Thursday, 20 November 2008
FOOD WASTE QUESTIONNAIRE
This is a questionnaire designed to research into food waste. The results will reflect how much food waste on average there is per household as well as the factors that cause this. From my results I hope to devise a design idea that may help cut down on food waste and help save households money. Please answer the questions below and should you have any comments in addition to this questionnaire, please note them in the space following the questionnaire.
Thanks,
Lucy.
1. What age group are you in?0 - 20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 60-70, 70+
2. What is your occupation/ Status? (Employed, self employed, student, retired, housewife/husband etc.)
3. What town/city do you live in?
4. Do you eat a lot of fresh produce?
5. What encourages you to buy so much fresh produce?
6. Do you find you are drawn to cheaply priced products or special offers? (Buy one get one free, 3 for 2, half price.)
7. Do you find this encourages you to buy more products?
8. Approximately, how much food do you throw away a week? (Approx in average bin bag size)
9. Do you do anything to reduce the amount of food you throw away?
10. Is eating healthy important to you?
11. Do you have time to be attentive as to what you consume or throw away?
12. Would a product that helps reduce food waste, encourage and help maintain a healthy diet and save you money on your food bills be beneficial in your household?
My design idea is a Fridge Freezer with a built in computer and barcode scanning unit. It allows you to scan or type in the products you buy as you put them away, taking note of the use by date and what the product is. It will inform you when something is due to go off and even suggest recipes that involve those products so that you need not throw them away. You can cross off what you use on the digital list as you go along and it will also write a digital shopping list for you judging by previous purchases and by how much you use (you can also add to this manually.) You can also use the internet normally as well as set up a system when the information of your food is sent to you via email or text.
Any comments.....?
Thanks,
Lucy.
1. What age group are you in?0 - 20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 60-70, 70+
2. What is your occupation/ Status? (Employed, self employed, student, retired, housewife/husband etc.)
3. What town/city do you live in?
4. Do you eat a lot of fresh produce?
5. What encourages you to buy so much fresh produce?
6. Do you find you are drawn to cheaply priced products or special offers? (Buy one get one free, 3 for 2, half price.)
7. Do you find this encourages you to buy more products?
8. Approximately, how much food do you throw away a week? (Approx in average bin bag size)
9. Do you do anything to reduce the amount of food you throw away?
10. Is eating healthy important to you?
11. Do you have time to be attentive as to what you consume or throw away?
12. Would a product that helps reduce food waste, encourage and help maintain a healthy diet and save you money on your food bills be beneficial in your household?
My design idea is a Fridge Freezer with a built in computer and barcode scanning unit. It allows you to scan or type in the products you buy as you put them away, taking note of the use by date and what the product is. It will inform you when something is due to go off and even suggest recipes that involve those products so that you need not throw them away. You can cross off what you use on the digital list as you go along and it will also write a digital shopping list for you judging by previous purchases and by how much you use (you can also add to this manually.) You can also use the internet normally as well as set up a system when the information of your food is sent to you via email or text.
Any comments.....?
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
The Danger of Poor Food Keeping
Food waste is just one of the factors that results from poor food keeping. Sometimes, a household could be at risk from many dangers such as food poisoning, illness etc, simply from not knowing how long and how to store food.
making assumptio ns or not recognising when it is that a product is due to go off can mean that the consumer will endevour to use it anyway. By this time the produce could have grown bacteria, such as chicken with salmonella. Food poisoning can be very fatal, causing vomiting, diarreah and fever and in some rarer cases something worse.
When creating the cyberfridge this is something I need to consider. One of the main attributes will be to inform the consumer when something is due to go off. Another function will be to maintain storage temprature, For example the temprature of storage within a freezer has to be something between optimal and practical which is usually around -18oC,
The fridge will know when the fresh produce is to go off and will suggest healthy recipes from what us to go off. This means that food will not go neglected and produce bacteria pr that it will be thrown away as food waste.
making assumptio ns or not recognising when it is that a product is due to go off can mean that the consumer will endevour to use it anyway. By this time the produce could have grown bacteria, such as chicken with salmonella. Food poisoning can be very fatal, causing vomiting, diarreah and fever and in some rarer cases something worse.
When creating the cyberfridge this is something I need to consider. One of the main attributes will be to inform the consumer when something is due to go off. Another function will be to maintain storage temprature, For example the temprature of storage within a freezer has to be something between optimal and practical which is usually around -18oC,
The fridge will know when the fresh produce is to go off and will suggest healthy recipes from what us to go off. This means that food will not go neglected and produce bacteria pr that it will be thrown away as food waste.
Food waste and its effect on the economy ETC.
In July of this year, The Goverment was to launch a campaign to demolish Britain's food waste mountains as part of a global effort to curb the ever rising food prices.
It was brought to the attention the excessive amount of food thrown away in Britain while other, less fortunate countries in the world are left starving. Due to poor processing, Transport and storage, Up to 40 % of groceries can be lost which is an extremely excessive amount. Due to this, Supermarkets have been encouraged to prevent bulk-buying by placing special offers such as two for one or three for two.
It has been said in a cabinet office report that UK households have the ability to save an average of £420 per year, providing we do not throw away the 4.1 million tonnes of food that could have been eaten, instead of wasted.
After a 10 month reveiw enforced by the goverment, There were some factors that became prominant:
1) All around the world food prices have risen over the past few years due to poor harvests, high costs for energy, fertilises and transport, a long term high demand for grain to feed growning global population
2) compared to to the 16% of household expenditure on food in 1984, the average household within the UK spends 9% which is an improvement, however, the poorer 10% households spend 15% of their expenditure on food because they are buying the necessities such as milk, bread and eggs which have seen a rise in money. The richest 10% of households spend just 7%
3) the poorer countries are spending 50% to 80% due to the increase in global food prices.
so based on the data collected for England and Wales in the past year it is estimated that the households across the UK are needlestly throwing away 10.2 billion and over 3.6 million tonnes of food waste every year which is something that can be avioded.
SO HOW CAN WE HELP STOP THIS?
There are many diiferent ways of reducing food prices, for example, in the case of packaging technologies, using oxygen scavengers, interactive films and resealable packaging, increasing shelf life products, modified atmospheres.
Or as the campaign 'Love food Hate waste' campaign looks to raise awareness of the waste and how changing this will benefit us all and the enviroment. Consumers can look for useful tips and tools, recipes and comments from celebrities and food writers.
After researching into food waste, I can already see that perhaps there is something within the kitchen that can help reduce food waste. But first I will need to look at the causes of food waste.
It was brought to the attention the excessive amount of food thrown away in Britain while other, less fortunate countries in the world are left starving. Due to poor processing, Transport and storage, Up to 40 % of groceries can be lost which is an extremely excessive amount. Due to this, Supermarkets have been encouraged to prevent bulk-buying by placing special offers such as two for one or three for two.
It has been said in a cabinet office report that UK households have the ability to save an average of £420 per year, providing we do not throw away the 4.1 million tonnes of food that could have been eaten, instead of wasted.
After a 10 month reveiw enforced by the goverment, There were some factors that became prominant:
1) All around the world food prices have risen over the past few years due to poor harvests, high costs for energy, fertilises and transport, a long term high demand for grain to feed growning global population
2) compared to to the 16% of household expenditure on food in 1984, the average household within the UK spends 9% which is an improvement, however, the poorer 10% households spend 15% of their expenditure on food because they are buying the necessities such as milk, bread and eggs which have seen a rise in money. The richest 10% of households spend just 7%
3) the poorer countries are spending 50% to 80% due to the increase in global food prices.
so based on the data collected for England and Wales in the past year it is estimated that the households across the UK are needlestly throwing away 10.2 billion and over 3.6 million tonnes of food waste every year which is something that can be avioded.
SO HOW CAN WE HELP STOP THIS?
There are many diiferent ways of reducing food prices, for example, in the case of packaging technologies, using oxygen scavengers, interactive films and resealable packaging, increasing shelf life products, modified atmospheres.
Or as the campaign 'Love food Hate waste' campaign looks to raise awareness of the waste and how changing this will benefit us all and the enviroment. Consumers can look for useful tips and tools, recipes and comments from celebrities and food writers.
After researching into food waste, I can already see that perhaps there is something within the kitchen that can help reduce food waste. But first I will need to look at the causes of food waste.
Monday, 17 November 2008
Dissertation- Initial Idea- ADVERTISING
It is too early to say exactly what it is I wish to research into for my dissertation, but have decided I may perhaps look into advertising. At the beginning of our first project 'Design Futures' I began to look into the past, the present and the future of advertising and found some interesting findings.
I found that the way in which adverts are styled today are very much different to the way they were styled say 10 years ago and now, adverts are becoming more interactive. However, does style and content vary in different countries? Maybe this is an aspect I will need to focus on. At present I am unsure as to which area of advertising to focus on, here are some ideas below:
I found that the way in which adverts are styled today are very much different to the way they were styled say 10 years ago and now, adverts are becoming more interactive. However, does style and content vary in different countries? Maybe this is an aspect I will need to focus on. At present I am unsure as to which area of advertising to focus on, here are some ideas below:
- How has advertising changed from past to present? What is the future of advertising?
- What is the importance of interactivity within advertising?
- Subliminal messaging?
- Product placement?
- Advertising Styles?
- Semiotics?
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
HOW DO BARCODE SCANNERS WORK?
The fridge I am designing will need to have a scanning system built in it much like that of a Supermarket barcode scanner. The supermarket scanner used at the checkout counter uses a laser beam to shine across the bar code on products. This is something that is visually obvious but how exactly does it work and how can I include this in my design?
A barcode is an optical display of data that is machine readable. The first barcodes showed data in the widths of lines and the spacings of parallel lines and are usually referred to as one dimensional barcodes or symbologies. However, they can be seen in other geometric patternings or shapes or in 2D form. The first use of barcodes was in supermarkets, used to register data at grocery check out systems, which is used everywhere today. It is a lowcost system which is why it used universally.
Lasers all work in the same way. It is a material that emits light and is placed in between two mirrors which allows the light to bounce back and forth through the material. Placed under more concentrated conditions, this light can make the material produce even more light which in turn results in a very intense beam of light trapped between the mirrors. One of the mirrors is usually made to be slightly transparent, so some of the light escapes from the laser and forms the laser beam.
As the laser beam holds some very useful properties, they are used to enhance existing machines. The laser beam has the factor that it will stay the same size despite the distance it travels because it travels in a straight line that spreads evenly unlike the beam of a flash light that appears bigger at a distance. In the instance of a barcode scanner in a supermarket, a separate sensor looks at the reflected light from the laser beam, and is then able to determine the information contained in the bar code.
Looking at the scanning devices in the supermarket you can see that a scanning device is easily made at different sizes etc. There is the scanner that is hand held, which is quite small and compact or the scanner built into the till which is more convenient when scanning products through quite fast. However both these devices are controlled laser beams so that they do not reflect into people’s eyes etc. this would need to be a factor to consider when designing the scanner for the fridge. How would I make the device so it is easy yet safe to use?
A barcode is an optical display of data that is machine readable. The first barcodes showed data in the widths of lines and the spacings of parallel lines and are usually referred to as one dimensional barcodes or symbologies. However, they can be seen in other geometric patternings or shapes or in 2D form. The first use of barcodes was in supermarkets, used to register data at grocery check out systems, which is used everywhere today. It is a lowcost system which is why it used universally.
Lasers all work in the same way. It is a material that emits light and is placed in between two mirrors which allows the light to bounce back and forth through the material. Placed under more concentrated conditions, this light can make the material produce even more light which in turn results in a very intense beam of light trapped between the mirrors. One of the mirrors is usually made to be slightly transparent, so some of the light escapes from the laser and forms the laser beam.
As the laser beam holds some very useful properties, they are used to enhance existing machines. The laser beam has the factor that it will stay the same size despite the distance it travels because it travels in a straight line that spreads evenly unlike the beam of a flash light that appears bigger at a distance. In the instance of a barcode scanner in a supermarket, a separate sensor looks at the reflected light from the laser beam, and is then able to determine the information contained in the bar code.
Looking at the scanning devices in the supermarket you can see that a scanning device is easily made at different sizes etc. There is the scanner that is hand held, which is quite small and compact or the scanner built into the till which is more convenient when scanning products through quite fast. However both these devices are controlled laser beams so that they do not reflect into people’s eyes etc. this would need to be a factor to consider when designing the scanner for the fridge. How would I make the device so it is easy yet safe to use?
ATTRIBUTES OF THE CYBER FRIDGE
· It will be a built in interface in the fridge that is connected to the internet. It is an idea that is meant for the reduction of food waste and the idea that it will prevent a person from contracting any form of food poisoning from not knowing when the product was due to go off.
· There will be a scanning system which means that you will be able to scan in the products (if they have barcodes) to the fridge which will store what the product is and its use by date etc. If the product does not have a barcode, the interface will be a touch screen so you can find the option for that product (like you would find on an electronic till at the supermarket) and manually type in a use by date.
· The fridge will then take into account what it is that is due to go off and remind you with the list of products either with an alarm at some point in the morning, or by text or email, which will be options that you can choose to have in combination or not at all so you can check manually.
· There will also be an option which means the fridge will tell you what recipes can be made from what is due to go off so that nothing will go to waste. It will also tell you at the end of the recipe if the meal can be frozen.
· As it is a fridge-freezer there, the same system works within the freezer with frozen products. If you freeze a made meal it will remind you when you should eat it, using the information it has gathered from the original individual products.
· The system will also maintain the correct temperature for the food and alert you should something become faulty.
· The system will have the option of storing what it is you run out of or regularly buy or for you to manually type in products that you run out of or need and add to the list as the week progresses so that you have a digitally stored shopping list that you can send to your mobile and use when you go shopping.
· As the fridge is connected to the internet, it means that you can use it as you would use the internet on your regular computer and also be able to stream programmes to watch as you eat in your kitchen.
· This is an ideal system for all types of households as it is convenient, safe and beneficial in regards to the reduction of food waste, the minding of fresh produce for the prevention of such things as salmonella etc and it is also time saving.
· There will be a scanning system which means that you will be able to scan in the products (if they have barcodes) to the fridge which will store what the product is and its use by date etc. If the product does not have a barcode, the interface will be a touch screen so you can find the option for that product (like you would find on an electronic till at the supermarket) and manually type in a use by date.
· The fridge will then take into account what it is that is due to go off and remind you with the list of products either with an alarm at some point in the morning, or by text or email, which will be options that you can choose to have in combination or not at all so you can check manually.
· There will also be an option which means the fridge will tell you what recipes can be made from what is due to go off so that nothing will go to waste. It will also tell you at the end of the recipe if the meal can be frozen.
· As it is a fridge-freezer there, the same system works within the freezer with frozen products. If you freeze a made meal it will remind you when you should eat it, using the information it has gathered from the original individual products.
· The system will also maintain the correct temperature for the food and alert you should something become faulty.
· The system will have the option of storing what it is you run out of or regularly buy or for you to manually type in products that you run out of or need and add to the list as the week progresses so that you have a digitally stored shopping list that you can send to your mobile and use when you go shopping.
· As the fridge is connected to the internet, it means that you can use it as you would use the internet on your regular computer and also be able to stream programmes to watch as you eat in your kitchen.
· This is an ideal system for all types of households as it is convenient, safe and beneficial in regards to the reduction of food waste, the minding of fresh produce for the prevention of such things as salmonella etc and it is also time saving.
Sunday, 2 November 2008
BRAINSTORMING IDEAS
The first rough ideas I developed from my main interest 'advertising' were:
1) Personal product placement and convenient television streaming. This was an idea that you would have a system within your television which means you could watch television and then be able to purchase a product directly after viewing an advertisement so that you wouldn't have to leave your home or search for ages on the internet for it. It would also have the option to line up programmes and cut out irrelevant advertisements in order to make your viewing of the television more enjoyable. This would be determined by the logging of what purchases you have previously made and what programmes you have previously watched so that it can select things that apply to you, although you would still have the choice to reject what it suggests. Similar to this are things on the internet like the recommendations on Amazon and the iTunes genius function which allows suggests other music you may want to hear.
2) 3D/ Holographic Interactive advertising.We have already been shown existing interactive multitouch systems. Some examples of interactive advertising can be seen within 'Reactrix' ideas and existing placements. Reactrix is something I will elaborate on later.The idea of a 3D/ Holographic Interactive advertisement means that you would see the product in 3D, be able to walk around it, view it at every which angle as if it was the real product, yet rather than just being able to view it like a holographic recording, you can interact with it, deconstruct it within its capabilities in order to see how it works, or what is inside it. Take for example, the 3D imitation of a new car. You can see it at every angle and then open the door and look inside ect, you can even select and option where you can view it in the different colours it is available in. This whole advertisement can be activated at the push of a button, say from a touch screen interfaced catalogue for example. The idea of this design is to give you the complete shopping experience, again without having to travel to look for it. However, I am still unsure as to how this idea can work, further research into interactives will need to take place.
Those were my first initial ideas, however, there were many problems that were left unsolved in relation to them. I then thought that in order to design something that would have the possibility of being made within the next ten years, you would have to focus on the past and how quickly the existing technologies have come to be and how elaborate they are. For example, we didn’t have mobile phones with coloured screens, let alone multitouch screens and internet and the ability to play film and mp3s ten years ago, so look how far that has come. There are also things like identification systems; they have gone from photographs to retinal scans, finger printing and even chips within your passport. So why not have a chip that holds your I.D and your money within a chip in the skin? You would just have to scan yourself as you are paying and tap in a brief code or so that your face appears on a screen or some other way to clarify this is your chip. It means you won't need to carry your I.D and money around with you where you may lose it or have it stolen.
After cleaning up my kitchen, and noticing how often I had to clean the surfaces, the floor, the fridge and cupboards and the amount of waste there was everyday but also the amount of recycling yet the amount that could still be done, I decided maybe there was something that could be designed to benefit the environment or the economy. Here are two ideas I have brought to the drawing board after some research into their uses.
1) A cyberfridge/freezer.This idea is that when you buy your products you scan over the barcode which will register into the system within the fridge what the product is and its use by date. The fridge will then inform you of when the food is going to go off (say there a few products due to go off the next day, it would remind you in a list instead of individually so would not annoy you!) If you are not in to hear the alarm it wouldn't be a problem as a text would be sent to your mobile to inform you, depending on what settings you choose for the fridge. This is an idea which would help cut down on food waste and would also save you money where you are not wasting what you have spent.
2) Microwave cleansing floors and surfaces.Microwave technology has been around since the 1930s. It is something that isn't new, yet there are still new uses being designed for it. At the moment it is commonly used for cooking food at there are some systems that use it to cleanse and disinfect. Yet it has not yet been channelled into something that is used consistently. For example some gyms and hospitals have units (that are box like and require settings to be activated) that disinfect apparatus for future use. What about if you could have it in surfaces and flooring on a sturdy consistent level so that if you walk in the floor is instantly cleared of any germs or bacteria that has touched it and the minute you put something on a surface the object and surface is instantly cleaned? It would be of good use within the home and hospital and other places, making them cleaner places.
1) Personal product placement and convenient television streaming. This was an idea that you would have a system within your television which means you could watch television and then be able to purchase a product directly after viewing an advertisement so that you wouldn't have to leave your home or search for ages on the internet for it. It would also have the option to line up programmes and cut out irrelevant advertisements in order to make your viewing of the television more enjoyable. This would be determined by the logging of what purchases you have previously made and what programmes you have previously watched so that it can select things that apply to you, although you would still have the choice to reject what it suggests. Similar to this are things on the internet like the recommendations on Amazon and the iTunes genius function which allows suggests other music you may want to hear.
2) 3D/ Holographic Interactive advertising.We have already been shown existing interactive multitouch systems. Some examples of interactive advertising can be seen within 'Reactrix' ideas and existing placements. Reactrix is something I will elaborate on later.The idea of a 3D/ Holographic Interactive advertisement means that you would see the product in 3D, be able to walk around it, view it at every which angle as if it was the real product, yet rather than just being able to view it like a holographic recording, you can interact with it, deconstruct it within its capabilities in order to see how it works, or what is inside it. Take for example, the 3D imitation of a new car. You can see it at every angle and then open the door and look inside ect, you can even select and option where you can view it in the different colours it is available in. This whole advertisement can be activated at the push of a button, say from a touch screen interfaced catalogue for example. The idea of this design is to give you the complete shopping experience, again without having to travel to look for it. However, I am still unsure as to how this idea can work, further research into interactives will need to take place.
Those were my first initial ideas, however, there were many problems that were left unsolved in relation to them. I then thought that in order to design something that would have the possibility of being made within the next ten years, you would have to focus on the past and how quickly the existing technologies have come to be and how elaborate they are. For example, we didn’t have mobile phones with coloured screens, let alone multitouch screens and internet and the ability to play film and mp3s ten years ago, so look how far that has come. There are also things like identification systems; they have gone from photographs to retinal scans, finger printing and even chips within your passport. So why not have a chip that holds your I.D and your money within a chip in the skin? You would just have to scan yourself as you are paying and tap in a brief code or so that your face appears on a screen or some other way to clarify this is your chip. It means you won't need to carry your I.D and money around with you where you may lose it or have it stolen.
After cleaning up my kitchen, and noticing how often I had to clean the surfaces, the floor, the fridge and cupboards and the amount of waste there was everyday but also the amount of recycling yet the amount that could still be done, I decided maybe there was something that could be designed to benefit the environment or the economy. Here are two ideas I have brought to the drawing board after some research into their uses.
1) A cyberfridge/freezer.This idea is that when you buy your products you scan over the barcode which will register into the system within the fridge what the product is and its use by date. The fridge will then inform you of when the food is going to go off (say there a few products due to go off the next day, it would remind you in a list instead of individually so would not annoy you!) If you are not in to hear the alarm it wouldn't be a problem as a text would be sent to your mobile to inform you, depending on what settings you choose for the fridge. This is an idea which would help cut down on food waste and would also save you money where you are not wasting what you have spent.
2) Microwave cleansing floors and surfaces.Microwave technology has been around since the 1930s. It is something that isn't new, yet there are still new uses being designed for it. At the moment it is commonly used for cooking food at there are some systems that use it to cleanse and disinfect. Yet it has not yet been channelled into something that is used consistently. For example some gyms and hospitals have units (that are box like and require settings to be activated) that disinfect apparatus for future use. What about if you could have it in surfaces and flooring on a sturdy consistent level so that if you walk in the floor is instantly cleared of any germs or bacteria that has touched it and the minute you put something on a surface the object and surface is instantly cleaned? It would be of good use within the home and hospital and other places, making them cleaner places.
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