This leaf plate was designed for a competition for the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative to promote healthy eating in Philadelphia public schools. Our team's design makes use of physical cues to reinforce healthy eating in addition to providing students with freedom to combine or separate their foods. This project was a recipient of the Wharton Innovation Fund. I worked with Anna Couturier and Yilin Lu on this project.
We researched adolescent eating habits to better understand what motivates them. What we discovered was:
From the criteria, we developed several sketches based on visual cues from nature, the idea of flexibility, and from the prior research that we conducted. Above are some of the thumbnail sketches.
After coming up with several sketches, we chose the leaf as the most compelling form factor. The plate combined the concepts of a leaf and an artist palette, to provide kids with a creative and healthy experience.
To prototype the plate affordably, we decided to thermoform (specifically a vacuum forming process) it with a polyethylene sheet. To achieve this, we needed to produce a mold with a negative pattern to stretch the plastic over.
Here are some shots of the plate in process:
To improve on the design and get validation, we wanted to get the plate testing with our primary users-students. Working with the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative, we were able to bring our plate prototypes to get some feedback on the design. Student's gave feedback on the size, weight, but it was great to see how they interacted when serving and eating with the plate.
While the course may be over, we are working to produce and sell this plate after making some slight modifications. If you are interested in ordering or helping us with our path to production, feel free to reach out at timothy.li@me.com.