Proposed study
The idea of this project revolves around promoting veganism and vegetarianism among people. My project stems from my ever-present concern about animals. It has been always my concern from childhood, why we consume animal products instead of countless plant-based alternatives and behave violently toward animals and kill them. All lives matter, every animal matter and unlike the past, we are not forced to kill in order to survive.
The aim of this project is taking advantage of graphic design to persuade more people to turn to veganism. In order to achieve this goal, Green Kitchen is a suggested brand for a café or a restaurant which serves animal-free & environmentally friendly food. The slogan for our suggested brand is “Live Longer and Let Live Longer”.
Rationale/why
Our lifestyle as intelligent human beings plays a major role in the future of our green planet and it is our responsibility to preserve the earth for the next generation. One the ways to protect nature is avoiding meat consumption. “The fewer the animal products included in the diet, the less environmentally degrading a diet is and the fewer resources are required. Shifting from current dietary patterns to vegetarian diets, especially vegan, would be an effective measure to halve GHG[1] emissions.” (Fresán and Sabaté, 2019) “Even small reductions in animal foods in the diet can have important climate benefits from N2O emission reductions. For example, reducing poultry meat consumption in most industrial countries by about 50% by 2020, the current level in Japan, would result in a reduction in global N2O emissions from poultry of about 19%”. (Mariotti, 2017:141)
Aims
Taking advantage of plant-based products is a decent alternative to animal products which is becoming more popular every year. Not only plant-based products are more environmentally friendly, but also, they are a more humane approach toward providing food for the masses.
To achieve this goal, Graphic Designers have a really important duty for conveying this information and awareness to consumers and audiences. Design activism generally is defined as representing design’s central role in promoting social change, raising awareness about values and beliefs (e.g., in relation to climate change, sustainability, etc.), or questioning the constraints that mass production and consumerism. (Bichler and Beier, 2016) Thus, in this essay we want to look at this issue and find answers of this question and in the next part we will look at some successful graphic and branding designs in this field and become aware how Graphic Designers can encourage people to enhance their lifestyle.
How
In this project I looked at this issue from several aspects to have a comprehensive understanding of this issue.
· Doing research and reviewing literature on the harmful effects of consuming meat on the environment and people’s health such as obesity, heart problems, type 2 diabetes, etc. I also examined similar projects, interviews, surveys & polls, to have a better overview.
· Collecting data regarding the best practices currently in use in various industries. Companies have recently become more involved in this movement and have gained value customer insight into the most effective ways to draw the audiences’ attention. Companies play a major role in raising public awareness in this area.
· Designing a questionnaire [2] & conducting several interviews with experts (graphic designers who already had experience in green field) to collect and learn more about the best practices, most effective approaches, most inspirational designs in this sector.
· In my research process, I benefited from university lectures, which opened new aspects of design strategies and motivated me to think differently. The most significant reason to choose these lectures is which they all have concerns regarding our planet and sustainability areas and they strive to make a change as much as they are capable to solve or reduce the environmental issues that probably have irreparable consequences if not stopped.
Intended outcomes of the project
The results of my investigation could definitely improve my Green-Kitchen project thank to remarkable information I obtained in this journey. Taking advantage of talented and successful designers’ experiences, literature review, interviewing experts in the field were brilliant opportunities in my project, because now I can figure out all the restrictions I may face and any mistake I may make, and more well-planned methods to reach my aims.
In my home country Iran, veganism and vegetarianism is a recently developed subject and needs significantly more attention. I hope to identify more of the difficulties to raise this awareness, although it is a time-consuming process to change the culture. The ideal scenario would be to educate and train future generations so that they would be more willing to opt for a greener planet.
In an ideal situation, I hope to find more likeminded individuals and investors in my country so that we can actually set up this brand and the associated restaurant using all the information which I gathered including, multiple types food packaging boxes, leaflets, menu design, infographic designs and informative origami designs for children.
Bibliography
Books
- Bestley, R., Noble, L. (2016). Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methods in Graphic Design. 3rd edition. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Mariotti, F. (2017). Vegetarian and Plant-Based Diets in Health and Disease Prevention. Elsevier Science & Technology.
Articles
- Bichler, K., Beier, S. (2016). Graphic Design for the Real World? Visual communication’s potential in design activism and design for social change. Artifact: Journal of Design Practice, Volume 3 (Issue 4), pp 11.1-11.10.
- Choudhury, D., Singh, S., Si Han Seah, J., Chen Loong Yeo, D. and Poh Tan, L., (2020). Commercialization of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives. Trends in Plant Science, (Available from: europepmc.org).
- Fresán, U., Sabaté, J., (2019). Vegetarian Diets: Planetary Health and Its Alignment with Human Health. Advances in Nutrition, Volume 10 (Issue 4), pp. s380-388.
- Salas-Salvadó, J., Becerra-Tomás, N., Papandreou, C., Bulló, M. (2019). Dietary Patterns Emphasizing the Consumption of Plant Foods in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes: A Narrative Review. Advances in Nutrition, Volume 10 (Issue 4), pp. S320-331.
[1] Greenhouse Gases
[2] [2]Available from: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdKGBTcin9y8BqiLLmQ-VLjXN0SiF0DQUKO5qNYoxaGigOCWw/viewform?usp=pp_url
