THE DILEMA
Food insecurity is a real issue unfortunately faced by many students at SJSU. The SJSU Spartan Food Pantry is a walk-in, full-service, staffed, food assistance program that provides a resource for students to receive non-perishable goods, fresh produce, and refrigerated items to eligible students.
Imagine that our SJSU Spartan Food Pantry was redesigned with a more ecology-focused "systems approach" like loopstore.com.
DESIGN PROMPT
Designed by students and for students, what do you want to see available and how can you improve the package and delivery? Pick a product that you would like to see available at the SJSU Spartan Food Pantry (or loopstore.com if you prefer) and redesign it using an innovative new material and a specific manufacturing process from our course textbook, readings, research, and lectures.
CASE STUDY:
HELLO FRESH (MEAL KIT SERVICE)
Hello Fresh claims to be a sustainable meal prep service because they reduce food waste by proportioning food per meal and use recyclable packaging when shipping.
HelloFresh on sustainability: https://www.hellofresh.com/about/sustainability
Study that discusses the environmental impact reduction of meal-prep kits: https://css.umich.edu/publication/comparison-life-cycle-environmental-impacts-meal-kits-and-grocery-store-meals
Article about HelloFresh packaging improvements: https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/721326-hellofresh-announces-new-sustainable-packaging-solutions
Compare with Purple Carrot (100% recyclable packaging): https://retailleader.com/meal-kit-maker-purple-carrot-innovates-again
The reality is that their solution of single-serve packaging is a leading problem in our waste stream system.
What might be recyclable ends up in landfill because it is too small to be sorted properly.
x1,000,000 and you see how exponentially the single-serve product packaging contributes to landfill, thus leaving a huge carbon footprint, affecting our environment, and ultimately influencing climate change.
THE CHALLENGE!
How can we redesign the meal prep kit with plans that students might enjoy, ingredients that are commonly available, and packaging that doesn't contribute to single-serving packaging waste?
PHASE 0: INSPIRATION
SEID LAB 50 material collection
Let's turn design upside down and be inspired by materials first! What captivates you and how could you see it being utilized to solve problems?
The SEID lab is located on the second floor of the ART Bldg (industrial design students have access to these resources)
The Material Connexion online database is available to anyone with an MLK library card! (instructions here)
MLK library houses a 500 material library in the basement (open to MLK library patrons and attached to the Material Connexion online database also accessible on the MLK library website)
If you haven't already, plan a trip to visit and be inspired!
PHASE 1: RESEARCH
Your textbooks are a great resource!
- Materials and Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals, by Rob Thompson
- Making It, by Chris Lefteri
- Prototyping and Low-Volume Production, by Rob Thompson
Your answers are only as good as the question!
If you don't get results that are useful, try changing the query search
When referencing online sources such as this, make sure they are 'reputable' and not user-sourced like Wikipedia when it comes to industry standards.
Look for industry compliance standards such as FDA, ISO, ANSI certification.
Look for video resources on Canvas and get in the habit of bookmarking sources yourself so you can reference in the future. Use folders to organize content within your bookmarks.
Our MLK library has a wealth of additional resources you can find access to online and at the library when/if it opens
Our textbook, Making It is available with online access here!
Reverse engineer through market research!
Sometimes you can leverage what companies with large research and development (R&D) budgets are able to accomplish!
For example, try and figure out what materials were used in products that are direct, secondary, and auxiliary to your product.
Look for blemishes, marks, 'tells' to determine the process that was used for manufacture.
The price of the product gives you an idea of the cost (typically a 2-4x multiplier means that you can divide a product retail price by 2, 3, or 4 to figure out it's cost to manufacture.)
PHASE 2: IDEATION SKETCHING
- Get prolific!
- Don't edit (that comes later)
- Low-fidelity rapid sketching
- Refrain from color at this point (color can influence)
- 'THINK ON PAPER'
- Don't get caught up shading/noodling - ideas are fleeting so focus on capturing inspiration!
- If you get stuck, stretch, walk, take a break
- Try 'design sprints' (set a timer and sketch for 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes at a time)
- Ideation sketches by Mason Umholtz
PHASE 3: DEVELOPMENT
- Layer in more details
- 'Middle-level' fidelity (clean, but not perfect)
- Multiple ideas are developed simultaneously (3-5)
- Introduce CAD to develop details and accurate part alignment if applicable
- Work out functional aspects using explanatory drawings, contour lines, cross-sections, cut-aways, detail close-ups, etc
- You can introduce color, but be mindful that color can influence decision-making!!!
- Development sketches by Mason Umholtz
PHASE 3: REFINEMENT
- Explore variations and details of 1-3 concept directions narrowing in on the final concept, but exploring details
- Explore color variations here (although in some cases if this happens too late, material choices such as transparent materials could impact time to production)
- Higher fidelity drawing level (consider using Illustrator or CAD)
- Refinement sketches by Mauricio Sanin
- The goal in this phase is to have a CAD model complete
PHASE 4: FINALIZATION
- High fidelity
- Composition is key
- Show different views of the product to communicate form and function
- Use tools such as Fusion360 or SolidWorks to finalize your form accurately (wall thickness must reflect material choice and follow white paper guidance per process/material)
- Must include CAD renderings (Keyshot) to showcase your final design and "sell it"
- Show the product in context by either Photoshopping the environment, or showing the product in use
- The goal of this phase is to have a mold realy to 3D print
- Product Design and rendering by Yanko Design
GRADING RUBRIC:
- 5 points - Research (thoroughness, use of the Material Connexion database resources such as material properties, materials boards, appropriate content reference, ie books, reputable websites, lecture content)
- 5 points - Ideation (high quality, low-fidelity, prolific iterative sketches shared)
- 5 points - Development (high quality, medium fidelity, development of the concept that clearly shows thought process and multiple design options.)
- 5 points Finalization (final concept appropriately addresses the prompt challenge, concept communication is clear and addresses materials and manufacturing processes including an exploded view, cross-section, and orthographic drawings)
Additional inspiration sources...
https://www.instructables.com/Recycle-Cardboard-Into-Anything-With-3D-Printing/
https://www.dow.com/en-us/market/mkt-packaging/packaging-innovation-award/packaging-innovation-award-winners-2019.html
https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-food-packaging-ideas/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
https://www.behance.net/gallery/34406913/Packaging-Innovations-3D-ModelsRenderings
Credits:
Created with images by mirkosajkov - "peanut butter jar food" • Pexels - "concept man papers" • MorningbirdPhoto - "book reading literature" • AhmadArdity - "books bookshelf library" • stevepb - "grocery shopping supermarket"