The food locker: an innovative, user-centered approach to address food insecurity on campus

Abstract

Food insecurity is a growing problem on college campuses. By following a user-centered design process, our team envisioned how design can be a tool for enacting social justice. By posing the question "How might we support college students challenged by food insecurity?" we designed a product called the Food Locker that paired an online ordering system with a collection of lockers for students to discreetly and conveniently retrieve items from the campus food pantry. In this experience report, we introduce the growing problem of food insecurity on college campuses, discuss how this issue connects to concerns of inclusion, equity and access, and then detail the steps we took to design the Food Locker. We conclude by reflecting on the process, exploring next steps and calling for continued focus on using design to identify interventions for social justice through UCD.