October 17, 2010

By: Cooper-Hewitt N. from New York, NY
Comments: 17

Posted By: Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
On: 6/26/2009 9:45:56 AM

What if the wrapper on you chocolate bar could tell the story of its growth and harvest, travel miles, processing, production and distribution history? That's the idea that Arlene Birt explores in Background Story. Her chocolate wrappers and other intelligent design gadgets could provide consumers with tools to assess the ethics and carbon footprint of the food that lands on American tables from exotic places. A lot more useful than those annoying little stickers. Also a great entry point into design for your students. Why not the story of your morning coffee, or your breakfast cereal? Arlene Birt is only one designer who is harnessing the power of stories in design. Stories can also work in your classroom as a trigger for creative design. First unwrap the chocolate story at: https://www.backgroundstories.com/ and keep clicking.

Posted By: Patricia Kendall
On: 6/29/2009 3:21:29 PM

This is a wonderfully appealing concept - made all the more so through its attractively designed, easily accessible web site. The fusion of packaging with environmental consciousness presents a new interpretation of "form follows function" for those companies who want to share their eco-friendly backstory. For those teaching design, Ms. Birt provides an attractive exercise that can introduce instruction across the curriculum. In turn, those teaching environmental science, social science, and language arts could engage their students on a more artistic, challenging level. I will definitely be considering how to incorporate this approach into my design studies. Thanks!

Posted By: Maggie Nelms
On: 7/7/2009 2:37:57 PM

This would be an excellent assignment for a creative writing class. I like the idea about telling the story of your morning cup of coffee. We could ask students to tell us the story about the hair on their head, or their shoes, or their backpack. This is a way to introduce design for the first time without actually mentioning the word design. Students may understand it better if they do it first before they learn about what it is and isn't.

Posted By: Bertina Banks
On: 7/8/2009 10:33:47 PM

I have found that story telling works well in all disciplines including science. I often have students write a narrative to demonstrate understanding of a concept taught. The concept mentioned above can therefore be used across disciplines.

Posted By: Kathy Scoggin
On: 7/16/2009 9:31:55 AM

Thanks for this resource. I am looking forward to using it with my students.

Posted By: David Pittman
On: 7/16/2009 1:35:01 PM

I find this option particularly fascinating. The emphasis here seems to be economically conscious, but as it develops there are so many layers of conscious consumer information that can be added. We are so accustomed to ingredient labels already, but what if those ingredient labels were more graphic in nature? What if we illustrated what role or proportion a choloclate bar, or any other packaged food should play in a daily diet to help consumers make more efficient food choices. I mean think about it, as teachers, how many of us have consumed horrible crap during the day just to get by because we're too busy to consider calories or quality of food. It could be like the GGrrranimals of food, right? Another layer of information could be the carbon footprint of the finished product. I gotta be honest, if my chocolate addiction ends up causing global warming and dooming my grandkids, I'm not gonna quit. The only problem seems to be product by product acceptance of where each individual product fits in the spectrum. Obviously the only products willing to do something like this are the ones able to benefit from it.

Posted By: Barbara Hall
On: 7/22/2009 10:11:00 AM

This idea is to good to be kept a secret. Thanks for sharing. I will definitely find lots of way to incorporate the concepts in the choclate story into my lesson and bring in the design concept. I will also share it with my colleagues.