Maria Luisa Castro

Service Design (MA)
A young woman with long, dark wavy hair is smiling at the camera. She has a warm expression and is wearing a light beige sweater. The background is plain white, providing a clean and neutral backdrop.
Poster for "Tastebud," a digital platform supporting dementia care through food. It shows a smartphone with the app open, surrounded by features like recipe saving, taste tracking, appetite check-ins, expert behavioural tips, and a community space for carers. The design uses warm, inviting colours and illustrations. The tagline reads: "Making meals meaningful in dementia care."
Poster for "Tastebud," a digital platform supporting dementia care through food. It shows a smartphone with the app open, surrounded by features like recipe saving, taste tracking, appetite check-ins, expert behavioural tips, and a community space for carers. The design uses warm, inviting colours and illustrations. The tagline reads: "Making meals meaningful in dementia care."
Tastebud is a service designed to support informal carers of people living with dementia by addressing an often overlooked but vital part of care: nutrition. Through deep research and interviews with carers, doctors, and dementia experts, we uncovered how sensory changes affect appetite and how hard it is for carers to manage nutrition alone. In response, we created a dementia-friendly cookbook with simple recipes and practical tips, rooted in real stories. To extend this support, we designed a digital app that offers personalised meal recommendations based on taste preferences and medical needs, tracks appetite and behaviour, and helps carers stay organised with smart shopping and shareable food diaries. Tastebud brings together empathy, expertise, and everyday care, making mealtimes more manageable, meaningful, and joyful.
Dementia doesn’t only affect memory. Over time, it changes how people taste, smell, and feel about food. These sensory shifts can lead to a loss of appetite, strong cravings for sugar, or even fear or confusion around mealtimes. As a result, many people living with dementia become malnourished or dehydrated, but nutrition is rarely addressed in early dementia care. Through our research, we spoke with carers, medical professionals, and people with lived experience. We discovered that most carers are left to figure things out on their own, often feeling unsure, overwhelmed, and emotionally drained. What we learned is that food is about much more than nutrition. It's tied to memory, identity, and joy, and when supported well, it can still be a meaningful part of life.
A vibrant promotional image showcasing an open spread and front cover of the Tastebud cookbook, designed for carers of people living with dementia. The left page features a bright yellow layout titled “sweet & sour,” with a plate of sweet and sour pork in the center and a handwritten carer tip: “Don’t worry about repeating meals. They won’t remember what they ate yesterday, but they’ll remember what they enjoyed.” A short story above the plate explains how repeating favorite meals brought comfort. The right side displays the orange cover of the booklet with the title tastebud and a tagline: “Guidance for joyful, nourishing meals in dementia care,” accompanied by a line illustration of two people happily cooking together. The overall image highlights the warmth and practicality of the booklet.
A vibrant promotional image showcasing an open spread and front cover of the Tastebud cookbook, designed for carers of people living with dementia. The left page features a bright yellow layout titled “sweet & sour,” with a plate of sweet and sour pork in the center and a handwritten carer tip: “Don’t worry about repeating meals. They won’t remember what they ate yesterday, but they’ll remember what they enjoyed.” A short story above the plate explains how repeating favorite meals brought comfort. The right side displays the orange cover of the booklet with the title tastebud and a tagline: “Guidance for joyful, nourishing meals in dementia care,” accompanied by a line illustration of two people happily cooking together. The overall image highlights the warmth and practicality of the booklet.
To support carers where they are, we created a dementia-friendly cookbook filled with real stories and simple, adaptable recipes. The booklet shares practical advice from carers, doctors, and nutritionists, offering tips on how to plate food in engaging ways, how to adapt textures, and how to navigate appetite changes. It includes ten essential things every carer should know about nutrition in dementia care, and provides reminders that listening with empathy is just as important as following a recipe. It is designed to be distributed in memory cafes, GP surgeries, and grocery stores, giving carers tools they can use right away. Because even small changes, like adding fruit to sweeten a dish naturally, or using a favorite plate, can make mealtimes easier and more enjoyable.
This is an informational poster for Tastebud, a digital platform supporting dementia care through food. It showcases the app’s main features across color-blocked sections: green for dementia-friendly recipes with sensory cues, yellow for taste tracking and medical documentation, red for expert-curated guidance, orange for carer community support, and cream for the app’s mission. Multiple smartphone screens display app interfaces such as recipes, ingredient check-ins, community forums, and mealtime tips. Hand-drawn illustrations highlight behavioural advice for carers. The poster uses a warm, inclusive color palette and ends with the message: "Care through food, one meal at a time."
This is an informational poster for Tastebud, a digital platform supporting dementia care through food. It showcases the app’s main features across color-blocked sections: green for dementia-friendly recipes with sensory cues, yellow for taste tracking and medical documentation, red for expert-curated guidance, orange for carer community support, and cream for the app’s mission. Multiple smartphone screens display app interfaces such as recipes, ingredient check-ins, community forums, and mealtime tips. Hand-drawn illustrations highlight behavioural advice for carers. The poster uses a warm, inclusive color palette and ends with the message: "Care through food, one meal at a time."
Building on this foundation, we designed Tastebud, a digital tool that helps carers personalise nutrition and manage mealtimes with confidence. Tastebud recommends recipes based on the medical conditions, taste preferences, and dietary needs of the person with dementia. It includes smart shopping features, shared food diaries, and the ability to log changes in appetite and behaviour. These records can be exported for use in medical consultations, creating a stronger link between care at home and care in the clinic. The app also provides community support, expert tips, and gentle reminders to encourage positive routines. Tastebud is more than a meal planner. It is a way to preserve relationships, reduce stress, and bring a sense of joy and dignity back to the table.
Poster for "Tastebud," a digital platform supporting dementia care through food. It shows a smartphone with the app open, surrounded by features like recipe saving, taste tracking, appetite check-ins, expert behavioural tips, and a community space for carers. The design uses warm, inviting colours and illustrations. The tagline reads: "Making meals meaningful in dementia care."
A vibrant promotional image showcasing an open spread and front cover of the Tastebud cookbook, designed for carers of people living with dementia. The left page features a bright yellow layout titled “sweet & sour,” with a plate of sweet and sour pork in the center and a handwritten carer tip: “Don’t worry about repeating meals. They won’t remember what they ate yesterday, but they’ll remember what they enjoyed.” A short story above the plate explains how repeating favorite meals brought comfort. The right side displays the orange cover of the booklet with the title tastebud and a tagline: “Guidance for joyful, nourishing meals in dementia care,” accompanied by a line illustration of two people happily cooking together. The overall image highlights the warmth and practicality of the booklet.
This is an informational poster for Tastebud, a digital platform supporting dementia care through food. It showcases the app’s main features across color-blocked sections: green for dementia-friendly recipes with sensory cues, yellow for taste tracking and medical documentation, red for expert-curated guidance, orange for carer community support, and cream for the app’s mission. Multiple smartphone screens display app interfaces such as recipes, ingredient check-ins, community forums, and mealtime tips. Hand-drawn illustrations highlight behavioural advice for carers. The poster uses a warm, inclusive color palette and ends with the message: "Care through food, one meal at a time."

About

María Luisa Castro is a multidisciplinary designer working at the intersection of service, product, and visual design. With a background in Industrial Design Engineering and an MA in Service Design from the Royal College of Art, her practice blends systems thinking with hands-on craft. She works between physical and digital, strategic and expressive approaches.

Guided by curiosity and a collaborative spirit, María Luisa is drawn to projects that challenge her to think both systematically and creatively. She brings experience across industries and adapts easily between fast-paced product teams and more reflective research settings.

At the RCA, she co-led Tastebud, a digital service supporting informal carers and people with dementia in creating mealtimes as a meaningful form of care. The project allowed her to explore inclusive, emotionally intelligent design across research, strategy, UX, UI, and branding; combining her skills into one deeply personal outcome.

Website: marialuisacastro.com
Email: marialuisa.castrotrejos@gmail.com

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