Mia Krysa

Tag: food

  • When Going Viral Means Going Vegetarian: The Good and Bad of Sticky Content

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    In this day and age, stickiness is what makes content stand out. It’s not just about views — it’s about content that gets people’s attention, encourages emotion, and lingers in people’s minds. Content that makes people emotional (good or bad), makes it more likely to be shared and remembered, which is incredibly useful when it comes to social media.

    The Stickiness of Food, Inc.

    The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about “sticky” content, is the documentary Food, Inc. It’s a documentary about factory farming and shares information about how horrible the animals in factory farms are treated. I’ve watched it a total of two times in my life, and both times, I went vegetarian for probably a month. The documentary shared information that while disturbing and sad — was true — which made me remember it more, hence “sticky” content. I can almost guarantee that if you decide to watch it, you’ll remember it forever.

    Using Stickiness for Good

    Sticky content, when used correctly, can help create a better world. It can go viral and drive change. When creators use emotional storytelling and bold visuals, they can raise awareness about social issues or inspire people to take action with the causes they care about — in other words, me going vegetarian after I watched Food, Inc. Think about something that you saw on social media that you’ve always remembered. What are some features of that message, post, or content that made it stick in your brain? It probably elicited emotion and/or was bold. Websites can also be made “sticky” by encouraging engagement and return visits. According to TMDesign, this means designing platforms that make it easy to learn more, get involved, or take action.

    Another way to use “stickiness” in social media, is to post “sticky posts“. These are images or posts that can be pinned to stay at the top of feeds, keeping important messages visible longer — which makes people remember them more. In the sense of using social media for public good, accounts and organizations can keep things up on their pages for a long period of time if they want users to remember a specific detail.

    Concerns with Sticky Content

    It’s important to remember that just because something goes viral, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good or accurate content. Sticky content, even if it contains false information, can spread just as quickly as something that is telling the truth. Creators of content must be thoughtful and intentional with the things that they’re posting. And users must be thoughtful about the content they’re sharing. If you see a TikTok video spreading information about something that sounds crazy, research it before you share it.

    When used correctly, stickiness can help turn something that’s forgetful into something that encourages lasting impact — and that’s exactly what we need for a brighter future.

  • The Role of Empathy in Design

    We know that in the design thinking process, the first step is to empathize. As designers, we must think about other human experiences as if they were our own. How can we design a useful product if we don’t empathize with the people using the product? How do we foster better experiences? Think about your target audience and product in a much broader, but deeper sense.

    Here’s an example of empathetic thinking in action. As long as you are able, I’m assuming you’ve grown up with the ability to use kitchen tools without any issues. You know how to eat with a fork, cut with a knife, and peel vegetables with a potato peeler. There’s virtually nothing wrong with the kitchen utensils themselves — they serve their purpose, right?

    But what if you have arthritis? What if holding kitchen utensils causes pain? Or you can’t move your fingers correctly?

    Sam Farber, the founder of OXO, noticed these issues and designed a new and improved peeler, “that was easy to hold and control, no matter the size or shape of your hand or the strength of your grip.” It’s soft to the touch, non-slip, dishwasher safe, and easier to use. Over three decades later, this style of design is still used when engineering kitchen tools. And it all started because his wife developed arthritis and struggled to use her peeler.

    How do we empathize like Sam?

    1. Service Safari. This research method gives us a front-row seat to the issues that some people may be facing. It allows us to literally “walk in someone else’s shoes.” Think about following someone throughout their day, and noticing frequent obstacles they might encounter in the wild. What could make their day-to-day lives easier?
    2. Love Letter/Breakup Letter. Write a letter to a product or service that you enjoy. Include what you “value and expect from the objects in your everyday life”. This will show what people really like or dislike about a specific product or service. Then, you can hone in and brainstorm solutions to refine the result.
    3. Co-creation. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Co-creation is especially helpful in the early steps of design thinking but can be effective no matter where you’re at in the process. Bring people together who are of similar demographics, live in the same area, or go to the same school. Discuss the problems they face and bounce ideas off of one another. With lots of different perspectives involved, you might find that you learn much more about your product or service much earlier on. This allows you to keep refining and understanding until you get your product right.

    Empathizing allows us to not only be better designers, but better people. It’s important to embrace experiences from all backgrounds so that we can better understand how to solve problems. Empathy is crucial to design success.