Hua Helper
Design Brief
To bring information to life in physical forms by focusing on a particular group of people and designing a physical visualisation or Tangible User Interface as a solution for them to promote behaviour change
The Problem
Food waste is a major issue worldwide that has negative impacts on both the socio-economic and natural environment. Retailers and consumers discard 9% of all food produced, and 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions are a direct result of food loss and waste (Ritchie, 2020). In 2011, New Zealand households alone were estimated to have wasted 224,000 tonnes of food, making up 17% of New Zealand’s total waste stream (Clothier et al., 2016). Furthermore, up to 60% of the food put in landfill was still edible (Clothier et al., 2016). For every tonne of food that ends up in landfill, 0.33 tonnes of greenhouse gases will be produced - excluding the emissions produced as a result of food production, distribution and consumption (Russell, 2018). Two of the greatest socio-economic impacts of food waste in New Zealand are the cost to households from food that is purchased and then discarded, and to the lost chance to help those impacted by food insecurity (Russell, 2018).
The Target User
The target group we have chosen for this problem is a New Zealand family with more than two children. Large households and families with children are high food wasters in New Zealand (Figure 1). Despite their awareness of the issue of food waste, most do not think that the amount of food they waste is significant (Love Food Hate Waste New Zealand & WasteMINZ 2018).
The Solution
We designed the "Hua Helper". A set of magnets to visualise the shelf life of eight of the top ten foods that are thrown out in New Zealand and to help with keeping a clear account of the food in the fridge/pantry. Combined with the matching app, it allows families to view the remaining shelf life of their food and how much of it they have while they are out grocery shopping. The LED strip around each leaf also keeps track of the shelf life as the lights slowly turn off once the leaf is attached to stem. The aim of this design is to help families reduce how much food they buy and to ensure that they do not waste food by keeping them aware of the shelf life left so that they can act accordingly.
An action they can take using the product is scanning the unique QR code that will lead to a page of recipes for that food so that it can be used up and not go to waste.
Image showing LEDs half off for leaf representing oranges and mandarins. This is indicating that the shelf life is running out soon and the fruit will go off soon,
Image showing Hua Helper in context with three leaves detached from the stem (and unlit) to indicate that the user does not have those foods in their fridge.
In The Context
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Additionally, the product pairs with an app via Bluetooth so that families can keep track of the shelf life of their food when they are out grocery shopping.
Video
A video to show the aim of the design and the context of its use.
My Contribution
My contribution to this group project with Sabrina Ibrahim, Rachel Koo and Nova Peterson was the visualisation prototype (3D Fusion model and app layout) general ideation, and persona research and persona boards.
References
Clothier, B., Mirosa, M., & Reynolds, C. J. (2016). New Zealand’s food waste: estimating the tonnes, value, calories and resources wasted. Agriculture, 6(1), 9. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/6/1/9/pdf
Ritchie, H. (2020). Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/food-waste-emissions
Russell, D. (2018). Ministry of the Environment written evidence: briefing on food waste in New Zealand. https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/52SCEN_EVI_78944_EN5017/cc5f2281cf65574d47a8470085aade64ce1112c7