Criterion B: Developing Ideas

Design Specification
Essential criterias: Criterias that are necessary to make my product successful
Desirable criterias: Criterias that would improve my product

Category Essential? Specification Justification

Desirable?

Aesthetics Desirable There should be My meal should look appealing because

more than 3 colours there will be a lot of kids eating my meal
in my meal and according to my previous experience in
other technology assignments, younger
audiences prefer colourful things.
(Image/screenshot)

Essential There should be When eating in restaurants outside, they

green vegetables at usually have some green vegetables on top
the of the rice to of their dish and I think that it adds a bit of
make my rice look color contrast to the meal, making it more
healthy as well as appealing. For example in my criteria A
contrast with the product study, the products all have green
salmon meat vegetables on top of the rice or on the side.
In my third product study, I think that the
bean sprouts contrast well with the salmon

Desirable The rice should be From my previous research in Criteria A, I

served on a have come to a conclusion that when
plate/bowl (e.g. not products are served and plated on a
paper boxes for bowl/plate, it looks better than leaving it in a
takeaway) because it wok or paper box. For example, in my
looks more opinion (as I am considered a target
professional audience too, because I am a student at
school),

Essential The food should be I want the food to give a warm, colourful
chopped into bits and and rich feel. Having the ingredients mixed
mixed together up together certainly makes the food less
plain.

Desirable The meal should look I want to keep my meal within the
similar to current mainstream so that it does not differ from
school meals at VSA existing meals, and put off some people.

Cost Essential I think that the costs Even though this price is higher than the
should be set at average of meal at our school - $22, I think
$24-30 dollars. that the ingredients are slightly more
 expensive than typical school meals (e.g. in
a hamburger, only a piece of bread, a
steak/pork and some potatos are required
which definitely costs less than my salmon
rice), in our school. To cover up the costs of
ingredients and match the quality of the
product, I think that the price should be set
here.

Target The target audiences In a school there will be a variety of people

audience of my product will be eating my product. The people that will eat
students, teachers my meal most would be students, teachers
and staff from the and staff. Occasionally, there will be
school, meaning that open-days and family fun days which
the age of customers means that parents or visitors would come
could range to visit our school and enjoy meal here.
anywhere from

Ingredients Essential I will use salmon as According to a survey conducted

& Nutrition one of the main previously, I have discovered that salmon is
ingredients of the one of the most popular fish, over tuna and
product. mackerels. Salmon is also rich in Vitamin D
and omega-3 as mentioned in my
introduction. The lack of bones also mean
that children or elderlies would have no
problem chewing this type of fish.

Essential I will use rice as the According to a survey conducted

base of my meal. previously, I notice that rice is one of the
more popular choices of a base for my
food - over spaghetti and pasta. Also, I
personally think that we need to appreciate
the Chinese culture and rice is one of the
most iconic food in China.

Essential I will use at least 2 As seen from my previous survey, a lot of

kinds of vegetables in people care about the nutritional value of
my product that is school meals - it is ranked top. To make
going to be mixed sure that my product fulfils this requirement,
with the rice and fish. I would add in vegetables into my rice.

Desirable I will add mushrooms In order to fulfil one of my previous design

to my meal. specifications concerning colours, I will add
mushrooms to my meal because it will help
fulfil my 3+ colours goal. Also, as
mentioned in my research, mushroom
contains minerals that vegetables do not
such as iron, therefore it would be a wise
choice to add mushrooms to my meal.

Essential I will not use eggs in In my survey, there is 10% of people that
 my meal has food allergy. For example, in my class,
there is already one person that is allergic
to eggs. Eggs are one of the most common
allergy-causing food for Children and
teenagers and that is why I will not use
eggs in my meal.

Essential I will use cabbage Cabbage is extremely rich in Vitamin C,

and cut it to bite sized which is not provided in my other
ingredients. Also, it makes my meal seem
more colourful and healthier overall.

Method Essential I will steam the rice I will steam the rice and vegetables instead
and vegetables of other methods because it is relatively
more healthy. For example, oil is not
required when steaming things, which adds
nutritional value to my product, and make it
more healthy and appealing to my target
audience.

Function The function of the In my previous research, I have found out

meal is to solve the that there is a lack of fish meals in my
problem of lack of fish school. Therefore I have created a school
in school meals. meal that suits the necessity of my target
audience.

To serve the target Another obvious function of my meal is for

audience people to eat.

Safety Essential I will wear apron I need to make sure that substances like oil
when cooking or ketchup do not contaminate my clothes.
When cooking, there are a lot of possible
accidents that might occur in the kitchen
and I have to make sure that I will be safe
from any physical harm

Essential I should be cautious I need to make sure I do not damage my

about contacting with fingers or any body parts by burning it. I
the hot wok or pan or think that I should keep a distance of at
cooking equipment least 30cm away from the pot to decrease
because it could burn the chance of contact with the pot.
my fingers

Essential I should be cautious I need to make sure that I do not cut off my
when using knife to fingers because blood might spill over and
cut things contaminate the food, which means that a
loss will be made since I need to throw
away all affected food. To prevent this from
 happening, I have two ways to solve it. The
first method is to practice more often in the
kitchen and the second is wearing
protective gloves.

Essential I will check the origin There are a lot of fake food outside for
of the ingredients that sale. Even if it is bought from a
will be used in my supermarket, it does not mean that it is
meal reliable. Therefore, I would do some
research of the product and its brand before
applying them to my meal.

Environme Essential I will cook one portion The reason is that food waste is something
ntal each time only that would affect the environment, in a
considerati negative way. I do not what to cook a food
ons that turns out to be unpopular, creating
waste in the process.

Size Desirable My plate will be 23cm This is the size of the plate used currently at
x 23cm VSA and there is no need to order new
plates to accommodate my meal.
Designs:

Design 1:

Annotation:
This design is based loosely on my design specification and is very simplistic. There are two
types of meat available in my product, salmon and sausage. The only vegetable featured is
cabbage. One of the biggest advantages of this product is that it is simple and easy to make
- just fry salmon and sausages, cook vegetables and it is ready to be served. Aesthetically
speaking, the rice fulfills all the requirements in this category, but failed to use salmon as the
main ingredient mainly due to its size - it is too small to be considered as major. Compared
to other designs, similarities can be noticed between draft 1 and draft 2, where both designs
feature ingredients placed on the top. However, design 2 is more complicated as it is not
possible to steam the rice together with pasta. In this design though, the base is rice so it is
fine to steam with the vegetables, which saves time.
Design 2:

Annotation:
This draft is similar to the previous one. However, it is actually a big improvement from the
last one mainly because of the following reasons. Firstly, the salmon is focused because it is
placed on the side on its own. This fulfills my criteria for having the salmon as the main
ingredient. Secondly, I used brown rice, which reduces high cholesterol level. It also adds
colour to my dish, which helps me fulfil my three colour specification. Last but not least, I
have added bean sprouts and mushrooms, which means that there are two vegetables in the
rice, more than that of design 1, which helps me fulfil my 2 vegetables criteria. Compared to
designs other than specification 1, this meal is relatively healthy because it contains brown
rice.
Design 3:

Annotation:
Even though this meal does not use rice as the base of the meal, and fails the criteria, this
design really stands out among other designs because of its seemingly appealing design.
The amount of colours used in the meal is boosted by the use of peppers. I could easily add
yellow, green and red peppers to make this meal fancy and appealing to children, one of my
target audiences. Also, this meal would let me demonstrate multiple cooking skills because it
requires baking pasta, steaming vegetables and frying salmon. Furthermore, this meal also
emphasizes the focus on the salmon, because of its proportion in the meal, which attracts
audience to buy it because salmon is one of the most popular fish according to my previous
survey

Design 4:
Annotation:
This fourth design is the one that looks most similar to school meals because everything is
mixed up together, which fulfils one of the specifications. This meal is quite time saving
because it does not require any placement of food or decoration. In a cafeteria where so
many people line up to get food, efficiency is very important and therefore the amount of
time to prepare the food is very important. Unlike design 3, which requires baking, this
design only requires steaming and it is possible to steam everything at once.

Hand-drawn final design

This design is the most fried rice like design.

Side view
Top view
Comparing Final Design to Specification:

Category Essential? Specification Fulfilled?

Desirable?

Aesthetic Desirable There should be Yes

s more than 3 colours
in my meal

Essential There should be Yes

green vegetables at
the of the rice to
make my rice look
healthy as well as
contrast with the
salmon meat

Desirable The rice should be Yes

served on a
plate/bowl (e.g. not
paper boxes for
takeaway) because it
looks more
professional

Essential The food should be Yes

chopped into bits and (Debatable)
mixed together

Desirable The meal should look Yes

similar to current (Debatable)
school meals at VSA

Cost Essential I think that the costs No. The price of the
should be set at salmon was higher
$24-30 dollars. than expected and
the price must be set
above $33

Target The target audiences Yes

audience of my product will be
students, teachers
and staff from the
school, meaning that
the age of customers
could range
anywhere from

Ingredien Essential I will use salmon as Partially. Although the

ts & one of the main salmon does not
Nutrition ingredients of the stand out, it is clear
product. that it is the main
ingredient when
eating it because of
its strong taste after
being fried with
butter.

Essential I will use rice as the Yes

base of my meal.

Essential I will use at least 2 Yes

kinds of vegetables in
my product that is
going to be mixed
with the rice and fish.

Desirable I will add mushrooms Yes

to my meal.

Essential I will not use eggs in Yes

my meal

Essential I will use cabbage Yes

and cut it to bite sized

Method Essential I will steam the rice Yes

and vegetables

Function The function of the Yes

meal is to solve the
problem of lack of fish
in school meals.

To serve the target Yes

audience

Size Desirable My plate will be 23cm Yes

x 23cm

Justification for final design:

I chose this design as my final design because it is the most well developed one out of all
the designs. In my first design, I separated every single element of my meal. Not only does
this not fulfil the specification for chopped into bits and mix up, but is also would be very
inconvenient for the consumer to eat it. After continuous development of my designs, I have
tried to place the salmon and bean sprouts separately from the rice (design 3), which could
partly fulfil my specification of mixed up ingredients. Even though there is no harm in this, I
think the taste of the rice would not be as good since the consumer might not stir / mix up
the ingredients well before eating. In my first design, it is hard for the consumer to taste the
soy sauce since it will be absorbed into the rice. I want my consumers to taste everything in
a single bite, thus fulfilling the mix and stir criteria. I have tried school meals personally and
usually they separate the vegetables from the rice. I think that this would discourage the
consumer to eat the vegetables as it is not implemented into the meal itself. I asked one of
my peers, Philip about it, and he says that the the design is quite suitable for a school meal
because it looks like a fried rice, but in reality it is a steamed rice which is relatively healthier.
Also, it would require less time to eat my meal since the ingredients have already been
mixed together. When comparing to my design specification I found out that on the whole,
my meal should be able to satisfy my target audiences needs, which is part of my target
audience section of specification. My final design is quite similar to the design of my third
design. In my third design, I placed the salmon on top of the rice, separating it from the rice
base. Personally I actually prefer having the salmon on top. However, I find that the current
school meals containing rice have most ingredients mixed together and that is why I chose
to mix all the ingredients together. Also, as I have mentioned, kids like colourful stuff and
mixing everything together creates a much more warm and colourful feeling when compared
to the designs where I separate them. Also, it is easier for kids to chew if everything is
chopped into bite size pieces. Overall, I think that the chosen design is way more colourful,
tasty (everything tasted in one bite) and easy to chew (for kids), which matches all my
specifications set previously.

Ingredients list:
- Uncooked rice (amount of your choice)
- salmon
- 1-2 thin pieces of butter
- 100g shmeiji mushrooms
- cabbage
- 80g bean sprouts
- 50g miso
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- Green onions ( of one would be enough)
- Water (prefer water source e.g. tap)

Materials list:
- Kitchen knife
- Cutting board
- Filter basket
- Tissue paper
- Frying pan
- Steaming pan
- Bowl
- Chopsticks
- Filter bowl
- Metal plate