Rubix

Jingwei Dang. Rebecca Horton. Javeria Masood SDED 704 - Applied Theory in Design Fall 2011 Prof. Bob Fee

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Table of Contents Introduction Project Overview The Problem The Parameters Our Approach Project Vision Project Objectives Design Process at a Glance Secondary Research Fast Food Market and History Sustainability Health and Nutrition Primary Research Farmer’s market Fly on the Wall and Brainstorming at Food Court School Nutrition Office Group Discussion and Ideation What is Healthy?

Diagramming and Idea Mapping Reframing the Problem Reframing the problem Group Activities Discussion with Bob The Anti-problem: What if students produced no waste?

The Medici Effect: Combining Unfamiliar Terms Concept Exploration Envisioning of the Lunchbox Thinking at the Systems Level: Business Process Discussion

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Concept Exploration 2 The Lunch Box Farm to School School Bus Snack Bar on Wheels The Final Concept: Rubix!

The Rubix Brand Inspirations: Patagonia, SmartDesign, Malcolm Gladwell Brand Values User Personas Opportunities Research Resources (annotated bibliography)

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Introduction

Project Overview Rubix is the brain child of two design managers, Javaria Masood and Rebecca Horton, and an industrial designer, Jingwei Dang. It is a cust built platform for bringing healthy, farm-fresh food into the fast food market.

In a nutshell, Rubix is a fresh food delivery system that evokes images of a made-to-order grill and salad bar with the convenience of farm to office, farm to school, or farm to event roadside service. It offers ready-to-go recipe and grocery packs, custom-prepared meals, simple self-prep snacks, and season-specific seeds for planting Rubix foods at home.

Rubix was developed over the course of ten weeks for a design management course at Savannah College of Art and Design. In creating Rubix, the design team sought to uncover the key drivers of fast food purchasing behavior and consumer health. This approach led the team to develop a food service platform that sparks consumers’ curiosity and starts a conversation. At its core, Rubix is about meeting users where they are and encouraging healthy eating by building a dynamic relationship between user and producer, user and food, and user and farm.

The Problem As the quarter-long assignment for a course in Applied Theory, this project “challenge[d us] to develop a new way to market and deliver fast food through convenience store outlets that are in competition with the usual suspects, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, and so on.”

The Parameters Our task was to take the ten-week quarter and utilize this time to apply design principles to the problem of fast food, exploring design concepts to make fast food healthy and similarly to motivate consumers to eat more thoughtfully. The overarching goal of the project was for us to avoid criticizing the fast food industry and rather come up with a way to transform it through healthy options.

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Our Approach

Project Vision In the eyes of many consumers, fast food denotes fried, sauce-slathered, or fat-laden selections. Quality and nutrition, using this perspective, is often sacrificed for the sake of efficiency. However, this view of fast food need not be the standard. By definition, fast food is convenient, but what if convenience also meant consciousness? What if fast food was also slow food?

This design project explored ways to make traditionally-viewed “slow food” accessible to the convenience market, considering design solutions that reframe slow food as a quick-access option and re-educate the consumer about healthy eating options that are also convenient and inexpensive.

Project Objectives This project had nine core objectives, each of which is outlined below.

Narrative: Develop a new language for the convenience food industry. Rubix is about sparking consumers’ curiosity 1. so that the ice is broken, so to speak, and they are willing to explore more healthy options.

Producer to Consumer Trajectory: Build a convenience food delivery framework that facilitates conscious 2. choice on the part of the consumer, increasing consumers’ awareness of healthy, sustainable food options.

Consumer Education: Explore in detail the concept of conscious choice in the fast food space, navigating methods 3. to turn passive consumers of easily-accessible food options into active participants in the food selection process. In conjunction, redefine the role of the fast food server or clerk as a partner in consumers’ conscious food choices.

Product Criteria: Refine criteria for the conscious convenience product, e.g. inexpensive (i.e. less than $10 for a 4. full meal), quick and convenient, healthy.

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New Opportunities: Explore food products not currently present in the convenience store space that might be an excellent fit with the values of conscious convenience.

Consumer Choice and the Psychology of Choice: Consider the impact of choice and variety on consumer pur6. chasing decisions in the fast food space. Explore how things such as product placement, store layout, and store design might play a part in youth consumer choice situations.

Packaging: Explore novel packaging materials for consciously convenient food products that are ethically-sourced or 7. produced, made from post-consumer materials, recyclable or compostable, etc.

8. Marketing: Develop a marketing strategy consistent with the ethos of this new product category that is also highly resonant with the youth consumer.

New Markets: Go beyond the youth consumer to consider what other market segments might resonate with this new 9. product offering. In particular, consider whether such a product might draw new customers to the convenience store space.

Design Process at a Glance Secondary Research

Group Discussion and Ideation

Concept Development

Primary Research

Concept Honing

Brand Exploration “Get to Know You” Activities

Final Concept

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Secondary Research Some Findings on Fast Food Industry “In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars.

They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music - combined.”

–Eric Schlosser, New York Times, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the AllAmerican Meal”

“So, it’s hard to predict success for McDonald’s in the health-food category or, thankfully, Hamas in the kids’ entertainment business. Krispy Kreme should perish all hopes of turning its fortunes around with its new whole-wheat donuts, too. It just doesn’t ring true and is destined to fail.”-Manner, T. “Patagonia Values,” Fast Company, April 2007.

Nutrition and

Sustainability: Findings

Research suggests that “the average vegetable travels approximately 1500 miles from farm to supermarket”- American Public Health Association, 2007 Policy Statement The USDA manages a federal program called the Farm to School Initiative, which seeks to provide regional or local food to schools through building partnerships with nearby farms.

Converting to run on vegetable oil (fast food grease) • start-up cost is about $3000 • Idea: use the waste from other fast-food places to create a new sustainable system. System can use its own grease (if there is any) in addition to other fast-food partners.

What we’re building is a new convenience food service delivery model/infrastructure. Instead of you going to the food, the food comes to you. You get on a bus that runs on sustainable fuel and has been outfitted to provide fresh and hot food to customers in a timely fashion. The bus is probably 3-4 times the size of a food truck, so given its capacity it can hold more food.

Google Patents, “Heat retentive food storage/delivery container and system” Food isn’t nutritious until it is eaten. We don’t improve school lunches by making children take healthier items. When healthy foods are forced upon them, children will resist and dislike not only the heavy-handed approach but also the food associated with that heavy hand. We improve school lunches by nudging children to make the right choices on their own. That way, when they take the apple instead of the cookie, it was their idea.-The Atlantic, “How Smart Cafeterias Could Help Fight Childhood Obesity” Discovery: many restaurants have huge piles of waste. Even those that offer recyclable materials often don’t provide a place to recycle or compost their materials.

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Nutrition menu and Informal Research

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Primary Research

Visit to Farmers Market

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Food Court Observation Fly On the Wall: Food Court at the Mall 4

3 garbage cans being emptied for the second time within an hour

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giant coke serving good number of choices

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alot of people getting burgers and fries

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people eating in a haste

most people getting food and going back to the shopping area

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Interview with School Nutrition Office “they want us to do a salad bar in the school, but we cannot afford a salad bar. So we’re doing a romaine salad every day and that is our attempt to increase the servings of fruit and vegetables.”

“So there’s a lot of portion distortion… “cheeseburger…they never wanted us to show the customer what was in it…When I read the nutritional value, I was killing myself. I was actually killing myself, it’s so full of sodium, it’s like 2100 mg of sodium in that one burger.”

Conversation with Altheria Maynard, School Nutrition Director and her nutrition team. (former fast food manager who now works for the school nutrition office) 19

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Group Discussions and Brainstorming Exercises

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Had several group discussions to understand what ‘healthy‘ is. How do we take our approach to a sysytem level. How to integrate this knowledge to design solutions to solve this wicked problem.

Thinking at the Systems Level

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Group Discussion: What is Healthy?

Simplified view says: skinny versus fat.

Image of burger with fat, salt, and carbohydrates swiped away. Nothing left besides the vegetables.

Not just about food: Healthy is...

about b

d n i m f o a state

alancin

g life

having long-term v

ission

g n i k thin

e v i t i pos

eco-friendly

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Diagramming and Idea Mapping

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REFRAMING THE (WICKED) PROBLEM 29

Group Activities

Discussion with Bob

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The Anti-problem: What if students produced no waste?

The medici effect-combining 1. Insight: Salad bar on wheels-converted school bus 2. Insight: food carts still incredibly popular in international environments

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Concept Exploration

Envisioning the Lunch box

Concept 1. Lunch Box. Detail drawings

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Thinking at the System-Level: Business Process Discussion

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Concept Exploration 2 Concept 1. Lunch Box re-envisioned

. Thermal . Sustainable/ recycled materials . Customized colors . Daily features e.g. word puzzle, origami, news strips.

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Concept 2. Farm at School

. Fresh fruits and vegetables . Hands-on learning experience . Education about plants . Healthy choices

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Concept 3. School bus picking food from local farm

. Reclaimed bus . Fresh food transportation daily . Revenue for local farmers . Eco-friendly

Concept 4. Snack bar on wheels

. A clerk interacting with the kids . Flow of information . Probing questions . Minimal waste as the bus takes and cleans the lunch boxes daily through a conveyor belt.

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Concept Final- Rubix

. Farm on wheels . Interactive user experience . Information about nutrition values . Small farm kit including seeds etc 45

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Rubix!!

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Rubix Experience

When a user enters the truck, Rubix provides an informative, interactive self-order and check-out system, which offers a myriad of healthy options.

After making a selection, a user’s food descends into a Rubix lunchbox.

From there, the user can either prepare his or her own food at the selfpreparation counter.

Or he can head over to the chef’s station to pick up a custom-prepared meal, which he has pre-ordered from the automated system.

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Taking inspiration from rooftop gardens, convertible recreation vehicles, and highend organic food bars, our concept is an interlocking garden and mobile restaurant.

Upon arriving at a destination, lift axle suspension enables the truck to lower to the ground, making it easily accessible to all users. A rooftop garden, shielded by a protective covering, deploys from the roof and lowers to the ground.

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Outside the truck, Rubix has temporary seating, where users can bring their food and relax for a while.

The left side of the truck has interactive plant displays, which show users featured ingredients and allows users to purchase seeds to grow these ingredients in their own gardens.

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The Rubix Brand Inspirations

Malcolm Gladwell Ted talk:

Discussion of atypica

Smart Thinking by Smart Design, “Creating products and services tha achieve relevance with consumer ne and desires has led to some enduri design philosophies which inform ou work.”

1. Insight: Rethinking user personas. Don’t formalize them until you test.

2. Insight: Soft-launch and concept-testing. A new take-to-market strategy.

“To innovate a product that had been around so long that everyone failed think about how it could be improved Smart Design talking about The End Performance Apparel Scrubs.

al brands

at eeds ing ur

“While actually a physical place, the name Patagonia also suggests an untamed wildness that transcends any one singular experience. In this way the brand name is aspirational for users seeking to interact with wild nature.”

–Little, C. Patagonia Brand Analysis, 2007.

n d to d” – dura

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Brand values

Visual representation of our business model using

User experience

Transparency

Education

It’s about more than just food. In the Rubix system, the user is considered at every step of the process, from production to purchase.

Rubix informs consumers about every aspect of its food: its quality, its source, its preparation, its packaging, its transportation, and so on.

Getting people to try just about exposure, i teaching them how to food decisions, in som them unlearn unhealth

g icons suitable for a flip-chart presentation.

new things isn’t it’s also about make educated me cases helping hy habits.

Exposure

Sustainability

Providing cistomers the exposure tot he process, options and availability.

Proposing a sustainable brand, which strives to source ingredients locally whenever possible, reduce unnecessary waste and create lasting relationships between farm and family.

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Understanding the target market and developing user personas A thorough quntitative and qualitative research was done to narrow down and understand the market that needs to be targeted for this project. For major user personas were developed by asking some basic but important questions.

Where do school kids get their lunch from?

Mostly at school?

Do kids really shop at the convenience store often?

What are some of the factors that influence their food choices?

Do they even make the food choices themselves?

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User personas

A young girl - Developing food preferences for the first time, open to trying new things that look fun and colorful.

A sporty teenage boy - Looking for quick, tasty and convenient food option at a cool hangout place

Off for an important business meeting in the morning and wants to grab a quick healthy bite

At an elderly age and limited mobility nutritious food options are a priority

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Components for our business process:

Personas

Soft Launch

Value Proposition

Concept Testing

Business Process

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Opportunities Rubix could also cater to visitors at a park.

Rubix could even roll out to a concert.

Rubix could pull up beside the beach.

Rubix could deliver food to schools.

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Bibliography “17 Ways to Get Kids to Eat Healthy Food.” GOOD, 27 Oct. 2010. http://www.good.is/post/good-designdaily-17-ways-to-get-kids-to-eat-healthy-food/ “30 Thousand Come Together to Take Back the Value Meal.” Reuters, 23 Sept. 2011. http://www.reuters.com/ article/2011/09/23/idUS164045+23-Sep-2011+PRN20110923 Bittman, M. “Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?” The New York Times, 24 Sept. 2011. http://www.nytimes. com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?_r=2 Jed, E. “Chicago Parks Roll Out ‘Healthy’ Snack Vending Machines.” Vending Times, 9 Sept. 2011. http:// www.vendingtimes.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=EB79A487112B48A296B38C81345C8C7F&nm=Vending+Features&ty pe=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=8B1967BC A0A14606B9509C00B19957CA “Daily Connect: Two Distinctly Different Approaches to Making and Selling Food.” The Interdependence Project, 21 Sept. 2011. http://www.theidproject.org/blog/patrick-groneman/2011/09/21/daily-connect-twodistinctly-different-approaches-making-and-sellin “Harvard’s New Guide to Healthy Eating.” Harvard School of Public Health Website. http://www.hsph. harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/index.html

The Edible Schoolyard Project. http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/ “Walmart’s Fresh Food Makeover.” The Nation, 3 Oct. 2011. http://www.thenation.com/article/163396/ walmarts-fresh-food-makeover “Toward a Healthy, Sustainable Food System. American Public Health Assocation, 2007. http://www.apha. org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=1361 “Adding Values to Our Food System: An Economic Analysis of Sustainable Community Food Systems.”

Utah State University. http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/foodsys/addval.htm Whipple, B. “How to stop paying for gas and run on free vegetable oil in 8 easy steps.” http:// matadornetwork.com/notebook/how-to-run-on-free-vegetable-oil-in-8-easy-steps/ Wright, D. G. et al., “Heat Retentive food storage/delivery container and system.” Google Patents Website. http://www.google.com/patents/about/6483089_Heat_retentive_food_storage_deli.html?id=jyILAAAAEBAJ “How Smart Cafeterias Could Fight Childhood Obesity.” The Atlantic, 26 Oct. 2010.

Georgia Association of Convenience Stores, Industry Links. http://www.gacs.com/IndustryLinks.aspx “Nutrition Choices.” McDonalds Website. http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/nutrition_ choices.html 67

“McDonalds Announces Commitments to Offer Improved Nutrition Choices.” Press Release, 26 Jul. 2011. http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/media_center/recent_news/corporate/commitments_to_offer_ improved_nutrition_choices.html “Healthy School Snacks.” Center for Science in the Public Interest. http://www.cspinet.org/ nutritionpolicy/healthy_school_snacks.html LYFE Kitchen. http://lyfekitchen.com/ SweetGreen. http://sweetgreen.com/ Frito Lay. http://www.fritolay.com/ Snackwells. http://www.nabiscoworld.com/snackwells/ Schlosser, E. “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” New York Times. http://www. nytimes.com/books/first/s/schlosser-fast.html Manner, T. “Patagonia Values,” Fast Company, Apr. 2007.

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Jingwei Dang. Rebecca Horton. Javeria Masood SDED 704 - Applied Theory in Design Fall 2011 Prof. Bob Fee

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