Purple Asparagus

Design Challenge
Matthew N. - Yaju M. - Jerome W. - Megan H. - Nick B. - Lorraine P.
Background
Who is Purple Asparagus?

- Purple Asparagus is a Chicago based organization that has created a program

dedicated to educating children and families about eating that is good for the
body and planet

Design Challenge

- How might we use technology and the Purple Asparagus program to improve
childhood nutrition?
User Research

Secondary Research Interviews Ethnographic Research

Secondary Research
Used Purple Asparagus materials and resources to better empathize with our
users

Aim of research: to learn more about the importance of childhood nutrition

Interviews
Interviewed children, parents, educators, nutrition, and sociology professionals (8
interviews total)

Created interview guides keeping in mind that our users are of various
backgrounds and experiences
Ethnographic Research
We discovered that children have a hard time expressing their concerns and
experiences by themselves, and needed their parent’s help

Different settings of research:

- Parents and children grocery shopping

- Parents and children eating in a food court
- Children and educators learning and eating together in a classroom setting
Affinity Mapping
Insights
- Children try new things when peers and parents do first
- New ideas get lost due to lack of continuity in home and school life
- Lack of change stems from parents rather than children
- Children want to be independent but still need guidance
- Changing habits is difficult
- Programs not embraced by the community fail
- Parents are hesitant for kids to use technology
- Low income families have been incentivized to perform healthy tasks when
financial benefits are involved
- Taste is more important than nutrition for kids

-
Path to Evaluating HMW
- Initially, we wanted to tackle the problem of children’s independence and
involvement with their learning
- In the process of doing so we reevaluated our HMW and customers
- Realized that there was a more pressing gap between home & school
- We should target parents rather than children
How might we use the community to
support school curriculum at home?
Ideation considerations
Current Problems:

- Disconnect of parents and school due to lack of free time

- Difficulty finding time to grocery shop for the family
- Unclear of what a healthy meal looks like
Ideation considerations
Solutions:

- App allows for parents to see and connect more with their children and their
curriculum
- Allows parents to buy recipe bundles from recipes learned in class
Ideation Brainstorm
Focused on themes from research, targeted one main idea

Reiterated the pain points and our users throughout the process leading to finally
deciding on using a mobile app
A Two Pronged Solution Part 1
Parent Forum

- Daily video posts from Purple Asparagus about what the kids made that
day. Includes the recipe & ingredients in the description.
- Parents can react/upvote recipes that went over well with kids at home
- Can also add their own videos/feedback/tips for other parents
- Creates a community of healthy eating that is still strongly grounded in the
Purple Asparagus curriculum, bridging the gap between school and home
A Two Pronged Solution Part 2
Buy a Recipe!

- In the Purple Asparagus video, button to click and buy the recipe in the
description. Users can see the price list of the ingredients. Buying the
recipe means that all ingredients are added into a grocery cart for easy
checkout. Parents don’t have to worry about remembering all the parts.
- Recommending a community partner or a company like instacart to provide
the grocery store side of this connection.
Fresh Step