UX/UI DESIGN
Atlanta Soul
PROJECT TYPE
University Course Project
DURATION
Sept - Dec 2020
(4 months)
ROLES
Branding
Marketing
UX Research
TOOLS
Illustrator
Photoshop
Figma
DELIVERABLES
Interactive Prototype (Mobile & Desktop)
Social Media Profile (Instagram)
Promotional Posters & Street Mockups
TEAM
Megan Morse
Jolaya Cummings
Agamjot Sodhi
Troy Jenson
The Prompt
Studying remotely during the pandemic did not do much for motivation as much as it did for intriguing design prompts - my team and I were asked to develop ideas to support black communities with a focus on history and food.
Which required some soul searching, literally
Before our team began ideating, we were suggested to evaluate our underlying biases towards black communities, culture and other minority groups to understand the depth of our unconscious prejudice, in order to reduce its influence on our solution. Some of the initiatives we made were:
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Understanding our automatic race preference through Harvard's Implicit Association Test
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​Learning about ethical conduct during research from an online course: ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​TCPS 2: Core​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
-
calculate our Cultural Quotient​​​​​​​​​ to measure our abilities to work with different cultures​​​​​​​​
After we did our best to empathize, our team began researching the most viable intersections between black history and food within America in the 20th century. We found that soul food establishments acted as socio-political hubs for the civil rights movement - community leaders used these safe spaces to plan organized movements to address social unrest; while strengthening inter-cultural relations through art, literature, and most commonly, food!
We built a timeline based on our research that highlights the importance of soul food in black history and the civil rights movement.
The Audience
Based on our research, our group decided that our major objectives within this project would be:
To Educate
on black history, black culture and the origin of soul food
To Celebrate
the joy and love of soul food communally
To Support
small black-owned businesses during the pandemic
For these goals, we thought the most effective setting for our product would be within Atlanta, Georgia - with a significant black population and a number of historically important establishments. Our personas were as follows:
The Foodie
locals with an interest in new food, specialities and bang for their buck
The Tourist
visitors who are interested in the socio-cultural history of Atlanta
The Solution
Considering the historical importance of soul food establishments, and the difficulties that small businesses experienced due to the pandemic, our team decided to create an interactive website experience linked with outdoor exhibits and a social media presence, each medium having their own purpose yet working cohesively with the others. This means users may come across any of our three mediums, but have other incentives to utilize the others!
Posters
TO SUPPORT
designed to entice and connect users with soul food establishments, each street poster contains a QR code that links to our website - providing them with the history and discounts to a local restaurant known for the dish, in their vicinity. Discounts increase in value as they scan more posters!
Website
TO EDUCATE
designed to educate our audience on historical soul food establishments and their impact. The website explains the role of soul food and restaurants within black history, specifically historically impactful ones within Atlanta. Users can learn about each establishment and find our poster in their vicinity for a discount!
TO CELEBRATE
created to cultivate a community that celebrated their interest in soul food and black culture. It acts as our main form of outreach - to provide teasers of information available on our website as well as interact with soul food enthusiasts and other community groups - to funnel users to our website!
Criticism & Conclusion
Due to a tight time crunch, we lacked the resources to user test and understand the needs of our audience better, and therefore we may have not noticed any issues within our prototype, as well as whether all three mediums worked cohesively. However, considering the agenda in question, I believe we found a great intersection between educating and supporting black communities.