Like I have written before I am researching the cooking habits and customs of two different countries: Ghana and Uganda. Before going to Ghana I finished my literature review of Uganda.
Even though Ghana and Uganda are both African countries there were many differences in the needs of the women. Sometimes this can be difficult and confusing. To bring more structure to the process I have used the method: Context Variation by Design (CVD_. This stimulated me to define separate insights for each of the countries and to combine them into the ‘shared insights’. These insights are representing both of the countries and they are most of the times richer and more interesting. I have used these insights to give a direction to my design process, but also to design a product that is suitable to both the Ghanaian and Ugandan context. For example, in Ghana they use both rounded bottomed and flat-bottomed pans while in Uganda they only use the flat ones. This can possibly result in a different design for each of the countries. At the moment I am in the middle of a brainstorm to solve all the ‘problems’ I have found during my research. In a month I am leaving for India to make a fully functioning prototype of my idea at Prakti’s facilities. Can’t wait!
