Brand Story
2 | TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 8 12 20 24 26
Problem Research Concept Approach Application Team
4 | THE P ROBLEM
23.5 million people in the US live in food deserts.
13.5 million of these people are low-income.
6 | THE P ROBLEM
Food Insecurity Urban Gardens Those living in areas defined as food deserts have limited access to fresh, healthy foods. Their communities are primarily served by convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Additionally, more than 16% of households in the U.S. are food insecure, meaning they lack consistent access to adequate food for all family members to maintain active, healthy lives.
Community gardens can address the nutritional deficiencies of food deserts and insecurity in both urban and rural areas. However, even these come with a set of challenges. Garden stakeholders can lose steam and members are not always sure how to incorporate the food being produced into their meal routines. Services exist to establish community gardens, but not to maintain them.
Many community gardens lack a long-term plan for sustainability.
Volunteer workers in a urban garden in Flint, Michigan
A camp counselor gives instruction to campers as part of the Amir Project, a nonprofit that brings community gardening to summer camps
8 | THE RESEARCH
Interview Insights We conducted interviews with local community leaders involved in food activism and existing garden services. They highlighted current issues and provided insight into what effective solutions would include.
Hannah Reinhart Community Development Coordinator at Gateway Greening
LuAnn Oros Washington University Community Consultant on Hunger and Homelessness
Gateway Greening helps interested groups set up community gardens. They set criteria that needs to be met in order to partner with them, establish the garden, and get access to Gateway Greening resources.
Any service that aims to change food habits must prioritize the ease of getting food and preparing it.
Each garden gets an annual visit inperson, but it’s difficult to establish a time to meet garden leaders and guarantee they will show up. Gateway Greening has a website for users, despite the fact that not all of their target demographic has regular access to the internet. Regardless of this, it is a successful component of their approach.
KEY TAKEAWAYS Make it simple and convenient to schedule in-person garden visits Provide online access to resources Focus on meal planning and cooking instruction Reach out to families and children
Change happens through the parent or caregiver on the family unit level, and the way to incite change in them is through the kids. They need to see that taking the time to prepare healthier meals has a positive effect on some aspect of their child’s life (behavior, grades, energy level, etc.). Financial consideration is crucial. Weekly meals come together on a tight budget which needs to be incorporated and included in any solution.
“It’s about getting back to a way of life that’s been lost.”
Liz Christy, the founder of Green Guerillas, a nonprofit that fostered the growth of urban gardens, looks over one such garden on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1975
Children planting in a community garden in Queens, New York in 1926
10 | THE RESEARCH
FEELINGS Hungry
Family Focus The right solution would address the capabilities and desires of urban, foodinsecure families. Attention needed to be given to the time and budgetary constraints of these households. To better focus in on our audience, we defined their current feelings and background, as well as what they would hope to gain through a community garden and food service.
Curious Invested in change Desire for more nutritional diet
BACKGROUND Food insecure Financially-strained Full-time workers Urban, diverse community Most likely new growers
HOPES Parents model behaviors to kids Positive family time Sharing and teaching moment Supplement diet Not be as reliant on food stamps Better able to plan/budget meals Grow foods at home independently
12 | THE CONCEP T
The Big Green Truck provides community gardens with outreach,
14 | THE CONCEP T
and online resources to ensure their continued success.
16 | THE CONCEP T
Truck As a mobile garden consultancy, The Big Green Truck visits gardens to educate members on plant maintenance and ways to make the most of produce grown on-site.
Web The web interface allows users to customize meals around the fruits and vegetables they have growing, as well as estimate their food budget. They can also schedule a visit from The Big Green Truck to their garden.
SERVICES & RESOURCES Garden tools & seedlings Recipes tailored to local crops Diagnosis of plant disease Seasonal planting guides Educational programming
1. Users select the fruits and vegetables they have on hand 2. As ingredients are selected, recipes populate that incorporate the selected produce
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3. Once a recipe is chosen, it shows the ingredients that still need to be purchased and their estimated cost
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4. A map shows the closest places to buy the remaining ingredients
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18 | THE CONCEP T
1. Visitors select which plant or herb they need information on planting 2. View the yearly planting schedule 3. The key to breaks down when to plant, transplant, and harvest
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1. Select a date and time to have The Big Green Truck visit the garden 2. Schedule a visit to an existing garden or register a new garden 3. Choose to receive a phone call reminder 24 hours before an appointment
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20 | THE AP P ROACH
Vibrant, Authentic, Healthy When developing the visual identity, we drew inspiration from bold, handmade, and organic design elements to reflect the values at The Big Green Truck’s core.
22 | THE AP P ROACH
Development & Exploration It was important for the logo to be simple and approachable — without playing too much into the “eco” and “green” design clichés that saturate the market today. The final solution makes use of graphic shapes and custom typography to suggest The Big Green Truck’s straightforward and tailored solutions.
Big n e Gre k c Tru
Big Green Truck
BGig
T r urceke n
Big
T r Gr e e n uc k
24 | THE AP P LICATION
Brand Elements Our logo plays well with fonts in the Asap and Girard Slab type families. They share our openness and approachability. We support our mark with earthier tones that balance out its vibrancy. We developed an icon system of fruits and vegetables to add visual cues to the recipes on the website. Additional garden tool icons on the truck exterior allude to The Big Green Truck’s services. C M Y K 43 / 41 / 54 / 0
C M Y K 68 / 0 / 56 / 0
C M Y K 16 / 0 / 100 / 0
C M Y K 75 / 5 / 47 / 66
engage educate empower Girard Regular Medium
Asap Bold Italic
Asap Regular
26 | THE TEAM
The Big Green Truck concept and design was developed by Elizabeth Korb, Delaney Lundquist, Sam Schauer, and Becca Shuman. This book was created by Delaney Lundquist for the Visualizing Information course at Washington University in St. Louis in the fall of 2013. It is set in Sentinel Semibold 9.5/14 pt, with some Asap Regular at 8/12 pt for added typographic flavor. Photographic and data sources: FeedingAmerica.org USDA.gov City of Portland Parks & Recreation City of New York Parks & Recreation MLive.com The Amir Project