Globe Trotter
An iPad app that teaches kids how food affects them, their culture, and other cultures by exposing them to a variety of global cuisines
My contribution
Led generative research
Laid out object map
Conducted usability testing
Designed app
Contributors
Karissa U., Content Designer
Year
2020
Time
1 month
Context
📄 Prompt
Reimagine how kids can learn about health and wellness in the classroom
🤓 Hypothesis
When unhealthy foods are restricted for kids, they end up eating more of them in the long run. Forbidding a food actually increases its appeal. Teaching kids moderation is critical for their long-term health.
Generative research
To learn more about kids’ relationship with food, I organized an ethnographic field study, conducted interviews, and sent surveys to 41 total users
Ethnographic field study
2 kids
Interview
2 parents
Surveys
21 educators, 16 parents
🧠 User insights
Insight 1
Kids tend to think only American food is normal, because most US schools only expose kids to traditional American cuisine
Insight 2
Kids are more likely to try a new dish if it has ingredients that they know they like
Insight 3
Kids become comfortable with new foods when they play with them. They might need to play with a food multiple times before eating it
Personas
Isabella | Student (primary persona)
Neha | Teacher (secondary persona)
Age 9 years old
Personality Inquisitive, opinionated and playful
Favorite foods Eggs and fruit
🏆 Goals
- To be loved and accepted at home and school
- To embrace her family heritage
😢 Pain points
- Classmates making fun of her when she has wonton soup in her lunch
Age 32 years old
Personality Realist, fun-loving and dedicated
Hobbies Traveling and research
🏆 Goals
- Teach her students to enjoy different types of food
- Educate students on the effects of food
😢 Pain points
- The cafeteria doesn’t serve culturally diverse food, making it difficult to expose kids to different food types
Brainstorm
As I sketched out solutions, I had 2 goals in mind:
1. Help the student, Isabella, accept her heritage
2. Help the teacher, Neha, teach students about the effects of food
🏆 Winning idea:
Expose kids to international cuisine so they can embrace their and other’s heritage
Iteration 1
🤔 Intent
Expose kids to a variety of global cuisines so they can understand how food affects them, their culture, and other cultures
👩🏻💻 Task
Kids can choose meals by country
🙅🏻♀️ Pitfall
If every kid chose a different country, there wouldn’t be a real winner
👩🏻💻 Task
Kids watch a cooking video for each dish and read the dish’s ingredients
💡Consideration
What additional information would kids want to learn about a dish?
Iteration 2
🤔 Intent
Engage kids with imagery and video. These mid-fidelity screens were usability tested with 4 kids. The testing insights are outlined below.
🧠 Insight
Videos are more interesting than images
🧠 Insight
Images peaked 4/4 kids’ curiosity and made them more interested in trying a new dish
No this doesn’t look like something we’d have at school, but we’d rather have this food
Participant 3
Final
The teacher, Neha, chooses a country and starts the voting session. The students will see 4 authentic dishes from the specified country, on their *iPad. The winning dish will be served in the cafeteria the following week.
*Research shows that iPad apps can boost language use and social interaction in children with cognitive delays.
Start a voting session
The teacher, Neha, is a UK native, so she chooses England as the country of the week. The students will have 10 minutes to vote on 1 of 4 English dishes.
Cast a vote
The student, Isabella, sees four dishes she can vote for. She clicks on a specific dish and watches a video of how it is made (research shows she loves watching videos).
To the side of the video, she sees that the dish has butter. She likes butter, so she confidently votes for it.
Explore a country’s cuisine
The student, Isabella, continues to learn about British cuisine by exploring what the British eat in a day. She thinks the breakfast dish Bubble and squeak sounds kind of funny, so she clicks into it.
Change vote
The student, Isabella, is exploring the farming conditions of England when she is notified that she only has a minute left. She changes her vote from Kedegree to Papaya salad at the last minute.
See voting results
The teacher, Neha, sees that the winning dish is Papaya salad. She emails the dish to the cafeteria, so they know to serve it next week.
Results
Globe Trotter is a concept design. From usability testing students and talking to parents, I learned that Globe Trotter will…
Result 1
Expose kids to a variety of ingredients in their formative years
Result 2
Teach kids to eat in a way that supports their own natural, healthy growth pattern
Future considerations
Phase 1
Add an ingredient trend chart for teachers to track students’ interest in nutritious ingredients
Primary research
50% of teachers want their students to make healthier food choices
Phase 2
Build out the cafeteria portion of the app so they can get the freshest ingredients from local suppliers
Primary research
19% of teachers want fresher school lunches, so they can model healthy habits for students
Result 3
Kids can learn about food through playing games
Secondary research
Studies show that games are multifaceted and also boost critical thinking skills