Overview: Sparked by my observation of the countless vacant lots and underutilized acres of short cut grass in and around my home town, I aimed to investigate (sub)urban land use patterns and community greening projects currently underway. St. Louis is the sixth most food insecure city in the U.S., and I hoped to find innovative ways to amplify my neighbors' existing efforts to reclaim some of the unused land for food production or green restoration.
Resolution: Promoting food security by way of more efficient use of greenspaces and localized networks.Role: Product Planning & Research, Competitive & Comparative Analysis, User research, User Interviews, IA, Affinity, Empathy, Journey Mapping, User Personas | Task Analysis, User Flow , Wireframing /Prototyping, Guerilla, Moderated Testing, Data Analysis, Visual Design, Heuristics Evaluation, Usability Testing, Lo-fi & Hi-fi mockups
Challenges:
* This systemic problem is associated with deeply embedded inequities
* Changes in land use patterns will require a shift in cultural values and norms
* Multiple categories of products need to be fused into one consistent architecture to fill this niche
* An independent designer could better explore possible solutions with support of a team
Objective
Increase access to healthy locally sourced food. In most US cities, there are missed opportunities in underutilized land coupled with food insecurity. Better sustainability and resource management could spur more engagement to rectify the problem and create positive impacts for humans and local wildlife. Spore would be a catalyst.
Collaboration
Ujima Project
Feed the People Co-op
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Saint Louis Botanical Garden
Feed the People Co-op
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Saint Louis Botanical Garden
Exploratory Research
I used academic and governmental studies to inform my initial research. I then reevaluated my problem statement to a focus Food Access and Land Management.
* Food Security was the primary driver of the project. Land management is a symptom of systematic issues.
* The potential rests in leveraging this data for sustainable cooperation and collective innovation. Scattered small projects are underway but, need assistance to expand.
* A consensus amongst researchers is clear. Collecting data at city, state & federal levels could aid development.
* Lack of data creates hurdles at the individual and business level. The problem is access to the exchange of sustainable material, connections, recruitment and collaboration.
The deficiencies are endemic to marginalized communities. As a person of color, I wanted to know what products were addressing this problem. The potential lurking below the surface turned palpable.
Competitive Research
Uraban Rake (Deceased), Twitter, MeetUp, Greenery, Facebook, Instagram, OpenPD
No company or service utility covered all areas, except:
Educational, Eco-Centric, Social Venn Diagram
OpenPD specializes in plant health and advice only. OpenPD is also based in Europe.
A Budding Prototype
After conducting several surveys and interviews, I synthesized all of the important demographic findings into key personas, to inform the build of the design.
Personas Deck
From there, I ran through possible solutions which morphed into wireframes/flows, validated and modified through multiple rounds of testing and elimination. You can find additional artifacts by following the link below.
Refining through Branding
I took a very close look at the data gathered, once again. I revisited project goals to plot a development trajectory with a solidified aesthetic. Constraints of and development now came to the fore.
Spore Style Guide
Spore Style Guide
Outcome
BUILD, TEST, LEARN, REPEAT
Learnings
Consensus
Land management is a symptom, there are systematic issues to tackle. A consensus amongst researchers is clear. Collecting more data at the city, state and federal levels could help solidify development.
Access
Lack of data creates hurdles at the individual and business level. The problem is access to the exchange of sustainable material, connections, recruitment, and collaboration.
Potential
Scattered small projects are underway but, truly need assistance to expand. Leverage this data for sustainable cooperation and collective innovation.
