Like other legislations, the UAL food policy adopts a formal and official format, making it challenging for those not deeply involved in the discussion to comprehend.
One of the main objectives of the contextualising brief was to find a simpler way to represent the legislation without using scientific language, in order to attract more attention from society.
The first attempt of my visual research was a short introduction video, which introduces us to the scale of the environmental disaster. At the start, we see an empty space. We get to decide what to put in it. On the screen, we see products causing pollution and harming the environment changing. As a result, the beautiful landscape starts to disappear into pixels. In the end The word ‘Earth’ gets jumbled, asking us an important question: Will we treat our planet with care or with neglect?
Idea 1
The name of this project holds two meanings: the cow and the carbon dioxide, reflecting the beef industry’s responsibility for about 14.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Annually, a single cow emits around 220 pounds of methane, a gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The escalation of this problem could increase methane emissions to nearly 10 billion by 2050.
This book was created to draw attention to this urgent issue. The project employs methods of translating (by presenting a complex topic in the playful context of a coloring book) and cataloguing (displaying cattle data as a series of images organized by serial number). The catalog features a selection of cattle from an artificially created farm. Some empty spaces on the pages indicate cows that no longer belong in this book and, consequently, represent the loss of these animals in real life. The dashed outlines in their places suggest either filling the space or “cutting it out,” directly reflecting the handling of cattle. Thus, at the end of the book, the reader has a choice: it can function as a coloring book or a paper appliqué, making it interactive. This symbolic gesture prompts contemplation of meat consumption choices and the carbon emissions involved in the farming process, serving as a reminder of the fate of the animals raised on the farm.
As a designer, looking at it metaphorically, a pen has an eraser on the other side which functions like ‘Ctrl+Z’ on a computer. Conversely, once scissors cut, there’s no going back. The book ends with a drawing, symbolizing that people have made a lot of mistakes, but by knowing the truth, we can change our future by ‘erasing’ past habits and creating a new way of living with our world.
Idea 2
Cows depicted on the poster will be composed of stickers, which will be given to individuals who order beef-containing dishes. The poster will be displayed on the canteen wall for public access.
This initiative aims to highlight the quantity of beef consumption.
Final
The methods of contextualising provided me with an opportunity to employ earlier methods, such as iterations, cataloguing, and investigations. Previously, I had not had the chance to delve deeply into ecological problems in my design practice. One of the most challenging aspects of working in a group is finding a way to interact among our different styles, practices, experiences, and ideas, and learning how this process can lead to successful solutions for the issue of climate change using critical thinking.
After the iterating process, we came to the idea where tableware serves as a new platform for publishing, making it highly accessible. Therefore, we created a new playful video format how to represent Food Policy. Each item on the table provides content related to the climate change problem.
The food on the plate, cup, and cookies convey the consequences of our decisions. Even the tablecloth serves as an empty page for publishing, displaying data information on its surface.
Our project is predicted to take the shape of an interactive workshop in the future, where members can collaborate, receive feedback, and actively engage with the topic of climate change, leading to intellectual satisfaction.