Feb 05 - Mar 12 · Week Five · Macro Unit
Macro UX: Eat the Rich
Revati Banerji I MA UX Design I London College of Communication
Brief: Design a currency based on food
Team: Eniola Aminu · Oindrilla Sinha · Mathew Yue · Jaime Santos Guerrero
Food insecurity remains a pressing issue, with 13.9% of UK households affected and 51.4% of children in Tower Hamlets lacking access to basic nutrition. In response, our final idea was to create an initiative focused on building a self-sustaining community through an alternative currency designed to support nutrition. This week focused on bringing the system to life and designing it as an experience.
Welcome
to Rooted
How it Works
Fig. 5. The three stations of the Rooted experience: Seed Bank, Trade and Plant, illustrating how users receive, exchange or grow their food currency. Photographed by the group.
Fig. 6. Nutritional cards showing the value and characteristics of each food currency. Designed by the author.
Fig. 7. Recipe booklet featuring dishes made using spinach, carrot and tomato. Given to participants who traded for produce. Designed by the author.
Rooted asks a simple question: what if your money could grow food? Instead of value being accumulated, it becomes something that can be grown, shared and circulated. It is rooted in community, food sovereignty, and collective responsibility. The logo incorporates an infinity symbol, representing a circular system where food, waste and value continuously regenerate.
Our translucent currency, embedded with seeds, was designed to embody the transparency of the system itself. We added food colouring and shaped each piece to resemble its vegetable, making the different types easier to distinguish.
Fig. 3. The system model was printed into brochures and shared with the users at the start of the experience. Designed by Jaime Santos Guerrero.
To elevate the experience, we provided cards outlining the nutritional value of each food currency and gave recipe booklets using the three vegetables to participants who chose to trade for immediate produce rather than plant.
The experience began at the seed bank. Instead of a cashier model, where money is exchanged discreetly, our currency was intentionally displayed openly to reinforce that it does not hide value. Each participant was given an equal amount of currency, alongside a brochure explaining the system.
Participants could then trade their currency at the pantry for immediate produce, or plant it to grow more over time. This introduced a balance between instant consumption and longer-term nourishment, shifting value from accumulation to circulation.
The system was designed to close the loop, where food, seeds, and value continuously return to the community. A portion of what is grown is contributed back, allowing the system to regenerate and support others. As shown in our system model, when people plant, the system strengthens each season, but when everyone only trades, it collapses.
Fig. 4. Circular system model for Rooted, showing how currency is distributed, planted, traded and returned. Designed by Jaime Santos Guerrero.
Fig. 1. Our plantable food currency made from vegetables and embedded with seeds of tomato, carrot and spinach (shown in that order). Photographed by the group.
Fig. 2. Rooted logo representing the project’s regenerative system, alongside an open display showcasing the food currency. Photographed by Oindrilla Sinha.
Visual World
Fig. 8. Social and brand assets used to build the visual world of Rooted. Designed by the author.
Fig. 9. Closing interaction: a tomato-shaped card invited participants to tear it open and reveal a thank-you message. Designed by the author.
We designed a broader social world for Rooted. We photographed assets outdoors to place the initiative in real environments and also used free-for-commercial-use imagery to build a cohesive visual language.
Reflection
The experience was well received. Participants appreciated how each interaction was designed, making it easy to follow and enjoyable. I agreed with the feedback that a short film explaining the full journey, as well as considering how the currency could be carried or stored, would have strengthened the overall experience.
This five-week project was rich with literary research, interviews and experimentation. Reflecting on the process, designing for a complex system like currency was challenging, making me appreciate its structure while also questioning how difficult it is to change flaws in such long-standing systems.
References:
Food Foundation. (2025) Food Insecurity Tracking (Round 16). YouGov.
London Assembly Labour Group. (2022) Child Poverty in London. Data: Trust for London.
Medvedevas, L. (n.d.) Photograph. [online] Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-hand-with-small-stones-6029267/ [Accessed 15 April 2026].