Senior Chef Cookbook
The Project
A project I did during my time with Nettl New Zealand. Senior Chef is a free 8-week cooking programme focused on cooking for one or two people. Lack of cooking skills and living alone are two key risk factors for malnutrition in older people*. Senior Chef’s aim is to prevent malnutrition and provide social connection.
Their original cookbook was black and white, without photographs and in need of a total refresh. The brief was to design a cookbook that was clear, easy to read and inspired older people, usually living alone, to get in the kitchen and cook!
Therefore, the design of the new cookbook had to be very visual and inviting. I chose the sage green because it’s calm and neutral as opposed to a very bright colour, which I may have used for a younger target group. I used a bigger font size throughout the entire book (12) so the recipes and factsheets are easier to read for older people. I’ve created lots of infographics, icons and arrows to keep it less wordy and more intuitive. Each recipe uses the same structure and layout – this way people get used to the format which makes it easier to use.
For printing, we chose a 150gsm Gloss Art Paper FSC with a FlatGloss Laminate for the internals, so the book would be more resilient and durable in the kitchen environment.
*People 60+ (55+ Maori and Pasifika)
Credits
Client: Pegasus Health
Graphic Design: Britte van der Pouw
Pre-press: Britte van der Pouw
“It was our utmost pleasure to work with Britte at Nettl. With her background in nutrition, along with her design skills, the dialogue between us was easy and we were delighted how the project unfolded. Britte’s design was clear and contemporary and we’ve had lots of feedback about how easy the book is to use, and it is being used, not sitting on a shelf in the kitchen. Britte’s work has not gone unnoticed by our Senior Chefs and our key partner organisations. Our cookbook has been reviewed by Activity and Nutrition Aotearoa, and highlighted in the Ministry of Social Development’s SuperSeniors national newsletter.”
Wendy Scanlon | Senior Chef Programme Coordinator, Pegasus Health Charitable Trust
Work
