Common, a food sharing platform
Deanna Badi & Stanley Wong
How might we develop a communication platform for food sharing initiatives so members can work more cohesively to redistribute excess food?
A community driven food sharing platform that connects all stakeholders in one transparent network by aggregating donations and allowing them to interact so that communication of specific needs are better recieved and understood.
In comparison with other food sharing platforms, our project encourages communication between stakeholders, ensuring a non-hierarchical collective effort to end food waste over time.
Above all, we built our project around the belief that food is not an individual commodity that represents status, but a universal right that humbles us as equals and brings communities closer. Only when we start working as a collective, will we triumph over food insecurity.
• • •
INSIGHT
We identified that communication between stakeholders in a food sharing community is not always clear. On the front end, we found gaps in the user experience of the fridges such as their location, and stock. Moreover, there are inferred power dynamics between members that may influence the overall efficacy of the initiative.
IDEA
By having an app to connect all stakeholders, we believe that it could help to organize, streamline, and strengthen community fridge processes and experiences. By having both information and communication in one place, the ease of the process is increased, thereby gaging more interest from more community members, and helping to retain high turnover positions like volunteers and donors.
IMPACT
We believe that Common could reshape how people understand food and its ties to the community, in hopes to ultimately encourage more people to participate in food sharing. This may also influence how cities perceive food and shift its laws so that excess food can be redistributed to those that may not have access to healthy food.
Deanna Badi
Deanna Badi is a third year industrial design student at OCAD university. She has developed a passion for design and craftsmanship, exploring woodworking, metalworking, and sewing. She has an interest in social innovation design / human factors design, which she will continue to explore in the coming years.
Stanley Wong
Stanley Wong is a multidisciplinary designer with previous degrees in architecture and visual art, which continue to inform his practice today. His work often bridges contemporary cultures, materials and production with traditional crafts, rituals and narratives.