over the table. This reminded me of our first assignment at the cafe and the discussions we had here.

She then told us of an experience she had at the NGV, ‘Ririkrit tiravanja’ where she felt as though as though she was a performance or an artwork, highlighting the performative side of a food experience. This social design breaks down the the silos between the arts, combining aspects of different creative outlets. This highlighted the idea that food itself is a combination of design - from the aesthetic of the food eaten to sitting at the dinner table to enjoy the performance of the meal.

Georgia mentioned the idea that a cooking pot found from millions of years ago, is not just comprised of its matter like clay and mud, but an embodiment of the experiences that surrounded this pot on the table - its history is what gives the pot meaning.

In week 13 we had a showcase of everyones work at the alumni courtyard. Our class had a giant picnic with our work laid out on the blankets. We invited people from different classes to play our game and got some great feedback. It was also great to see everyones work from different classes and all the directions you can go with the two topics, design and food.

I think everyone enjoyed the experience we created, Milo described it as ‘both entertaining but meaningful’. It was nice to see everyone getting stuck in to the game and working as a team.

Through taking photo’s, listening to the types of questions asked and watching people’s mimed responses to these questions, we were be able to see how the class describe food. We noticed some generalisations with people miming the age of the supposed consumer as well as miming people of different countries such as Italy and France. However, there were also questions that arose such as ‘Am I a carb’, ‘Am I fast food?’, ‘Am I sweet or savoury’ which looked at a different way of describing food. In Rohit Khot’s lecture on robotics and 3D printed food, he described food in different ways - as a cultural identity, a multi sensory pleasure, a source of energy. The questions the class asked touched on all of these topics.

The impact of our experience

The two minute rule meant that people didn’t have time to second-guess their judgement and instead their initial viewpoint / judgement would come out - rather than them thinking about their answer and refraining from a possibly racist or sexist judgement.

If they were to ask ‘Am I eaten by a male?’ This may expose their predisposition that they believe meat is more of a male gendered food.

As mentioned on my ‘Research on Idea 1’ post, the food website Bon Appetit received criticism on their claim “Pho is the new Ramen.” as “pho is from Vietnam and ramen from Japan”. Their simplification of Asian culture here is an example where we may make a statement about food, generalising the culture in belongs to.

This helps people recognise their judgements and reflect on whether they need to open their mind to the categorisation of food towards different diversities.

Individual contribution and teamwork

In the lead up to the experience, we delegated different roles to ensure everything would run smoothly. I was the team leader so organised aspects such as our time management - I made a list of dates and deadlines to keep us on track. I provided ideas and suggestions to the group in discussions about the rules and logistics of the game. Ana did an amazing job of illustrating the foods which the rest of us then vectorised in illustrator. Once we had completed the vectors, I suggested the colour scheme for the cards and compiled them all together into one document. Braydon created a great logo for the game, a simplistic and striking shape created from two question marks - this references the fundamental aspects of the game - asking questions. With this logo, I created a pattern for the back of the cards and designed the net for the card box. With Kristine, I organised the printing process which turned out to be a great success, we were really happy with the professional outcome of the cards.

In the final experience, I explained the game to the class and took photographs, while

Ana controlled the timing of the rounds, Braydon took charge of the rules and Kristine who was also meant to be taking photographs ended up taking part in the game due to numbers.

Rules card & reverse side of the cards.

Our final card designs

Aesthetic choices - We decided on a fairly neutral colour palette for the cards, they were all different colours to reference diversity. I made a conscious effort not to base the colour on any subconscious associations with the gender or culture who would stereotypically eat it.

For the food cards, we chose meals that could be quite obviously characterised and mimed, whether it be the time they’re eaten, how they are eaten, what they are eaten with etc.

Ana did an awesome job of drawing the foods which the rest of the group vectorised later.

Idea 5 - What we decided on

Our fifth and final idea was an adaptation of the two games Celebrity heads and Charades.

In teams of two, one person sits on one of the chairs, which are placed back to back with another team. The other team member stands opposite, they will put a card from the pack, on their team members head, using the headband to hold it up. The person sat down then has a maximum of two minutes to guess the food card on their head.

Questions advised to the class to guess the food would be:

• Who it is traditionally eaten by?

• What is used to eat it?

• What it is eaten on or in? Plate? Bowl? Cup? Packet? Neither?

• Are there any food is it typically eaten with?

• When it is eaten?

• Is it cooked? If so how?

• Is it of a specific cuisine? If so what?

• How is it eaten?

These are all targeted to make people think about how they would describe food.

The team member answering these questions can only mime the answer. After the two minutes is up, whoever guessed the card first (out of the teams back to back) will get 2 points, the losing team gets 0, if it is a draw both teams get one point. The teams will then swap chairs and play against another team, with a different card. This will repeat 10 times, the teams with the most points, win.

Rather than portraying how food may be gendered or any potentially racist tendencies we may have towards who eats what, this game allows a light hearted insight into how we would describe food and whether it is us that are creating these stereotypes.

Idea 4

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Another idea I had also looked at the origins of foods; everyone in the room has a number of cocktail sticks, each with a different flag wrapped around (Greece, China, France, USA, Belgium, Germany, England).

We would set out lots of different foods (pasta, sausage rolls, kiwi, apple pie, jelly etc) on the table like a restaurant and have music and decor to create an authentic restaurant experience.

Everyone can help themselves to the food but as they take a part of each food they have to put one of their flag sticks that they think is the origin of the food, on the plate it came from.

We would then collect the results and recall the correct origins.

Research on Food origins

Idea 3

Another idea which is similar to our original guess who idea, but instead the player must guess the food using questions based on where the food originated from. For example, pasta would surely be from Italy, but it turns out that it originated in China. We understand that the reason people associate pasta with Italy, for example is because it’s a large part of their cuisine. However, by revealing the true origins of food, we will help to change peoples predispositions and be more open minded about food. As Georgia mentioned, food does not need to be put into silos whether it be gender or cultural, but an enjoyable pass-time where we can eat any food we like, without judgement.

There is also a lot of debate over which food originated where, this enforces the idea that no food can be claimed by a certain district. And that food belonging to certain groups is nonsensical.

Research on idea 2

As part of the research for this idea, I looked at advertisements to see if I came across any which were particularly gendered. I found various examples which followed the stereotype - for example, So Good almond milk, Muller light yoghurts, Special K cereal and galaxy chocolate, to name a few, were being advertised by women. On the other hand hungry jacks, beers and snickers were all masculine figures.

I branched my research out onto the web to seek out some critical thought:

‘Over many decades, food advertisements created an ambivalent relationship between women and food that centers around guilt, overindulgence, and anxiety. These ads depict women’s insatiable cravings for food, typically sweets or chocolate, and promote the idea that their desires are most likely due to their uncontrollable female hormones’

‘the woman is portrayed as letting her emotions, which are typically triggered by a male figure, overtake her ability to control her temptations.’

‘On one hand, society sees women as too weak to control their desires, but it also promotes the image of women being restrictive, healthy, and skinny...causing unhealthy relationships with food’

‘companies offer “safe” temptations that further enforce the idea that women should restrict themselves from indulging too often and that they should maintain a thin figure.’

For example, light or low fat foods

‘This notion brought on from advertising that women must keep a low-calorie diet engenders a sense of guilt amongst the female audience, especially when they do decide to over-eat, and creates a greater divide between the male and female stereotypes surrounding food.’

Idea 2

Another idea I had to steer away from us making stereotypical comments which could be offensive, was to base our stereotypes off what we see on commercial food adverts. This way, we would merely be observing the stereotypes the media present to us and actually making people aware that these are what are implementing such viewpoints. By observing the clear ‘gendered’ food advertisements people are more likely to recognise them in the future. We would create this idea in a game form again, but instead, in the style of the memory matching card game where the individual must match the product to the person who is advertising it.

This idea was also changed as it was looking at previous and current advertisements and picking out the problems in them, rather than finding a better solution to stereotypes.

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