PROJECT

7. User experience design based on sustainable thinking

"Camera Eats First," with this inspiration, when people take photos before eating, the AR effect will automatically generate when the cell phone camera recognizes the SGP logo. By increasing users' attention to compostable tableware and sharing photos on social media, these actions will indirectly increase restaurants' attention to compostable tableware.

project properties

Service design

Background

For many years, plastic has been a problem. It produces a lot of waste in its production and is difficult to manage when dispensed due to its long afterlife. Compostable tableware is a solution to reduce the use of plastics made from petrochemicals and fossil fuels. Compostable plastics are made from renewable ingredients such as corn and potato and can be composted into humus soil used in agriculture, making its production and deconstruction part of a circular economy.

Current Status & Main Topic

Single-use Plastics

Many plastic products are purposely designed to be used only once. No matter the product, proper disposal is key to making sure no plastics end up where they shouldn’t.

The problem is that nowadays people got used to the commodity of not reusing things, and this plastics end up in the landfill.

Single-use Plastics
Circular Economy

What is Circular Economy?
A circular economy is fundamentally different from a linear economy. To put it simply, in a linear economy, the raw materials are processed into a product that is thrown away after use.
In a circular economy, we close the loop of all these raw materials, and everything that is produced can later be used it produces more of it.

Secondary Research

1. There are not enough restaurants providing compostable
tableware. For example, SCAD / Bon appetite.
2. Because of misinformation and misconception, compostable tableware is not disposed of properly. Often ending up in landfills where it is not compost and sometimes toxic.
3. There are not enough industrial compost sites that will take
these products and ends up in landfills.

Field Research and Observation

Chatham County ResourceConservation & Recycling Education Center Observation

We went to this sight and brought plastics, cardboard, and compostable tableware and conducted an observation at this sight to find out:
• What is the process of taking materials to be recycled?
• What do they recycle?
• Do they accept compostable bioplastics such as tableware?
• Where do they send bioplastics to be composted?
• What do they not accept?

• Due to covid, they are Drive-thru only.
• They accept paper, aluminum, plastics, batteries, phones, old motor oil
• Upon asking the employee, he did not seem to understand the difference between bioplastics and Petro plastics
• Employee did not know if they accepted bioplastics
They do not accept bio-plastics, food, and glass.

We contacted David Nash to get more answers about the infrastructure of composting bioplastics: “We can not, because our MRF does not allow it, but you can contact or compost. They are a local composting group” “Those plastics are composted. Any person or organization that has a compost bin can process them.” “There is no known government department that has a composting operation.”

Interview

Interviews to restaurants

We selected three restaurants around Savannah that are well known for both dine-in and takeout.

FOX AND FIG: this restaurant offers compostable utensils for dining and has compostable

to-go boxes for takeout. They rely on the City of Savannah Garbage Company for taking away the

restaurant’s garbage.

COLLINS CAFE AT FORSYTH: this restaurant did not know the difference between

compostable vs. recyclable plastics instead. They offer recyclable utensils and to-go boxes. They only

have compostable straws. Offer metal tableware for dine-in.

BULL STREET TACOS: they understand the impactful difference between the two types of plastics

but do not offer any compostable utensils. They complain about the high price so prefer not to use

them. They also use the City of Savannah Garbage Company.

Savannah Restaurants

Hunt Statement & Goal & Target

Hunt Statement

We aim to explore the opportunities for the proper use and disposing of compostable tableware in Savannah to reduce the production and waste of petrol plastics.

Our Goal

Our goal is to ensure that compostable tableware is appropriately used and disposed of by creating the infrastructure it currently lacks in Savannah and most parts of the country.

Our Target

We proposed to target SCAD cafeterias to expand the proper use and disposing of compostable tableware. SCAD enrolls more than 13,000 students, making students a high-impact consumer.

Stakeholder Map

Concept

Concept "Camera Eats First"

Through careful investigation and patient observation, we found that customers did not care about the materials of disposable tableware provided by the restaurant. Many customers pay attention to whether the box is clean and the tableware is complete, rather than if the tableware is environmentally friendly or not.

Many people enjoy taking photos before eating. This behavior is very common in some web celebrity restaurants. We decided to design a specific pattern that only restaurants that use all environmentally friendly tableware are entitled to use. When the user uses the phone to take a picture, the phone's camera recognizes the pattern and generates an AR effect. This particular pattern will become so popular that people who see the AR images on social media will consider eating at restaurants supporting the environment and offering eco-friendly cutlery.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_eats_first

Camera Eats First

Empathy Map

Empathy Map after interview

Affinity Map

There is an overall lack of care for the environment and thereforethere is lack of demand and understanding of compostable tableware.

Theuse of Compost plastics is currently threatened by heightened hygienerequirements due to covid and the lack of infrastructure to sustain the processof composting.

Persona

Savannah Logo 3D Model

Using classic architectural elements of Savannah and the oldest oak tree in Savannah as the main elements, a unique 3D logo was designed with the neon effect common in Savannah at night as the decoration.

Outcome

By adding a library file to Processing3, I was able to recognize the logo and generate an augmented reality 3D model using an external camera on the computer.
In a practical application, restaurant customers can see the augmented reality effect while taking a photo on their phone.

Processing 3


"Camera Eats First", with this inspiration, when people take photos before eating, AR effect will be generated automatically when the cell phone camera recognizes the SGP logo. By increasing users' attention to compostable tableware and sharing photos on social media, these actions will indirectly increase restaurants' attention to compostable tableware.

End

2020. 09– 2020. 12

Designed by Charles Chen