Abstract/Summary

Local food is a crucial issue in the UK, corresponding to various aspects of social life. However, there is a need to integrate it into the digital world in a way that can respond to people’s social habits and requirements. The aim of this thesis is to explore how a user-oriented way of sourcing locally produced food can be designed for a digital map that provides a satisfactory user experience. For this aim, an information design approach is adopted, and multiple user research methods are suggested to help design a local food map that effectively presents information to Berkshire, Hampshire, and Oxfordshire locals. The thesis draws on literature in the field of local food as well as scrutinising government documents regarding the geographical research area and prospective local food map users. Observations and surveys with vendors and consumers were conducted at farmers’ markets to create personas and user scenarios. A visualisation workshop with information designers was organised to respond to users’ needs, and usability testing conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the design. The research findings confirm that incorporating user research throughout the digital map design cycle ensures consideration of users’ social life experiences and needs, promoting focus on user experience. The main implication of the visualisation workshop to cartographic studies is that it provides ideas on how to design user-friendly and effective maps and develops an approach to defining a wide variety of symbols that meet users’ needs and that is grounded in information design principles. The usability testing results also have implications for improving the usability of digital maps by providing user feedback to enhance user experience. Accordingly, this thesis provides insight into a user-oriented map design process for information designers and cartographers to work across the two disciplines to create effective digital maps.