nest Habitat
nest is a smart insect habitat that allows you to breed, raise, and farm your own mealworms as a sustainable source of protein from the comfort of your home. nest believes that it's important for everyone to understand the benefits of eating insects and aims to overcome the taboos and negative social factors that come with it.
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Senior Speculative Design Course (September - December 2019)
Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, Google drive, Maya, Keyshot
I collaborated with my team to iterate our ideas through research and discussion. I visualized the idea to illustrations, 3D model and poster eventually.
Issue
With our culture of mass production, much of western society has become indifferent to the food industry’s negligence of the environment and its inhabitants. Animals are subjected to harsh living conditions before slaughter and mass consumption of livestock meat means leaving a large ecological footprint that can be hard to sustain. On the other hand, insects and worms need only a fraction of the amount of resources to become a consumable protein. As many as 2 billion people eat insects as part of their traditional diet, but consumption of this type of meat is not a common practice in western society nor is it commercially accessible.
Our position & strategies
As concerns grow over the sustainability of meat production, our main strategy focuses on raising your own mealworm protein from the comfort of your own home. Consumers of mealworms can now produce according to their consumption habits without having to produce any greenhouse emissions. We want our design to show that there are better and more sustainable ways of producing food. We want consumers to slow down and think about how we exploit animals for meat. We also want them to question the current norms in the food industry and wonder how things could be better for everyone (consumers, animals, and the environment).
Process and challenges
To better communicate our idea and provide a solid execution to support it, I started researching some precedents and relevant concepts about the existing habitat's form and function. I learnt that habitat for mealworms needs to control darkness, space and warmth, besides air circulation, the filter system and stage compartment are to ensure the environment habitable. Based on the research, I collaborated with my team to brainstorm different forms and the potential material for the product.
Considering we wanna place the product in the environment to convey a minimalist lifestyle, the habitat should not be outstanding of that environment, rather be muted to the room or decorate somehow. So I finally decided to use a block instead of an architectural shape because the simple shape and rounded corner would give an eco-friendly feeling to the home. Then I simplify the layers and other elements to fit the block shape which can meet the requirements of a mealworm habitat and the theme of a minimalist lifestyle.
By breeding these mealworms in nest habitat, consumers are able to recognize that these insects can serve as alternatives to the livestock meat we consume. In learning and understanding the breeding lifecycle, consumers can grow to appreciate insects and take a step towards more sustainable consumption practices. This design would be situated in common areas of tiny homes, micro-apartments, or any living space that is approximately 400 square feet or under.
View nest website to learn more >>
User testing on exhibition
We finally conducted a exhibition and did some surveys to test the potential users of our product. Through my observation of the exhibition, people walk by wondering and are willing to know more about our product, even someone thinks worm is disgusting at the beginning, it seems that they are getting more fun through playing and interacting with the worms. Most of them finally could accept and eat cooked mealworms through our product, which changed their initial impression and inherent thought somehow. So I believe that the habitat will give another way to get people close to the new lifestyle and become more sustainable in the future.
Reflection
This project allowed me to think about some social issue we are facing and design something to advocate more people think about it. The minimalist lifestyle has become a trend due to the rise of consumerism. We want to empower people in western society who are conscious of their environmental footprint and want to reduce the overconsumption and exploitation of world’s natural resources, which means making decisions based on what you need so you can produce less waste. As a smart and easy tool for sustainable eating practices, nest allows these individuals to live a more ecologically-friendly lifestyle and mitigate the consequences that result from our culture of mass production. I was struggling to show our idea and thoughts through our brand. However, I found that debate and critique were good ways to know how others think about your design, which can be regarded as a way of user testing. A good speculative design should be arguable and somehow influence their original knowledge. Overall, I believe design matters, to change.