The Look Cook Book: language-independent cookbook

[Underseer]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/430672800/look-cook-book

This is an interesting experiment in design. This cookbook would be accessible to anyone regardless of what language they speak or whether or not they can read at all.

The designer responsible for this found long bits of text in recipes to be annoying while he was cooking, and just wanted something that would be faster to read while in the kitchen. I'm sure publishers would love being able to print a single book for all nations. Is this just a curiosity, or does it have the potential to be something revolutionary?

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Example page from the cookbook

 

[bilby]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/430672800/look-cook-book

This is an interesting experiment in design. This cookbook would be accessible to anyone regardless of what language they speak or whether or not they can read at all.

The designer responsible for this found long bits of text in recipes to be annoying while he was cooking, and just wanted something that would be faster to read while in the kitchen. I'm sure publishers would love being able to print a single book for all nations. Is this just a curiosity, or does it have the potential to be something revolutionary?

- - - Updated - - -

View attachment 17564
Example page from the cookbook

Well it may be novel to apply this to food recipes, but it's hardly a new idea. Ikea have used language independent assembly instructions for decades.

 

[ronburgundy]

Seems like a gimmick that won't work all that well.
First, it's not language independent, because it uses abstract symbols for the ingredients that have written labels in the top panel.
Second, it's more work than if it just used those written words throughout, because now you have to first memorize what the symbols mean or keep referring back to the top panel.
Third, it took them a whole page to show 6 very simple steps that would take 1/3 page to describe in words.
Fourth, the procedure is unclear sometimes. In step 3, do the ingredients get mixed before putting in the pan or in the pan itself? Should I stir them just once, occasionally, or constantly in the pan? How hot should the pan be? Do those symbols in the lower-left of the panel indicate heat level? If so, that a symbol based vocabulary I need to learn and memorize.

Fifth, it just wouldn't work for more complicated recipes. Cheesecake with 7 total ingredients is easy. What about a Rick Bayless' mole recipe with 25 ingredients and procedures like "roast peppers under a burner until the skin blackens and blisters (how long will depend on how far from the burner your peppers are), then put them in a paper bag to steam, peel the skins off and remove the seeds."

I'm doubtful that could be represented in this pictorial way and be unambiguous and easily interpretable to novice cooks.

 

[Underseer]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/430672800/look-cook-book

This is an interesting experiment in design. This cookbook would be accessible to anyone regardless of what language they speak or whether or not they can read at all.

The designer responsible for this found long bits of text in recipes to be annoying while he was cooking, and just wanted something that would be faster to read while in the kitchen. I'm sure publishers would love being able to print a single book for all nations. Is this just a curiosity, or does it have the potential to be something revolutionary?

- - - Updated - - -

View attachment 17564
Example page from the cookbook

Well it may be novel to apply this to food recipes, but it's hardly a new idea. Ikea have used language independent assembly instructions for decades.

View attachment 17588

The Japanese worked that out before Ikea did, and I'm not sure they were first, but this is the first I've seen with cookbooks. Then again, Ronburgundy raises some valid points. Maybe a language-independent recipe is just too confusing.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/430672800/look-cook-book

This is an interesting experiment in design. This cookbook would be accessible to anyone regardless of what language they speak or whether or not they can read at all.

The designer responsible for this found long bits of text in recipes to be annoying while he was cooking, and just wanted something that would be faster to read while in the kitchen. I'm sure publishers would love being able to print a single book for all nations. Is this just a curiosity, or does it have the potential to be something revolutionary?

- - - Updated - - -

View attachment 17564
Example page from the cookbook

Well it may be novel to apply this to food recipes, but it's hardly a new idea. Ikea have used language independent assembly instructions for decades.

View attachment 17588

That looks better than most of the assembly directions I have dealt with. The visuals on what's right and wrong are so much clearer than typical instructions.