Kickstarter

PROJECT UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 3, 2012.  
The Food Font interactive tool is in the works, over 15 food alphabets have been made so far, and you can make your own food alphabets and upload the pictures to the site!  

Check out the current status of Food Font on the project website:
http://www.foodfont.com


What is Food Font?
Food Font is an interactive art project where people can make alphabets out of food, take pictures of each letter, and later use these and other food alphabets in a fun, free, interactive online design tool. The project supports dialogue and builds community around food, health, and sustainability. It is also fun to make food alphabets and to make images that you can save, print, and share.  So why not play and write with your food?

How do the Food Font Alphabet Making activities work?
A group of individuals work together to make an alphabet out of food. Each letter is photographed and later prepared and uploaded to the Food Font website.   The person submitting the alphabet will also submit a name, location information, and tags for each food alphabet.  Each alphabet submitted will be loaded into the Food Font design tool.

How does the Food Font design tool work?
The interactive design tool will be available to use on the Food Font website. With the tool, you can write with various food alphabets, choose backgrounds, and do basic layout techniques to make images that can be saved, shared electronically, and also printed on your own printer.  The tool can be used to make images, posters, signs, and other printed materials.  You can also post what you make on the creation in the Food Font gallery which will be on the main page of the Food Font website.

You will be able to use any food alphabets that you made as well as any others submitted to the tool. Background images also will be submitted for use in the tool.

Who is this project for?
It is designed for use by a variety of groups including you with your friends and family, farmer’s markets, teachers and students in the classroom, community gardens, chefs and restaurants, and people who have a passion for food.  It is a fun, creative activity that anyone can do of any age, and in any size group.

Why are you doing this project?
I am an artist and an Associate Professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art. For several years I have been doing projects that explore food and sustainability. I was doing work in my studio where I was photographing words and letters out of food and reading books about the future of our food system, issues about food access and equity, and the local food movement.  I realized that the process I was doing in my studio had potential to be fun and an interactive way to promote discussion and build community around food.  The tools I was using to make my images can be difficult to use and are not accessible to everyone.  I wanted to create support materials and an easy-to-use interactive design tool to support awareness and discussion about food, sustainability, and health.

What Resources support organizing a Food Font activity or event?
On the Food Font website there are a number of materials that support organizing and doing a Food Font event. These include a photograph tip sheet, an alphabet checklist, lesson plans for teachers, and promotional materials that you can download and print.

What are the alphabets made of?
The food alphabets can be made out of any kind of food that you want. A set of letters could be made out of one kind of food, or several types/variety of food.

Some examples could be an alphabet made of:
- Kale
- Vegetables grown in a community or school garden
- French fries
- A locally grown in-season ingredient
- A restaurant’s food
- A city's food trucks
- Your dinner
- Your mom’s meatloaf
- Any food you want!

What are the project’s goals and mission?
The project has several goals which include:
- to support awareness and education about food and health
- to support the development of local community, collective creative activities,  and in-person real world group interaction
- to provide a free and easy-to-use design creation and publishing tool to support interaction and communication about food
- to support the efforts and promotion of the local food movement including farmers markets, community gardens, and other groups
- to inspire individuals to think more about food and health
- to create dialogue and awareness about food

Why are you doing a Kickstarter?
As an artist and designer, I am able to do most of the development of the project. However, I am not a programmer and I am seeking support to pay a developer/programmer that I will work with to develop the Food Font interactive tool.

I also am working with some teachers and community members to develop resource materials. I would like to pay them for their time in helping to create worksheets, lesson plans, and resources that will be useful and helpful in facilitating Food Font activities.

Also, for groups who make food alphabets and do not have a member who is able to prepare the food font images, I would like to offer help for this. I would like to have a Food Font Photoshop assistant who will help do some of the image preparation of Food Alphabets.

So what are some of the mechanics and features of the Food Font Design tool?

Mechanics:
-       Select and write with Food Fonts
-       Align, format, and adjust spacing of type
-       Resize, edit, rotate, lighten/darken elements
-       Select and load backgrounds, template, and images
-       Use a letter as a stamp or brush
-       Add drop shadow, glow and outline effect
-       Save and print files
-       Send images to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest,
-       Send images to email
-       Share, post, and tag images in the Food Font Gallery
-       Advanced feature – of being able to do advanced spacing of each letter

Features:
-       Cross-platform internet tool, works in web browsers
-       Easy, clean interface
-       Two modes of working: Basic and Advanced
-       File storage of images created
-       All images can be printed on a home computer

Fundraising Goals:

Donors have the opportunity to get a variety of Food Font rewards.  The more money we raise the faster we can get the Food  Font interactive tool, resources, and Food alphabets ready for the Food Font site.  Your tax-deductible donation will help get Food Font into your home and community.

• First tier goal: $10,000
  With this amount of money we can pay the programmer/developer to help build the Food Font interactive design tool. We also can pay a teacher to develop lesson plans and also support some photo editing work of some food alphabets for groups and individuals who are not able to do this.

• Second tier goal:  $20 – 30,000
  With this amount of money can work to expand the Food Font tool  and to develop the tool to work in a more robust way with mobile phones.  We also we can support more groups and individuals who are not able to do the photo editing of a food alphabet.

Production Schedule:

Our supporters will receive updates daily/weekly by following our blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

September 2012
Send out all rewards to all backers of the Food Font Kickstarter project.
Edit and prepare the food alphabets for the food font design tool.  Begin working with the programmer/developer to build the Food Font design tool.  Work with the teachers who are creating the lesson plans for using Food Font in the classroom.

October 2012
Finalize the lesson plans for teachers and post in the resource area of the Food Font website.  Develop the Beta version of the Food Font design  tool.  Kickstarter Backers will be invited to test the tool and give feedback and input during this testing phase. 

November 2012
On Thanksgiving (a day when many of us eat lots of food) – do the official launch of the Food Font (version 1.0) tool.  The tool will be available and live on the Food Font site for everyone to use.

December 2012
Continue to develop the Food Font interactive tool and to build and exand the Food Font community.

How Does Kickstarter Work?

1. You decide if you want to support Food Font.

2. You choose your reward and enter in your info. Your card will NOT get charged until the project is over. 

3. We all spread the word and then wait until our Kickstarter deadline approaches. 

4. If the project gets funded, your card gets charged and you fill in the details of your reward request. If we don’t get funded, you don’t pay a cent. 

5. You get your reward sent to you in September and we develop the project Food Font. (hoorary!)

What rewards can you get?
There are a variety of rewards that you can get for the project.
Here are some images of the Food Font Rewards.

Want to learn more?
If you want to learn more about the project you can check it out at:
www.foodfont.com

Also: on Kickstarter, Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr.


Food Font Timeline and Press

April 20, 2012  Food Font @ The Cleveland Institute of Art Cleveland, OH
Faculty, staff, and students made a Vending Machine Food alphabet and a "Packed Lunch"  alphabet. 

May 24, 2012  Food Font website goes live (www.foodfont.com)

July 17, 2012 Food Font in the Buffalo News
Food Font Comes to Buffalo
Buffalo News - Grub-Pub - Food Font Comes to Buffalo

July 19, 2012  Food Font @ The Green Corps Fairfax Farm Cleveland, OH
Students made 3 food alphabets out of potatoes, Swiss chard, peppers, okra, and squash harvested from the farm.

July 27, 2012  Food Font mentioned on WCOM radio in Carrboro, NC Weekend Report.  (Listen to the radio segment.)

July 28, 2012  Food Font in Buffalo, NY (9 am – 1 pm)
Elmwood-Bidwell Market  Buffalo, NY

August 1, 2012   Out and About: Food Font at Weaver Street Market
Food Font - Play and Write With Your Food
WRAL - Out and About - Food Font

August 2, 2012
Playing With Food - With a Purpose article in the Herald Sun newspaper.
Herald Sun-Playing-With-Food-With-a-Purpose

August 5, 2012 Food Font in Carrboro, NC (11am – 1pm)
Weaver St. Market in Carrboro, NC

August 16 A Whole New Way to Eat Your Words on Etsy.com Blogwww.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/a-whole-new-way-to-eat-your-words/

August 18, 2012 Food Font in Cleveland, OH
North Union Farmers Market – Shaker Square

August 22, Food Font Community Project Aims to Support Local Food Movement - Inhabitots websitehttp://www.inhabitots.com/food-font-community-art-project-aims-to-support-the-local-food-movement/

Food Font Events:

August 25, 2012  Food Font in Cleveland, OHGordon Square Farmer’s Market

September 8, 2012  Food Font in Milwaukee, WI
Tosa Market

September 15-16  Cleveland, OH
Ingenuity Festival

September 22, 2012  Cleveland, OH
Cleveland's RIPE! Fest, Cleveland Botanical Garden

October 13, 2012 Pittsburgh, PA
Farmers @ Firehouse Market

We want to thank you for your support!      Thanks everyone!

Special Thanks:

Food Font Development & Design
• Jon Baumler
• Ian Charnus
• Lane Cooper
• Jon Faber
• Richard Sarian