SwaLOW
Designed for people with cognitive challenges.
SwaLOW aims to help them slow down and regain awarness while eating.
β Eat with grace β
The client foresight
She loves eating
She is an adult client with cognitive challenges. Despite it being our first meeting, she welcomed me with a warm hug, treating me like an old friend. According to her teachers, out of everything they do at the center, lunch is the highlight of her day.
The challenge is that she loves eating so much; she often tries to take a second bite before even swallowing the first. She eats so rapidly that she frequently chokes, yet even that physical discomfort doesn't stop her from rushing her next mouthful.
Her support worker used a five-minute countdown timer to pace her eating. She isn't allowed to take the next bite until the timer hits zero. I can only imagine how agonizing this wait must be for her. Therefore, I've set a goal to design a new solutionβone that aligns with her natural intuition rather than fighting against it.
For those with cognitive challenges, verble or visual reminders arenβt as effective. Thatβs when I stumbled upon the idea of making it βhappen by natureβ .
The logic behind SwaLOW is to create short pauses in the process of dining. This was made possible by slicing a meal into layers, which forces the user to put down the spoon and unlock the two buckles.
The bowl was intentionaly made shallow, making it physically impossible to scoop a large amount of food. Additionally, a variety of obstacles with different difficulties were introduced to furthur ease down the pace.
Slow down by natural
The thought process
