Question answered: What are the most important elements of Food Design projects?
I received this question from Ada:
For you, what is the most indispensable element for a food design project to be successful?
Here is my answer:
First of all, I believe a project becomes successful when the designer designs for meaning—in other words, when the designer creates propositions that bring a meaningful improvement to life: the lives of other human beings, any living beings, and the planet itself. This means designing for values and always considering the consequences of our choices. It also involves designing with an appreciation for what already works. For example, I incorporate the appreciative inquiry approach into my design processes, specifically within Food Design Thinking. This means designing things that matter and refusing thoughtless, careless design.
Another important element in a food design project is how the project includes sustainability. For me, a project is more successful when, besides being financially sustainable, the proposition is also environmentally and socially sustainable. This means that, for a project to be successful, it must integrate sustainability into the design process itself. It involves considering the environmental and social consequences of every design decision we make.
This leads me to the third element that makes a food design project successful: systems thinking. The most successful projects, in my opinion, are those where the impact on the system—or the food system specifically—is carefully thought through and designed for. This implies that the designer uses systemic thinking throughout the project.
Because these topics are extremely important to me, they are, of course, integrated into the Food Design Thinking methodology. The methods I have designed help the designer remember to make choices that prioritize designing for meaning, for environmental and social sustainability, and for a calculated, deliberate positive impact on the system.
Finally, another element that makes a food design project successful is the rigor of the research conducted—specifically, the breadth and depth of that research. Rigor in the research phase is not just something that makes food design projects successful in my eyes, but something that generally enhances a project's chances of success. This is because thorough research, both in data collection and analysis, gives the designer a better chance to create something meaningful, economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable, and to consciously, deliberately, and positively intervene in the system.
Because *basta* with these Design projects that say nothing and no nothing and are a waste of energy for everyone. *Basta* with this permissive and indulgent attitude in academia to respond favourably to students who demand for their courses to be "more practical and less theoretical", or "more hands on and less about reading and writing".
*Basta* with Design done in a hurry, without taking the time to really learn. We must first learn and understand before we can design. Rigor in research, rigor in collecting and analysing data, is the difference between good outcomes and useless ones.
p.s. *Basta means "enough" in italian. It's the best word ever for how it perfectly and onomatopeia-lly projects its meaning :)
Hope this helps Ada!
Thanks again for sending your question :)
Have a lovely day and Happy Food Design
francesca
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