My Sister is a GOOD Thing

My twin sister, Jessica Haas, is a graphic designer, like me, and I have to say if it wasn't for me she might not be the great designer she is today. Okay, okay, this might be coming off a bit selfish, but there might be a lot of jealously here; not because she lives in NYC and just received her Masters from a Pratt in Package Design last Spring but because one of her designs were chosen (and published online) as a finalist in a design competition. But darn it, we shared a womb, a bedroom growing up, almost every classroom in school, and pretty much every friend we've ever made and I think that has to count for something, right?

Anyway, in all seriousness she and I are a great influence to each other. There is nothing better then always having someone to critique your work and help guide your way through the many graphic design life troubles.

So, the story about this "publishing thing" started one day in October. I was reading my twitter stream and found a great post from GOOD. GOOD is a website that lists "good things" within technology, business, health, food, media, design, and many other topics. That day the the interesting design topic was if the "current food pyramid was addressing the mounting public health problems associated with unhealthy eating", and listed a competition to design a new food pyramid.

After drawing up some sketches, as seen above, I sent Jessica my work to critique. She didn't think it worked too well, which I agreed, and offered some changes to be made. My idea focused around serving sizes; such as, too many carbohydrate and fat servings, which where located on the waistline of my human food pyramid, would increase in size along with your waistline. But most of the feedback that I received said it just looked like a man in a griddle. I unfortunately didn't have time to make changes and couldn't enter, but Jessica had a great idea that worked off of her thesis project that had to do with nutrition and helping people buy local seasonal foods. Below is her entry.

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Jessica Haas's food pyramid is a bit complex, but so is nutrition. Her focus for this chart was how to get the most from your nutrition by eating a diverse color palette of foods. It's a very elegant and original display communicating food color and classification. Nice job Sis!

If you want to get to know more about Jessica Haas read her blog, And She Did… A Packaging & Graphic Designer's Voice on the World of Neat Stuff , plus visit her web-page at jessicahaasdesigns.com. Jessica Haas lives in Brooklyn, NY and is currently working has freelance designer.