‘Small Change’: Visualising your food landscape

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  • 2018

  • Next Gen

Designed By:

Commissioned By:

Jessica Browne

Designed In:

Australia

We have lost our connection with food- diminishing its value and creating enormous waste. ‘Small Change’ is a data visualisation service that creates a personalised, interactive picture of behaviour, preferences and impacts. This enables informed decision making, reframes food relationships and returns value to what we buy.


  • CHALLENGE
  • SOLUTION
  • IMPACT
  • MORE
  • **Designing a relevant, engaging way to reconnect people with food.** The loss of interaction with producers has seen us disconnect from the reality of food production and consumption. Our focus on convenience and price has diminished our appreciation for how valuable food truly is, huge amounts are wasted as a result. This has detrimental effects on the environment, the community and our health. Currently, the impacts and associated costs of feeding us remain largely invisible. A shift in our thinking and behaviour is needed, which first requires a better way of understanding our on-stage and off-stage relationship with food.

  • **Visualising data to create a rich, personalised picture of food behaviour**. Drawing on existing supermarket and supply chain data, 'Small Change' creates a digital, interactive and customisable picture of consumer's habits and preferences. The web service or App reveals previously hidden data about a user's purchasing behaviour, the visualisations can foster a broader and more critical way of thinking. Whether to monitor expenses, reduce environmental footprint or out of curiosity, 'Small Change' provides simple, visual tools to help users better understand their food interactions and see their groceries, behaviour and the environment in a new way.

  • **A simple, personal path towards sustainable behavioural change.** Growing demand for informed, transparent environmental information shows that people seek help in making mindful choices. 'Small Change' visualises data in ways that will engage and motivate people to do just that - having huge potential to empower decision making, reframe food relationships and return value to what we buy. In addition to interacting with purchase history and expenditure, users can explore and compare product lifecycles and environmental information, raising awareness around consumption and waste. This facilitates informed choices and a social dialogue surrounding sustainability at a critical point in our history.

  • **A powerful visual language:** A simple and engaging visual language is key in communicating complex information. The data is presented in a visual format that is quickly understood, engaged with and navigated by all users. **Simple, accessible data**: 'Small Change' doesn't require extensive user input in order to gain value, which removes a significant barrier for use. The interactive visuals can be accessed across platforms and devices. **Understanding behavioural profiles**: The user is able to access their data and use it in a way that is important to them. Over time, using 'Small Change' builds up an increasingly sophisticated profile of the user and can engage on a deeper level by prompting them about irregularities in their behaviour and providing encouragement for positive change. **Exploring environmental backstories**: This feature allows you to understand the story behind specific food. It provides environmental information on each stage of the life cycle and highlights that the user is only one part of a wider context of production. Icons are used to illustrate the main sections of the life cycle, from raw materials to end of life, which act as an overarching framework through which to explore the product and compare it to others.