Sourdough Making

Nourishment Project
by Brittany Williams

"How can I make the process of making sourdough bread easier and more accessible for the beginner bread baker? "


Design Context

Naturally Fermented Sourdough made by the fermentation of dough using naturally occurring lactobacilli and yeast. Sourdough bread has a mildly sour taste not present in most bread made with baker's yeast and better inherent keeping qualities than other bread, due to the lactic acid produced by the lactobacilli. However, I identified some challengings of Making Naturally Fermented Sourdough and then provided service artifacts to relieves these challengings.


Design Artefacts

Smart Container--Take the guesswork out of your sourdough starter with temperature and humidity sensors that show you how your special and unique sourdough starter is doing.

Sourdough Starter App--A sourdough starter is a living culture thriving with activity. The starter needs the right temperature and consistent, measured feedings. With the sourdough starter app cultivating a healthy starter is easy, and you’ll never miss a feeding.

Sourdough Campaign--Sourdoh Campaign encourages bakers of all levels to post their sourdough failures, to remind the community that mistakes are perfectly normal and part of the process of learning how to make bread.

Video Resources--Easy to follow, step by step tutorials will take you from a beginner to an expert in sourdough bread making.


Nourishment: Kombucha

Nourishment Project
by Xinmiao Zhang

"How can I redesign both the DIY and store buying experience for kombucha lovers?"


Design context

I accidentally bought Kombucha once in the grocery store and the smell and flavor were completely new and kind of shuck to me. After researching it, I discovered that Kombucha is a kind of superfood and there is a group of people who love drinking Kombucha and DIY kombucha because of the healthy factors and the flavors. However, the means and ingredients to handmake Kombucha are hard to get. Therefore, I thought it will be interesting to do a project on it and let more people know more about Kombucha and easy to make by themselves.


Design Artifacts

DIY Space--the use of warm colour and soft materials is ideal for my store. There should be a fireplace or television, windows for sunlight to shine through, shades, the big wooden table in the middle, soft sittings, and air conditioning for a comfortable environment.

Service Website-- By creating an account, the customer can manage, track, order, get in touch with us.

Delivery Truck--We transport locally and the truck will act as an advertisement while shipping kombucha to customers.

Packaging-- My concept for packaging is clean simple and heartwarming design. Sturdy cardboard box designed for different packaging of the drink: Glass bottles, paper box, dispenser, etc. The boxes need to have cooling pads inside to ensure the freshness of the tea.

 

 


To You

A Smarter City Challenging Project
by Claudia Hopkins & Sandra Han

"What smart initiatives could be developed to encourage meaningful interactions between community members to reduce social isolation?"


Design context

People use social media to learn about others and don’t rely on face to face connections. According to digital inclusion and online centres are social strategies in the UK to enable equitable access to technology and help people feel less socially isolated. In Vancouver, VPL Central is the only branch offering the high demand digital literacy classes. Through this project, we want to explore the opportunity about how VPL classes can come to communities to increase accessibility and then whether digital inclusion fosters a sense of belonging.

Multi-sensory experiences lead to more verbal, communicative interactions with others. Hence, we believe that connections can lead to investments in the city and the community.  In order to create the sense of belonging, we created a space to help others get to know each other through experiences as a means to get to know one another and how connections lead to investments in the city and community.


Design Artefacts

Pop Up Vancouver

These non-profit pop up shops are designed for everyone and anyone open to interacting with the artifacts.

Space--Themes change every season to create new engaging content and relationship with artists and designers are maintained.

Menu--Food was integrated into this service as food enables people to connect more based on culture, and a multi-sensory experience.

Interactive Board--This is an anonymous experience to enable storytelling and find commonality through others’ experiences.

Artifacts and Food-- The artifacts and food allow for the Vancouver Pop Up to be maintained. They also enable a contemplative experience.


VPL Digital Centres

The underserved or marginalized population that may have low mobility or access to technology based on class.

Needs Assessment-- Curate class offerings for a community, by first accessing needs, then confirming enrolment, and then sending out a final schedule.

Bus Stop Map & Webpage-- A bus stop ad with a map to the online centre is a nudge for people to attend. There is also a link on the bus stop advertisement that goes to the VPL website if the person has a smartphone.

Centre, Classes & Resources -- Offer classes, resources and use of desktop computers. Provide ways of giving feedback through an evaluations form after the course, and have a suggestion box available to empower communities to make the change.