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Kristina Winter Rooted APRIL 10TH, 2020 5
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rooted KRISTINA WINTER Bachelor of Technology in Visual Communications Visual Communications: Art + Graphic Design Farmingdale State College, State University of New York 7
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11 MY STORY 13 WHAT IS ROOTED? 19 UNIQUE VALUE 21 THE COMPETITION 25 TARGET AUDIENCE 33 CULTURAL RELEVANCE 37 VISUAL STRATEGY 49 MARKETING STRATEGY 58 BIBLIOGRAPHY 9
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MY STORY Kristina decided to go vegetarian three years ago. It was during her freshman year of college, right after she had done the research and presented the topic of becoming vegetarian to her speech class as her persuasive argument, when she suddenly realized that she had ultimately just persuaded herself to finally take the leap. She had been thinking about going veggie for years now, but was afraid of what her family would think if she decided to make the switch. However, she just could not ignore the many reasons why one should choose this lifestyle such as the negative effects the meat industry has on the environment and the horrible cruelty inflicted upon the animals. Finally, in her freshman year of college, she was determined to do it no matter what. She went pescatarian for one week and then she went full vegetarian and has not gone back ever since. At first it was difficult because she received ridicule and backlash from her family and she was not exactly sure what to order at restaurants. Regardless, Kristina eventually learned how to adjust. Even after three years, some friends and family still disapprove and make jokes and other hurtful comments about her food choices, but she does not care. With the help of her friends, she pushed through. However, not everyone has support from friends and family. It can be extremely hard for a new veggie if they do not have the resources or the help that they need which can lead to discouragement. This discouragement can lead to possible relapse to eating meat again or even giving up the diet completely. There is also a clear lack of knowledge when it comes to the diet/lifestyle from both veggies (the term which refers to vegetarians, vegans, pescatarians, and the many other types of vegetarians) and non veggies which leads to a negative stigma. Kristina wants to try and eliminate the negative stigma set on veggies and offer support for those who lack it by creating her Senior Project. 11
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WHAT IS ROOTED? Rooted is a veggie community app that also offers recipes and nutritional information. The sole purpose of Rooted is to help people: young veggies just starting out, those thinking about trying the lifestyle, individuals who have been a part of the lifestyle for years, and those who are uninformed of the diet. Rooted focuses on education, connection, empowerment, and expression. Veggies will be able to connect and have the support of other likeminded people all around the world. Through Rooted, users will be able to find all the necessary nutritional information they need to know about vegetables in order to stay healthy as well as how to incorporate those vegetables into delicious recipes. But most importantly, veggies will be able to share their experiences, stories, and start conversations without the fear of judgement from others because only positivity will exist within Rooted. 13
COMMUNITY There are three main features of Rooted: The community feature, recipes, and the nutritional information feature. The community feature is the social media portion of the app where users can share their life experiences, travels, food recommendations, and tips & tricks. Users can connect to veggies from all over the world and are able to make new friends. Rooted has a welcoming, friendly community that supports and uplifts each other when times get tough. Each user creates a unique profile with their own description, profile picture, and content. The possibilities are endless. 14
CREATE A POST Users can share their experiences and veggie tips and tricks through images or text. DECORATE POSTS Users can decorate text posts with different colored backgrounds and stickers. CREATE A CAPTION Users can write captions, add locations, and tag friends to their posts. 15
RECIPES Rooted has an unlimited amount of user-created recipes to browse and try! They are all easy to make and require minimal ingredients. Users can browse by meal - breakfast, lunch, dinner, desert, and snacks or they can look at the featured recipes. Each recipe displays the ingredients, directions, serving size, prep time, and specifies whether the recipe is vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, etc. Users are also able to like, comment, and save recipes later to try! 16
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION Rooted provides all necessary nutritional information to accompany the vegan and vegetarian diet. Protein is found at the top because it is the element of these diets that is most often questioned by non-veggies. Users can scroll visually to look up how to get all the vitamins and minerals they need to stay healthy. Once a vitamin or mineral is clicked on, the user will see all the possible options they have to get that nutrient and its quantities. For example, Iron can be sourced from legumes including tofu, lentils, other beans and peas, nuts and seeds etc. The nutritional information portion of the app also helps users who like to cook with new ingredients, therefore they can browse the section to see what kind of value the ingredient has inside of their new dish. 17
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UNIQUE VALUE WHY WE ARE DIFFERENT? Many vegetarians and vegans in the world struggle with negativity and a lack of knowledge when it comes to their diet. This misinformation and negative stigma ends up making it hard to continue being veggie. With the help of supportive friends or a supportive family, a veggie can be very happy and live his or her life free of fear and judgement. However, not everyone is lucky enough to have supportive friends or a supportive family. Rooted is different from the competition because Rooted is an all in one application. Rooted is a veggie social media app that also offers nutritional information and easy to make recipes. The competition generally focuses on one of those aspects. Therefore, with Rooted, users will not have to download other apps or scour the internet to find important veggie information - Rooted has it all in one place. Rooted is meant to be an amazing way for users to connect to other like-minded people, a convenient way to find important nutritional information, and a great outlet to discover new recipes from new friends and other users. HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT? Other than the fact that Rooted is an all in one application for vegetarians and those alike, Rooted also has several other aspects that make us different from the competition that make us much more valuable in the long run. Unlike the competition, Rooted is welcoming to all kinds of veggies, providing all nutritional facts instead of just a few, and all recipes have pictures that one can browse through visually rather than with just text. Rooted is also extremely user-friendly with simple, intuitive screens and features which the competition lacks. 19
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THE COMPETITION Rooted is not the only app or website to try and help veggies feel empowered. Rooted has two main competitors, Happy Cow and Vegan Amino, both of which have similar features compared to Rooted; however, Rooted is much more valuable in the long run to veggies due to the fact that users will be able to connect to other veggies, find easy to make recipes, and have all the nutritional information they need to stay happy and healthy. One of Rooted’s competitors is Happy Cow. Happy Cow is a website similar to yelp where vegans can find vegan restaurants and hotels near them with reviews along with vegan-friendly travel spots. There are also various other features to the website which include blog posts about certain topics such as the environment, going vegan, and how to get protein as a vegan. A similarity Happy Cow has with Rooted is that Happy Cow does provide recipes that are low in fat and healthy; however, these recipes are strictly vegan and many of them do not even have any photos. There is also some nutritional information like blog posts on protein and vitamin B12; however, there are so many other nutritional facts when it comes to vegans' health that Happy Cow does not provide. Overall, Happy Cow is mostly known and best used for helping vegans in finding restaurants to eat at. Another company that is competition for Rooted is Vegan Amino. Vegan Amino is the only other vegan community app/website where users can make posts and connect to other vegans. Users are also able to read or create blog posts for open discussion on specific topics like traveling and the environment. However, it is actually very hard to connect to other members in this app due to the interface. 21
COMPETITORS Recipes have no pictures. Website isn't as welcoming to other veggies besides vegans. Main function is unrelated to Rooted. Not user-friendly. App isn't as welcoming to other veggies besides vegans. 22
COMPETITION MATRIX EASY TO USE rooted NOT WELCOMING TO ALL VEGGIES WELCOMING TO ALL VEGGIES DIFFICULT TO USE 23
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TARGET AUDIENCE Rooted is open to various types of individuals such as vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, people who just do not eat a whole lot of meat, and those interested in starting or learning more about the diet/lifestyle. However, Rooted mostly focuses on three main personas: the Veggie Junkie, the Animal Lover, and the Veggie Newbie. 25
VEGGIE JUNKIE “My mom told me she wasn’t going to cook for me if I became vegetarian, I wanted to do it anyway.” 26
The primary persona of Rooted is the Veggie Junkie. Veggie Junkies are in their 20's and juniors in college. They have been vegan or vegetarian for about five-ten years. Veggie Junkies usually do not have support from their families at first. Veggie Junkies go all out when it comes to their life and ultimately their veggie diet; they are also stubborn and incredibly passionate about the environment and food. Veggie Junkies love all aspects of Rooted and represent the positivity within the community. The Veggie Junkie uses Rooted as a way to connect to other vegans and vegetarians who feel the same way as him or her. They can express themselves freely without having a fear of being judged or seen as anything less than a person. Veggie Junkies also enjoy cooking/baking, therefore, they also use Rooted to browse and try new recipes that are featured within the app. Ultimately too, Veggie Junkies always wonder what nutritional value each fruit and vegetable has, so they love the nutritional information portion of the app as well. 27
ANIMAL LOVER “I want to try and go veggie for the animals." 28
Rooted’s secondary persona is the Animal Lover. The Animal Lover is around 30 years old and is immensely interested in psychology. Animal Lovers absolutely adore animals. Anything from cute, cuddly puppies to adorable piglets. They most recently read articles and watched documentaries on the horrible treatment of animals in the meat industry and want to try to do everything they can to help save these amazing animals. They believe animals are just as important as humans and therefore, they are deciding to go veggie because they know they do not have to rely on them in order to survive. Animal Lovers download Rooted to experience the positive, welcoming community and to find delicious, easy to make recipes that make them believe that they can make the switch. Along with the nutritional information provided within the application, the Animal Lover is able to start the diet/lifestyle off the right and healthy way. Animal Lovers want to go veggie for the animals. They need some help, so they download Rooted. 29
VEGGIE NEWBIE "Does this vegetable have iron in it? How do I get B12?" 30
The third persona for Rooted is the Veggie Newbie. Veggie Newbies are seniors in high school. Working at McDonald's, they are now disgusted with the fast food industry and aim to change their eating habits. They are slowly transitioning into vegetarianism, however, being athletes, they are concerned about their protein and other important nutrients. Veggie Newbies are new veggies who want to learn all about the diet and how to safely make the switch. They think eating less meat is healthier and they find the veggie diet intriguing. They like to perform extensive research before changing something about their lifestyle, therefore, they download Rooted. Rooted helps Veggie Newbies find all the necessary nutritional information they need for the best, healthy vegan lifestyle that they can possibly have. The recipes to Veggie Newbies are an added bonus as well. 31
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CULTURAL RELEVANCE 11/12 of vegetarians/vegans feel a stigma or stereotype. 50% of vegans found it hard at first to be vegan. 9/12 vegetarians/vegans didn’t have full support from their family at first. 33
DOES ANYTHING FRUSTRATE YOU ABOUT BEING A VEGGIE? "A lot of my friends have stopped inviting me out." "People think it's funny to joke about us and make hurtful comments." "People make assumptions about you and that gets in the way of being seen as a person without having this diet or lifestyle." "Other's reactions to being vegan. I don't tell people I am vegan unless they ask me." 34
"Other people being judgemental, you know it's always happening. It's just a thing in the background." 35
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VISUAL STRATEGY Rooted's visual strategy consists of a logo with a purple textured typeface - purple coming from the color of eggplants and beets. Furthermore, purple is the color of support and compassion which reflects Rooted. Green leaves grow out of the top of the letter T to symbolize growth, new beginnings, and hope which are all characteristics and feelings Rooted wants for its users. The rest of the colors in Rooted's brand identity consist of oranges and yellows to represent the positivity and happiness the veggie community has for each other within the app. The sans serif typeface, Comfortaa, is the primary typeface for the app because it is easy to read and has a more modern, loose feel to it. 37
LOGO PROGRESS rooted ORIGINAL SKETCH FIRST DRAFT rooted FINAL LOGO At first, it was said that the leaves resembled that of a lotus flower which was not the intended purpose. Therefore, with a different arrangement of leaves and a color change later, the final logo was born. 38
VARIATIONS Original Reverse Black White Primary Alternative rooted rooted rooted rooted rooted rooted rooted rooted 39
LOGO COLORS CMYK: 64 26 83 0 RGB: 110 154 90 HEX: 6F9A5A PANTONE: 7490 C CMYK: 67 36 82 15 RGB: 82 121 77 HEX: 5C794D PANTONE: 7742 C rooted CMYK: 55 99 9 1 RGB: 136 42 132 HEX: 882A84 PANTONE: 512 C 40
CLEAR & MINIMUM SPACE x rooted Clear Space rooted Minimum size - 44 px on screen / 0.147 in print 41 x
COLOR PALETTE CMYK: 3 3 70 0 RGB: 252 234 110 HEX: FCEA6E PANTONE: 100 C CMYK: 3 12 90 0 RGB: 250 215 51 HEX: FAD733 PANTONE: 114 C CMYK: 3 37 80 0 RGB: 243 170 78 HEX: F3AA4E PANTONE: 150 C CMYK: 35 53 13 0 RGB: 172 131 169 HEX: AC83A9 PANTONE: 7654 C CMYK: 67 36 82 15 RGB: 82 121 77 HEX: 5C794D PANTONE: 7742 C CMYK: 64 26 83 0 RGB: 110 154 90 HEX: 6F9A5A PANTONE: 7490 C CMYK: 55 99 9 1 RGB: 136 42 132 HEX: 882A84 PANTONE: 512 C CMYK: 37 73 2 0 RGB: 166 98 163 HEX: A662A3 PANTONE: 7655 C 42
TYPOGRAPHY logo: Swistblnk monthoer Aa ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 Aa Header: Comfortaa Aa Body: Georgia ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (.,:;?!$&@*)1234567890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (.,:;?!$&@*)1234567890 43
PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE Bright, colorful and flavorful food photography with beautiful plating and a variety of veggie meals. Backgrounds include natural wood, white marble, and floral table cloths. 44
ILLUSTRATIONS ILLUSTRATION STYLE Playful, vector illustrations that are colorful and using brand colors when applicable. Fruits and vegetables have white lines on them to elude texture. Illustrations are used within the nutritional portion of the app and on advertising/collateral designs. 45
POSITIVE TONE OF VOICE Welcoming WARM Supportive INFORMATIVE 46
ICON LIBRARY The icons are all cute outlines of what they represent. Within the nav, the chef is for the recipes, the carrot is for nutritional information, and the postit note is to create a new post within Rooted. They all have the same line-weight. 47
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MARKETING STRATEGY Rooted’s advertising strategy is to advertise the app's strengths: the three main features of the app in a clear, informative, and sometimes appetizing, way. The advertisements differ from displaying actual screens of the app and pictures of the delicious recipes. The ads are meant to radient the atmosphere of Rooted, therefore, showing off the positive, welcoming community. Advertising includes social media advertising, web, and print advertising to cater to the wide age range. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter all illustrate the big, welcoming presence of Rooted along with featuring a delicious recipe. One of the taglines on the social media ads are “Come check out Rooted - the new vegetarian social media app where you can meet new veggie friends and try delicious recipes!” There are also web banners that are advertised on popular vegan sites such as VegNews, which is a vegan magazine site. One will see “Continue your veggie journey with Rooted” at the top of the webpage along with the four key screens of Rooted and will be able to download now right off of the banner ad. These ads will also be on popular veggie recipe sites such as VegWeb. The print advertising is for the more mature crowd that would be interested in Rooted. Rooted has flyers and posters advertising the recipe portion of the app that are displayed in local organic supermarkets. Also, Rooted advertises in magazines with an interactive advertisement where one will be able to peel back sticker screens of the app to discover his or her veggie journey with Rooted. 49
Company 22:47 Company 22:47 Rooted Sponsored Rooted Sponsored 22 Likes Rooted Come check out Rooted - the new vegetarian 22 Likes Rooted Come check out Rooted - the new vegetarian social media app where you can meet new veggie friends and try delicious recipes.#vegetarian #vegan 6 MINUTES AGO 1 social media app where you can meet new veggie friends and try delicious recipes.#vegetarian #vegan 6 MINUTES AGO 1 SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENTS Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Each one either showcases a profile and advertises the welcoming veggie community or advertises the delicious recipes that are featured within the app. 50
This looks awesome! Just now · Cologne · Maximilian Güth rooted.com Meet new veggies and try delicious recipes with Rooted Rooted, the Best Vegetarian Social Media App Kristina Winter Like Comment Share 51
Company 22:47 Rooted Sponsored Continue your veggie journey with rooted download now 22 Likes Rooted Come check out Rooted - the new vegetarian social media app where you can meet new veggie friends and try delicious recipes.#vegetarian #vegan 6 MINUTES AGO 1 WEB BANNER ADVERTISEMENTS Rooted web banners can be found on popular vegan sites such as VegNews, which is a vegan digital magazine. The banners encourage veggies to continue their journey with Rooted. FLYERS/POSTERS Rooted advertises posters and flyers in local organic supermarkets. 52
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INTERACTIVE MAGAZINE AD Interactive magazine where users peel back to see the 3 main screens of Rooted. 54
STATIONERY Rooted's brand identity is displayed on business cards, letterheads, and envelopes. 55
PROMOTIONAL ITEMS Buttons, Stickers, Tote Bags, and Recipe Cards with real recipes from the app. 56
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Bagci, Sabahat Cigdem, and Sena Olgun. “A Social Identity Needs Perspective to Veg*nism: Associations between Perceived Discrimination and Well-Being among Veg*ns in Turkey.” Appetite, vol. 143, Dec. 2019, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.appet.2019.104441. 2. Campbell, Lisa. “A Couple Cooks Pretty Simple Cooking: 100 Delicious Vegetarian Recipes To Make You Fall in Love with Real Food.” Library Journal, vol. 143, no. 7, Apr. 2018, p. 87. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=tr ue&db=a9h&AN=128931128&site=ehost-live. 3. Costa, Isabel, et al. “‘More than a Diet’: A Qualitative Investigation of Young Vegan Women’s Relationship to Food.” Appetite, vol. 143, Dec. 2019, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.appet.2019.104418. 4. Earle, Megan, and Gordon Hodson. “What’s Your Beef with Vegetarians? Predicting Anti-Vegetarian Prejudice from pro-Beef Attitudes across Cultures.” Personality & Individual Differences, vol. 119, Dec. 2017, pp. 52–55. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.034. 5.Editors, Vegetarian Times. “Vegetarianism In America.” Vegetarian Times, 16 Apr. 2008, www.vegetariantimes.com/ uncategorized/vegetarianism-in-america. 6. Elliott, Brianna. “The 20 Healthiest Fruits on the Planet.” Healthline, 3 Oct. 2016, www.healthline.com/ nutrition/20-healthiest-fruits. 58
7. Hodson, Gordon, and Megan Earle. "Conservatism predicts lapses from vegetarian/vegan diets to meat consumption (through lower social justice concerns and social support)." Appetite 120 (2018): 75-81. 8. Hurst, Susan. “Whole Food Cooking Every Day: Transform the Way You Eat with 250 Vegetarian Recipes Free of Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar.” Library Journal, vol. 144, no. 7, Aug. 2019, p. 116. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=137738206&site=ehost-live. 9. Joseph, Michael. “56 Different Types of Vegetables and Their Nutrition Profiles.” Nutrition Advance, 20 Aug. 2018, www.nutritionadvance.com/healthy-foods/types-of-vegetables/. 11. Light, Cookling. “40 Easy Vegetarian Recipes for Busy Weeknights.” Cooking Light, 17 Jan. 2019, www.cookinglight. com/food/vegetarian/simple-vegetarianrecipes. 12. Marandino, Cristin. “Confessions of a New Vegetarian.” Vegetarian Times, no. 249, May 1998, p. 112. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=527767&site=ehost-live. 13. Markowski, Kelly L., and Susan Roxburgh. “‘If I Became a Vegan, My Family and Friends Would Hate Me:’ Anticipating Vegan Stigma as a Barrier to Plant-Based Diets.” Appetite, vol. 135, Apr. 2019, pp. 1–9. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.appet.2018.12.040. 59
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