Aldora Lau

Design Brief

This option has been inspired by a new category that was added to the Dieline 2021 Design Awards competition

"Over the past year, we've seen so much powerful work dedicated to so many vital
causes – from breweries and distilleries making hand sanitizer to brands taking up
social justice causes. So, starting this year, we're going to formally honour those
creatives with Dieline's first-ever Design For Good Award.

This category is open to any packaging consumer products designed for doing a
good that emphasizes positivity kindness and giving back. Best of all, entry is free
to anyone that wants to enter, so long as the project fosters accessibility to a higher
quality of life. That can be initiatives by non-profit organizations or even designing
for a charitable cause. So long as your project gives back and lifts humankind – and
sports some beautiful, knock-out design – your project will be considered. Not only
that, but the award will be judged by some of the best and brightest from the world
of design and branding."

Background

Healthy diets are now well known to be crucial for optimal health, yet globally “unhealthy diet” is still one of the top risk factors for the global burden of disease. Nearly one in three people suffer from at least one form of malnutrition and a large part of the world’s population is affected by diet-related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. (WHO 2018) 

Access to food is often related to economic power, inequality, discrimination, and social status, so some people have more difficulty accessing a healthy diet than others. (WHO 2018) 

Good nutrition in early life is critical, babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months and continue to be breastfed for two years or longer, with introduction of complementary foods from 6 months of age (WHO 2018) 

Highly processed, energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods have become cheaper and more widely available. People are eating too many foods that are high in calories, fat, sugars, and salt, while not eating enough fruits, vegetables and pulses. (WHO 2018) 

A healthy diet balances calorie consumption with energy expenditure and should emphasize a balance of protein, fiber-rich carbohydrates and unsaturated fats, with no trans-fats and limited intakes of free sugars, saturated fats and salt. (WHO 2018)

Current food production is known to have a major impact on the environment - accounting for 20-30% of greenhouse gas emissions and two thirds of water use as well as being the leading cause of deforestation and contributing to biodiversity loss - Climate change and other environmental changes threaten food systems’ capacity to provide healthy diets for all in the future, while the agricultural industry is one of the leading causes of these threats.(WHO 2018) According to the National Zero Waste Council's research on household food waste in Canada, almost 2.2 million tonnes of edible food is wasted each year, with the estimated cost to be over of $17 billion. 

A healthy diet should be sustainably produced and consumed,
and there is growing evidence that mutually beneficial health and environment relationships are possible. (WHO 2018) 

A healthy diet that has a lower environmental impact includes a wide variety of foods - with an emphasis on plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains and pulses) and on locally-produced, home-prepared foods - and provides just the right amount of calories.

It should include sustainably sourced fish/shellfish, moderate amounts of milk and dairy products (or dairy alternatives) and modest amounts of fats and oils (mainly from vegetable sources). It should be limited in meat (if eaten at all), especially red meat and processed meat products, and limited in processed foods
that are high in fat, sugar, or salt. It should not include sugar-sweetened beverages. (WHO 2018) 

A wide array of policy options could be proposed for governments to fulfill their obligation and key role in shaping and regulating food systems, in turn, creating a healthy and secure environment that makes it possible for people to have access to a healthy diet. (WHO 2018) 

While there have been significant increases through technology in food production through the introduction of higher yielding varieties and breeds, loss of genetic diversity in agricultural production systems through monoculture of uniform crop varieties or animal breeds has led to  large production losses and, in some cases, has had significantly negative health consequences. 

Loss of diversity has also resulted in reduced regulation and supporting ecosystem symbiosis, requiring additional chemical inputs thus creating negative feedback loops (WHO 2018).

 The use of chemical inputs, particularly pesticides, has had severe negative consequences for human health. The use of pesticides, especially in agriculture has lead to serious environmental pollution, affected human health (25 million people per year suffer acute pesticide poisoning in developing countries) and caused the death of many non-target animals (including pollinators), plants and fish; another negative feedback loop. (WHO 2018) 

Access to healthy, nutritious, and affordable food is needed - food justice - to form a foundation to a healthy community. Yet, hundreds of millions of people, including one in eight in the U.S., lack this access. (Lenstra D’arpa 2019) 

Despite public health interventions and initiatives, most individuals in the United States are overweight or obese. (Boswell, Sun, Suzuki, Kober 2018) Obesity rates continue to rise rapidly, with dire health implications. 

One contributing factor is that individuals dismiss healthy foods in favour of inexpensive, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. One important psychological theory underlying these choices is food craving: craving increases with exposure to unhealthy foods (in addition to food cues, such as advertisements) and prospectively predicts eating, and especially snacking. (Boswell, Sun, Suzuki, Kober 2018) Cognitive regulation strategies that emphasize the negative consequences of unhealthy foods reduce craving. Emphasizing positive benefits increases cravings for healthy foods and changes food valuations (the willingness to pay). (Boswell, Sun, Suzuki, Kober 2018) 

Evaluation

Sustainable diet:
Sustainably produced and consumed
Wide variety of foods - emphasis on plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains 
and pulses)
Sustainably sourced fish/shellfish, moderate amounts of milk and dairy products (or dairy alternatives), and modest amounts of fats and oils (mainly from vegetable sources)
Limited in meat, especially red meat and processed meat products, limited in processed foods high in fat, sugar, and/or salt
No sugar-sweetened beverages
Locally-produced
Home-prepared foods
Provides just the right amount of calories
No pesticide/herbicide, artificial fertilizers

Consumers rely on the external cue of portion sizes
Bite-sized influences overall consumption; people tend to eat more when things are 
bite-sized
Frozen foods have as much vitamins as fresh vegetables, and sometimes more
Notable price difference between fresh and frozen produce - average 3x
Frozen produce have a way longer shelf life
Imported produce during colder months, are picked before fresh, so taste may actually be lesser compared to frozen
The exposed heat, light and dry conditions during travel degrade the nutrients

Decision

solution product(s):

New packaging for existing frozen vegetables and fruits, targeting vegetables that provide potassium. 
The packaging must be convenient, flexible, and pre-portioned to ensure the consumption of the minimum daily potassium.
Seperate rectangular or cubed sections to house the frozen veggies
Sections perforated to be easily tearable and consumed
Sustainable plastic cover that is easy to peel off and microwavable safe
Seperated seasoning packets to retain nutrients and add convenience
Microwaveable substrates
Outer sleeve or folding carton to protect the vegetables housed inside and to provide a surface for all branding and relevant info

"7 of 10 shoppers check packaging and will pay more attention to both packaging and labels moving forward. If packaging clearly states that it is reusable or recyclable, 58% said they would be likely or very likely to make the purchase" (Manning, 2021).