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You Are What You Eat.

Me Graphically: A creative way of representing my cultural identify through data storytelling

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DURATION

Feb 2022 (2 weeks)

TEAM

Individual Project

TOOL

Pen & Paper

Procreate

Figma

FINAL DESIGN

Self Portrait Through Data Storytelling.

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BACKGROUND

Kitchen is where the magic happens.

As an international student in the US, cooking food from my home country helps me stay emotionally connected to home—if not in mind, then through my taste buds. I chose to represent myself through the food in my fridge, highlighting the frequency of its use and the variety of ingredients in my cooking. This offers a dynamic glimpse into my eating habits, culture, and identity.

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THOUGHT PROCESS

Drawing inspiration from my own fridge. 

I arranged the ingredients into four rows and two columns, mimicking the way they are typically organized in my fridge.​

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The ingredients on each shelf are grouped by category and ranked by my average consumption frequency. Shelf colors indicate frequency, with lighter shades representing less frequent use. Notably, the left and right columns are arranged in reverse frequency order, reflecting how I organize my fridge—placing the most frequently consumed items at the center.

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The combinations of ingredients and their cooking frequency are represented by three types of lines: solid, regularly dashed, and irregularly dashed. I find this the most intriguing part of the diagram, as it captures elements of my personality. For instance, my love for spicy food is shown through the frequent use of Chinese red pepper in dishes like cabbage and tofu. My interest in yangsheng (a Chinese concept of health-promoting foods) is reflected in ingredients like goji berries and mushrooms in my chicken soup. Finally, cooking eggs with tomatoes is a deliberate nod to my cultural background—if you know Chinese cuisine, you might guess where I’m from ☺.

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REFLECTION

Creating this graphic was challenging because I initially struggled with common data visualization constraints, such as identifying two variables and displaying their relationship. After facing difficulties generating interesting ideas, I decided to shift my perspective and focus on my personal interests.

I found inspiration from what I had been studying in school, particularly graph data structures in computer science. I treated each ingredient as nodes, and the frequency of combining two ingredients as edges between those nodes. This approach allowed me to create a visualization that felt more intuitive and meaningful to me.

Overall, I’m satisfied with the final result, as it reflects who I am. However, I acknowledge that I could have been more deliberate in selecting a color palette. While the pastel colors gave the graphic a clean and lively feel, I would like to incorporate more traditional Chinese design colors—such as malachite green and brownish red—in future iterations.

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