The primary goal for this project was to gather learnings about challenges of daily lives, and better understand the issue of food insecurity among seniors. By applying design methods, the team conducted qualitative research with seniors struggling with food insecurity to learn about their experiences and the operational, social and nutritional contexts through which senior citizens source their food. Understanding the context of seniors’ experiences served as the reference point to envision demand-centered models of sourcing food, consequently re-envisioning current models of delivering food that ensure the accessibility of food security for all seniors.
This project results from a 14-week collaboration between Feeding America and IIT Institute of Design. The collaboration was structured under a graduate-level design course at ID, led by Carlos Teixeira, Ph.D., and Andre Nogueira, Ph.D. This work reveals design opportunities for alternative futures, in which seniors could have access to nutritious food, and live a healthy, active life.