This class will be a real-world exploration of food systems in California, how design can positively impact these systems and in turn the lives of all who participate in these systems. The project approach will move through a series of stages and view the system through a number of lenses. Whether tracing the path of a food commodity like an ‘Onion’ or interpreting a documentary text such as the ‘Omnivores Dilemma’ or fictional text such as ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ or even via a particular nutritional element.
The course is structured to be reflexive and iterative in nature and will require both individual and group exploration. You will cycle between a variety of research processes. This is not intended to impact your personal eating habits, but exploring the food system should shed light on some dark corner of the food system.
Participants will be responsible for utilizing various forms of qualitative research in order to create representative models of the subjects and systems at hand.
- Observations
- Interviews
- Shadowing
- Mapping
- Writing
- Photographing & Videotaping
- Prototyping at various levels of fidelity.
Sanjit Sethi 