der Säbel
A subsidiary brand to Chef Sac, designing the brand, product, packaging and advertising that surrounded these German Steel blades became one of the closest projects to my heart.
Stemming from a holding brand which was specifically curated for professional cooks, culinary students and the working chef, I molded a high quality knife brand. der Säbel produces knives with strength priced in the mid-range market, making the product accessible to the majority of the culinary professionals within.
Product Design
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Initial Research
Full Systems Proposal
Breaking down language barriers
through visual communication. This project is the initial wireframe and design of a circular system looking at increasing health care literacy among non-anglophone immigrants.
Breaking down communication barriers through visual communication on how the health care system works and where to seek that help, makes our programs more accessible across the board.
Growing up with immigrant Grandparents from Italy that spoke little-to-no english, I witnessed first hand the language barriers that are presented in understanding the systems of a new country. Not only this, but also the gap in education on certain areas such as health care. Closing the disparity in education on subject matters such as these allows new citizens to more readily identify the need for healthcare assistance when applicable.
Breaking down communication barriers through visual communication on how the health care system works and where to seek that help, makes our programs more accessible across the board.
Formed around research from pinnacle industry professionals, I curated a supporting academic arguments which backed the degree of importance I am putting on the matter at hand. I started from looking at the health effects of the problem, to the financial effects on the subjects themselves, then testimonials from physicians and of course the lasting influence of generational change. Deriving crucial points of information from each of these conducted studies or interviews, I was able to develop a loose structure of the system journey to the point where it was able to feedback into itself.
Here is a very brief road map just to so we can get comfortable with the idea and the path that is going to be taken for this solution. We can see here that the promotion of diversity in healthcare through an offered scholarship feeds back into the integration of the audience with a translation service. This is due to the translators would be placements for BIPOC or other minority students who are already involved in a related industry. Before we dissect the back end of the system in detail, let's take a more detailed look at the system as a whole then primarily the front end.
Yes, yes, it is quite a bit to take in initially (the first step starts on the top right of the circle with the largest dot). Keep in mind that although this is a system which includes an in-house custom created product, it leans greatly on integration with multiple academic and/or private institutions for functionality and sustainability. So how about we take it a couple of steps at a time? First I needed to find a way to effectively target a large portion of the target audience. Seeing that most of the audience consist of families and have children, getting their attention through our public school system is guaranteed and the most efficient.
The product itself is the tool which aims to simplify the information through pictographs, illustrations and infographics. This will be executed primarily in the form of a children’s picture book. The execution allows for a compelling narrative to work effectively to draw the participant in and keep them engaged for an extended amount of time. It also allows for the oversimplification of a narrative, of the presentation and even of the information portrayed without coming across as condescending or demeaning towards the viewer. This story book will offer an intriguing storyline regarding a young character who is tasked with identifying a health issue within a friend and helping them find the necessary healthcare services throughout the city. The journey of the protagonist will take the audience through the proper steps needed for these problems to be solved on a high level. It will also use familiar landmarks and other identifiers mainly from the City of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area to increase relatability and therefore verification and trust. The experience of this product and storyline helps the audience become familiar with the process on a high-level, providing an introductory route of navigation surrounding basic healthcare problems and our system.
Please Note - These are extremely rough visualizations of the prototypes for reader comprehension purposes. The system is design for experts in each field of the visual executions to optimize their use and functionality.
The second aspect to the product, which is linked more clearly through the design system surrounding it, is a digital asset for adults which outline the same storyline, information, and pain points. This is also presented visually but contains illustrations and infographics which are more detailed and are accompanied by a higher level of information. This assists in guiding the user towards identifications tips and systems navigation as well. The digital execution is directly connected with the analog storybook, as on each page it has a scan-able QR code along with a reference link which leads to the corresponding digital asset. Whichever issue or problem is being dealt with at that point in the story is the exact solution that will be presented through the digital-visual execution.
The custom designed system which surrounds these products not only enhances their primary use cases, but it also ensures that these products can contribute towards a generational shift in processes. The physical children’s book was created with the intent to be used within the elementary education system throughout the expanding city area, exposing young learners to this information at an early age. The beginning of the system map starts here, as we pair with the elementary education system, this book would be worked into a mandatory module as part of the curriculum. It would be first delivered to students through an in-class reading guided by the educator, walking them through the narrative. This is essentially guiding them through the information of identifying health problems, and finding services they might need to assist in the recovery. Then, the students will be required to take the book home for homework and answer a series of questions. This is how we engage the parents of the children, some of which will contain our target market of non-anglophone immigrants. A requirement of the homework is to have the parents help with another read-through of the book and the answering of the questions which keep the reader engaged and comprehensive throughout the narrative.
As this is the now the back end of the system circle, the order of each steps goes from the bottom-up.
While they are engaging with this digital product, participants will potentially require translators to optimize the navigation of the actionable data and directions despite the importance placed on the visually communicative aspect. This will be an available option and provided to the participants through a pairing with a secondary or post-secondary student who speaks the same language as the participant. These will be volunteers and employees who are required to either be enrolled in or applying to post-secondary programs of relation to the tasks at hand. This includes industries and areas of study such as communications, education, linguistics, health systems, health sciences, political sciences, international relations, or any others that draw relations not only to the task at hand, but also to the larger goal of the organization and system in which it functions.
As this is the now the back end of the system circle, the order of each steps goes from the bottom-up.
Involving students from these various educational backgrounds and also from the pool of the cultural majority in new Canadian immigrants not only promotes interest in the industry, but is also solidifies their presence in related future work and education.
To enhance this, we have worked into the system design, the goal of pairing with numerous post-secondary institutions and private corporations to provide a scholarship to which our volunteers and employees can apply. This scholarship is designed to encourage the interest in the industry among those with various cultural backgrounds, and to ensure they stay within the industry and build a generational path for others who are similar.