Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting award-winning projects and ideas from this year's Core77 Design Awards 2013. We will be featuring these projects by category, so stay tuned for your favorite categories of design! For full details on the project, jury commenting and more information about the awards program, go to Core77DesignAwards.com.
New Earth MRE (Meals-Ready-to-Eat) is a dehydrated food for disaster preparation that was cook from raw ingredients saved from the food system due to their imperfection and odd shape.
- How did you learn that you had been recognized by the jury?
I learned about the result via email.
- What's the latest news or development with your project?
New Earth MRE is part of the umbrella project of New Earth that look at our ecological issue in a more holistic perspective by unlocking consciousness of our being. Currently I'm working on New Earth Solitude Observation Station that was inspired by Buckminster Fuller's Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.
- What was an "a-ha" moment from this project?
Hurricane Sandy is a big a-ha moment for me, Staten Island was totally cut off and I was running low on food. Preparing resources in facing natural disaster is a must for everyone.
View the full project here.
Food Genius is Big Data for the food industry. Food Genius Reports, its online food-trends dashboard, uses a complex algorithm to aggregate 100,000+ restaurant menus, 22 million+ menu items, and 14,000 different ingredients from multiple restaurant databases to classify consumers' dining-out behaviors. The game-changing data service allows food industry professionals (such as chefs, restaurant owners, food product developers, and food industry consultants) to uncover real-time insights about trending ingredients, dishes, preparation methods, and sensory terms. This enabling them to make better, more informed business decisions.
- What's the latest news or development with your project?
The product launched to the world in January and we've had some exciting traction since our launch. Our current clients include a number of large restaurant chains, foodservice distributors and manufacturers, and grocery brands.
- What is one quick anecdote about your project?
One of our clients, a chocolate syrup brand (not the one you're thinking of) is already executing on a product that they designed through using Food Genius Reports—it will be in stores on the East Coast early next year. It felt great to hear that this client would have never come up with this specific flavor but for using the product.
- What was an "a-ha" moment from this project?
We initially designed around a creative, product development use case but our clients have found all sorts of other ways to use the data. Among the most exciting is using it to craft sales strategy—for example, you can look at the national penetration of a lamb on menus within a certain segment and then that same penetration in a specific geography (single state or region). Armed with whether lamb is over- or under-indexing the nation, you know whether the challenge is to educate operators and get it on the menu or grow your sales volume with the existing operators who menu lamb.
View the full project here.
Time Wand is the egg timer redefined, in the form of an interactive spatula. By knowing the recipe and sensing the food, it controls the cooktop and guides the user through the recipe. With future connectivity in mind it can do so, because it is linked with a food service offered by the local supermarket, gaining access to food data. Hence, it offers a more varied, surprising & thus healthier diet. It takes away the burden of experience and a 'don't know what to eat' attitude.
- How did you learn that you had been recognized by the jury?
It was a Monday and after a day's work at my internship studio, we stayed late to watch the video stream live. A great start of the week.
- What's the latest news or development with your project?
The amount of touchpoints and a certain complexity make it a challenging story to tell. It's an ongoing personal project to explore different tools and approaches.
- What is one quick anecdote about your project?
During pre-research my focus flipped to the other side of the spectrum. Though I initially explored the design opportunities for elderly, it was during my research synthesis when I noticed a great similarity in habits among adolescents & young students. With the course objective in mind I defined a stronger opportunity for the brand and its product portfolio.
- What was an "a-ha" moment from this project?
In designing the user experience the yet undefined Time Wand was meant to serve as a talisman for the service concept. In defining its manifestation I began to understand the value of design rhetoric, and decided to familiarize this "new to the world product" by giving it the familiar form of a spatula. Because of the spatula's well-known and essential function among kitchen utensils it turned out to be a strong final touchpoint.
View the full project here.
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