Service Design | Creative Campaign

De-stigmatize food stamps and bring the community together, through food

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the country’s largest food safety net program

$241 per month

Benefits >10% Americans

Low income required

Many steps to apply

Just Harvest is an NGO that helps people apply to public benefits especially SNAP

Core Values

Everyone has a fundamental right to food
Hunger is unacceptable
All people are entitled to dignity, rights, a voice in policies that affect them

PROBLEM SPACE

How can we help Just Harvest establish a wider and stronger community outreach while de-stigmatizing SNAP?

Just Harvest (referred to as “JH”) has been struggling with a simple fact: a great number of SNAP-eligible people are NOT applying to SNAP benefits. Some of them never heard of SNAP or JH, and others feared the humiliation that came with SNAP. Besides the lack of clients, JH has also been in need of a stable volunteer and donor pool. Therefore, how can we help JH establish a wider and stronger community outreach while de-stigmatizing SNAP?

Client: Just Harvest
Duration: 3 Months | Feb.2019 - May.2019
Role: UX Research, UX Design

Solution Overview

SOLUTION

A cookbook sharing favorite home recipes from SNAP users as well as the whole Pittsburgh community

Generative Research

INTERVIEWS WITH JUST HARVEST

To understand the problem space and identify improvement opportunities, we interviewed key staff members from Just Harvest.

Just Harvest provides one-stop service to help people apply to SNAP

After interviewing Malaysia and Ken, we learned more about the SNAP application service that Just Harvest offers. We mapped out each step into our service blueprint to help us better understand the work of JH.

Our mission: Grow clients for JH and expand its community outreach

During the interview, we identified the biggest pain point JH was experiencing: a large number of SNAP- eligible people were not applying to SNAP. Thereby, JH lost this potential client population. Other than that, JH also was in need of a more sustainable pool of volunteers and donors to keep the organization thriving.

Clients

Eligible people are not applying to SNAP

Volunteers

In need of man power

Donors

In need of sustainable donations

Why aren’t eligible people applying to the SNAP?

We further talked to other food stamp specialists and identified the main reasons why so many eligible people are not applying to SNAP.

Lack of Awareness

Lack of Help

Social Stigma

BACKGROUND RESEARCH

1 in 7 people in Allegheny County, Pittsburgh is facing chronic hunger

Unfortunately, SNAP users still struggle with budgeting

An important finding from our background research is that most SNAP users were still struggling with how to budget for food given the modest amount of the benefits, which was also a pain point frequently heard by JH from the SNAP users. Averagely, each user only receives $1.40 per meal, and half of benefits will be used up in a week.

Pittsburgh has vibrant communities and organizations dedicated to reducing hunger

While conducting the interviews with JH, we also did secondary research to investigate the existing network that revolves around the SNAP program. Beginning with the government department that handles SNAP applications and funding, to programs and initiatives created by Just Harvest and other community groups , we mapped out all of the related entities and organizations that operate in the food insecurity problem space.

Value Flow

Stakeholder Map

Competitive Analysis

Ideation

SPEED DATING

After learning the problem space and identified our missions, we conducted speed dating sessions with Just Harvest to validate whether the needs depicted in the storyboards are real needs of them. The insights are listed as followed:

INSIGHT 01

Design with limited funding and man power

Initially, we thought about initiating a community ambassador program or an advisor-advisee app, where experienced JH clients would reach out to the community to grow more clients. volunteers and even donors. However, JH has very limited funding and man power to provide continuous incentive for such programs, which we kept in mind in later phases when ideating.

INSIGHT 02

Maintain a community outreach by collecting more data

Next, we steered towards low-cost social campaigns that can raise more awareness for JH and SNAP. For example, creating a tangible and interactive experience of the benefits that JH can bring, or creative billboards in central locations. However, we ambitioned to form a strong and lasting bond with the community, not just a temporary advertisement. To do so, we decided to collect more data about the potential outreach population via some continuous service.

INSIGHT 03

Combine digital and physical to reach wider populations

We then ideated the community cookbook, which we can share to the whole community through the channels JH already had: social media, blogs and newsletter. This would be a continuous interactive service to keep a community bond. However, there is a considerable portion in the SNAP-eligible population who are either seniors or who don’t access to technologies. Therefore, we decided to also make a physical cookbook to reach wider populations.

CONSOLIDATE CONCEPT

We designed a creative campaign, where JH collects favorite recipes and stories with SNAP from the community. The contents will be distributed via a physical book and continuously through online channels.

Why a community cookbook?

Engaging and interactive: It is an engaging and attractive way to raise awareness to SNAP and JH. Everyone will be able to contribute and see their recipes shared with the whole community.

Elegantly de-stigmatizing SNAP: We de-stigmatize SNAP and promote JH in a subtle way through shared recipes between SNAP users and non-SNAP users, bringing the community together through food. Moreover, we’ll share the stories of JH clients to further demystify SNAP.

Help SNAP users budget: More than an advertisement, this cookbook is useful for people to make delicious foods, and especially SNAP users to better budget with the modest benefits.

How does it work?

We will leverage the communities and organizations in Pittsburgh that are already dedicated to the food insecurity problem space. Besides the staff from JH, we’ll recruit volunteers from these organizations to initiate the community cook project together. For return, these organizations can gain exposure from the cookbook too, and will be able to share the client base with JH.

The expected outcome

Final Design

STEP 1

Gather favorite home recipes from the Pittsburgh community

STEP 2

Curate recipes with volunteers and partners

Besides the staff from JH, we’ll recruit volunteers from other organizations to curate recipes into digital and physical cookbooks together. For return, these organizations can gain exposure from the cookbook too, and will be able to share the client base with JH.

STEP 3

Share recipes through online channels to gain feedback and grow traffic

As a start, we’ll share the recipes through the channels JH already has: social media, email, and blog posts. Before we invest more into making a physical cookbook, this is a cheap way of gaining feedback and gathering traffic.

STEP 4

Turn the most popular recipes into a physical cookbook for wider outreach

After gathering enough reader feedback and exposure, JH can put the most popular recipes into a physical cookbook for publication. The physical book will bring more exposure and reach to a wider audience including those without technology or internet access.

SERVICE BLUEPRINTING

As part of our deliverables, we mapped the campaign design into a service blueprint, which specifies the user journey as well as the steps for JH and volunteers, including the front-end, back-end and supporting processes along each stage of the campaign.

REFLECTIONS

Design with limited funding and man power

Unlike untamed school projects, for an NGO like JH, we not only designed to reach their end goal, but also in low-cost methods.

Design with technological constraints

Is UX just about pretty screens? Not for this project. By adding a physical component, we managed to also reach users with tech constraints.

Design with consideration for a larger system

Besides screens, we explored the big picture including local organizations to design a service that is workable under the larger system.

Community Cookbook

Solution Overview

Generative Research

Ideation

Final Design