Can participatory design be analog?
Post Vegan is a snail mail pen pal project to build community among people who used to be vegan but aren't anymore. With letterpress postcards and a shared sense of rejection, participants find commonality and catharsis in sharing the challenges of their post-vegan experiences. This analog system implements the principles of participatory design—community, modularity, flexibility and technology—to connect a group of people who would not otherwise interact and address their need for understanding and belonging.
Why post-vegans?
Ten percent of adults in the U.S. are former vegetarians/vegans. More than half of former vegetarians/vegans gave up the diet within their first year, and one-third went back to meat within three months.
There are many reasons why people choose to abandon a vegan lifestyle, but all of them had a common theme: the decision was for them and no one else.One common thread that bound this whole group together: the negative reactions from other vegans to their change in diet/lifestyle.
“Most people I know didn’t really care. But the ones who cared REALLY cared. It bothered me at first, but at the end of the day, I have to do what’s best for me. I’m not here to please anyone else.”
“I was never willing to say that my diet was the RIGHT diet or that my diet was the BETTER way to live or the only key to health. In that sense, I am extremely relieved to be dissociating from the label.”
