Students address food security through human centered design at the 2019 Global Engagement Conference

Erin Schoch opened her team’s presentation with a story. Thirty years ago, her mom had been a food-insecure student at the University of Washington, struggling to make ends meet while studying for her BA. Despite working full-time and seeking resources, Erin’s mom ultimately had to drop out. However, she instilled in her daughter the value of education. Upon attending UW Tacoma, Erin was shocked to learn that 33% of UW Tacoma students still struggle with food insecurity.

UW Tacoma created the Food Pantry in an attempt to address this need. However, as Erin and her team learned in the course of their research, the Pantry is underutilized. Through their user research with food-insecure students, they discovered that shame was a big factor deterring them from accessing groceries at the Pantry. Students feared facing stigma while picking up groceries. In addition to the lack of anonymity, the team learned that the 9:00 am – 5:00 pm operating hours might not work for everyone – especially people who work full-time on top of school.

Given these needs, the team set out to prototype a solution. The final iteration of their idea – developed through multiple rounds of user feedback – is a food locker modelled after Amazon’s delivery lockers. Students could pre-order specific items online and receive a unique code to access the locker discreetly at a time that works for them. This idea has the potential to reduce the shame felt by students experiencing food insecurity and enable the Pantry to effectively provide food for every student who needs it.

Imagine a Singaporean grandma named Aunt Pauline. She has a wealth of culinary knowledge and wants to share her culturally rich family recipes with younger generations. But she finds most apps besides Facebook, which she recently started using, difficult to navigate. Meanwhile, Felix is a student at UW Tacoma who wants to try different cuisines. He wants to avoid foods like Top Ramen, but has a limited budget for groceries, and finds that most recipes online end up costing more than he can afford.

These user personas — developed through interviews and surveys with real people — fueled Christopher Sim and Isaiah Thao’s imaginations. Sim and Thao decided to build out an app dubbed ‘ChowTime’ to connect users like Pauline and Felix, helping them to meet each other’s needs. After developing wireframes, user journeys, and prototypes in TWRIT 350 Principles of User Centered Design, they developed a beta version of the app. Functionalities for recipe-sharing, social networking, price comparisons between grocery stores, and budgeting were all included in the interface, creating the conditions for cooking traditions to be shared on a budget by a diverse user community.

The East Tacoma community has struggled with lack of access to fresh, healthy, and affordable groceries. Recognizing this, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department launched the Fresh Corner Store Program in partnership with local convenience stores to bring nutritious ingredients to the area. How could the health department solicit input of community members to implement this program?

This was the question explored by Lan Allison, Joana Cervera, and Christina Nelson in their project for TWRIT 350 Principles of User Centered Design. In collaboration with Stephanie Wood from the Health Department, they carried out ethnographic research and interviews with community members to generate ideas for a tangible and practical feedback loop tool, one that would enable ongoing program responsiveness.

The final iteration — developed and trialed at the Eastside Community Center — was a feedback board featuring three sections: a question of the week, weekly food facts, and a feedback tree, where community members could write down their requests for specific food items. After observing and talking with community members as they interacted with a low-fidelity prototype, the team added a ‘response’ section to the board, where the grocery store could draw attention to action taken based on community feedback from the prior week. This low-tech design has the potential to help community members feel heard and promote culturally relevant food options. It will also give store owners direct insight into their customers’ grocery shopping needs, so they can stock their shelves accordingly.

The North Pierce County Community Coalition (NPCCC) had a problem: specifically, a non-existent web presence. While they worked tirelessly every day to connect families with resources in the Milton, Fife, and Edgewood communities, they didn’t have the time or funding to build a website. Not having a website compromised their mission of connecting with socially minded organizations to provide coordinated support to families struggling amid rapid gentrification.

Enter students from Dr. Huatong Sun’s TCOM 420 Advanced Web Design class. Over spring 2019, four student teams developed different website prototypes and branding templates for NPCCC using a human-centered design process. One of these teams – comprised of Susan Giske, Erick Rodriguez and Victoria Yackel — presented their website design at the Global Engagement Conference. In-depth consultation and feedback meetings with coalition stakeholders enabled them to highlight the unique strengths of NPCCC as an organization in their website design. Contact forms and resource lists will also enable potential partner organizations and families seeking support to get in touch easily.