Group work
Class Project
Time: Nov.2021-Jan.2022
Location: National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
Team Members: Chia-Jung Kuo, Tiang-Liang, Chou
My Contribution: UX Research, Concept design, Service Design, Illustration, User Testing
FUNgi is an experience design combines miniature art and the game of sensory bin to improve the meal habits of 3~7 years old picky eaters. With picture books and hand-made activities, we lead children to touch the ingredients and attract their curiosity with a miniaturized world. Therefore, we hoped to change their prejudice against mushrooms and encourage them to prepare meals with their families.
The association of appearance of food influences children's preferences a lot. Many children mentioned that they are picky eaters not only because of the taste of the food but also partly because of the appearance that reminds them of some unpleasant shapes, leading to a sense of fear.
Mushrooms are like building blocks, forming interesting and beautiful scenery on dining tables.
We chose four scenes: The Mushroomcutter, The Dwarfs' Cabins, The Igloos, and The Floating Balloon House for the craft activities and completed them with mushrooms available in Taiwanese supermarkets.
Most movements are as easy as pulling, splitting, and assembling, so children can feel the texture of the mushroom with their hands and experience the same joy as playing with building blocks. For safety reasons, we use raw spaghetti to connect chunks of mushrooms.
We chose four scenes: The Mushroomcutter, The Dwarfs' Cabins, The Igloos, and The Floating Balloon House for the craft activities and completed them with mushrooms available in Taiwanese supermarkets.
We designed a picture book with an adventure story and colorful illustrations to attract children’s curiosity and guide them to follow the instructions. For each step of the hand-made crafts, the required materials, instructions, difficulty level, and results are displayed for parents to guide their children. The hand-making process had children experience the taste and texture of the mushroom and also trained children in various hand movements for coordination and developed their patience.
Zoe, 7 years old
She is a gentle and obedient girl, who can follow instructions to finish things. However, she’s also timid and shows a passive attitude to new things.
Sunshine, 4 years old
She has lively and naughty characteristics and likes to try new things, but she’s too restless to sit on her seat even for one meal.
Both of them didn’t have experienced touching raw food, so they were scared of the smell and texture of raw mushrooms and showed unwillingness to touch them.
We attracted their attention with stories and interactive devices on gamebooks and led them through step-by-step pictures. Gradually, they discovered the fun in pulling and splitting mushrooms and expressed a high degree of interest in playing with colorful grains.
They enjoyed participating in craft activities and creating unique works with their imagination. In the end, they successfully overcame their fear of the mushroom and became willing to eat mushrooms!
During the test, they couldn’t stably hold the tools and often spread the grains since children aged 4~7 have not yet had well-developed hand muscles. There was a risk of accidentally ingesting miniature decorations as well. Therefore, we will prepare materials of bigger sizes in the future.