How can you design for cultural impact? In the domain of the human-animal relationship, I focused on the Dutch cow. My cultural research showed that the cow is portrayed from many different perspectives in physical and digital media, which creates a wide range of value relationships between the Dutch and cows. However, all these perspectives from which the cow is viewed turned out to have only a human frame.
My goal was to make the Dutch aware of the public stigma attached to the cow, namely that the cow is taken for granted as a useful product for us humans. I wanted to design a transparent, confrontational and insightful intervention that reached beyond images and could make use of people's imagination. Ultimately, I created a podcast story reversing the roles of humans and cows in an absurdist way.
Besides making the Dutch society aware of our relationship with the cow, my aim was to provide a zero point from which farmers, government agencies and the rest of society can better understand each other in achieving sustainable solutions, while taking the perspective and values of the Dutch cow into account.
This project is a result of the Industrial Design Engineering bachelor elective course 'Design for Cultural Impact' - awarded with a 9/10
