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Project: Redesign the Recipe

We think the standard text recipe can be improved. Help us inspire a new generation to cook with clear, simple, easy-to-understand graphic recipes.

Peter Smith
By Peter SmithFeb 11, 2011
Peter Smith
See Full Bio

[Update March 10, 2011: See the submission here.]

If you believe everything that Michael Pollan tells us, people are doing less and less cooking. They're flopping down on the couch and watching other people cook on the Food Network.

Maybe that has something to do with the way recipes are written. Cooking should not be like changing a tire or fixing a hard drive. It’s supposed to be fun.

We'd like to see what you can come up with. What do you think would inspire better cooking—or just getting cooks into the kitchen in the first place?

the OBJECTIVE

Inspire a new generation of cooks and non-cooks with clear, simple, easy-to-understand graphic recipes.

the ASSIGNMENT

Redesign a recipe. It can be hand-drawn or hand-printed. Photographic or typographic. Wordy or wordless. Vegetarian, pescatarian, or omnivorous. Just make it original, interesting, and—above all—appealing.

the REQUIREMENTS

Please submit your recipe here. It should be a JPG and under 5MB. We'll contact the winner for higher resolution pieces. We’ll take submissions now through March 1.

The winning entry will be selected by GOOD's staff, Jessica Helfand (graphic designer, author, and founding editor of Design Observer) and Wylie Dufresne (restaurateur, philosopher, and chef at wd~50, as well as the son of a designer).

The winner will be announced on April 2 and featured on our homepage. We’ll send a GOOD T-shirt and a free subscription (or gift subscription) to the winners.

RESEARCH and INSPIRATION

I put together a slideshow of inspiring recipes that I've found in the last couple of months. These are just ideas. But feel free to click a lot. We like the traffic.

Then send us your recipe redesign! If all goes well, the recipe redesign cook-off may be coming this spring.

projectsdesignartphotographytypographyprojectillustrationrecipegrant-achatzredesign-the-recipemicheal-pollankate-suttonkatie-shellystarsammycarl-kleinerikea-cookbookfood and drink

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