Manifesto - Avantika University · search for a magical balance between business and art, structure...

M a n i f e s t oa v a n t i k a U n i v e r s i t y

W e l c o m e t o a v a n t i k a

C o n t e n t s

Learning at Avantika

Design-Centered Education

Success Strories

Case Studies

Student Projects

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Learning at

avantika

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a v a n t i k aAvantika is envisioned as India’s First Design-Centered University that cross-links Design Thinking and creative spirit with Engineering and Liberal Arts.

Learners at Avantika would be the harbingers of change, challenging the status quo and look at problems more comprehensively. The freedom of thinking is non-negotiable in this university.

Avantika believes in resetting the learning pedagogy with a balance of traditional values and contemporary practices; to create graduates with a broadened world-view. With a strong emphasis on design thinking and synthesis oriented education, Avantika is poised to explore and catalyze an era of creativity, innovation and enterprise.

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Pedagogies

Experiential Learning

Activity based Learning

Blended Learning

Flipped Classroom

Storytelling

Project based

Scenario based learning/Contextual learning

Game and Game Design

Play

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experiential Learning

Experiential learning is a process through which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting.

aCtConcrete experience

aPPLYReflexive observations

RefLeCtAbstract conceptualization

ConCePtUaLiZePractical application

“Learning through reflectionon doing”

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activity Based Learning

Activity based learning is a subset of Experiential learning where students come together in one class and learn at their own pace through teacher-facilitated exercises.Activity-based learning or ABL describes a range of pedagogical approaches to teaching. Its core premises include the requirement that learning should be based on doing some hands-on experiments and activities. The idea of activity-based learning is rooted in the common notion that children are active learners rather than passive recipients of information. If children are provided the opportunity to explore by their own and provided an optimum learning environment then the learning becomes joyful and long-lasting.

Types of activity base learning1. Exploratory – gathering knowledge, concept and skill.2. Constructive - Gathering experience through creative works.3. Expressional – presentation.

OBJECTIVES

Child centered approachProvides students to facilitates the acquisition of knowledge, experience, skills and valuesSelf-confidenceDevelops understanding through workInterest generationOpportunity to mix with othersImproving social skillsWork cooperatively and collaboratively

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Blended Learning

Blended learning is an education program (formal or informal) that combines online digital media with traditional classroom methods. It requires the physical presence of both teacher and student, with some element of student control over time, place, path, or pace.

While students still attend “brick-and-mortar” schools with a teacher present, face-to-face classroom practices are combined with computer-mediated activities regarding content and delivery.. Blended learning is also used in professional development and training settings

storytelling

Storytelling is an activity that can transfer emotions and feelings and also can boost thinking capacityStorytelling is the conveying of events in words, sound and/or images, often by improvisation or embellishment.Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and instilling moral values.Story telling is an art that has mental, social and educational benefits on children.Storytelling is a great activity of learningStorytelling is the basic training for academic learning

OUTCOMESPromote a feeling of well-being and relaxationIncrease children’s willingness to communicate thoughts and feelingsEncourage active participationIncrease verbal proficiencyEncourage use of imagination and creativityEncourage cooperation between studentsEnhance listening skillsIncrease the memory capacity of childrenStorytelling introduces lot of new vocabulary to children.It can enhance the listening skills of children

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flipped Classroom

The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed.

Short video lectures are viewed by students at home before the class session, while in-class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions. The video lecture is often seen as the key ingredient in the flipped approach, such lectures being either created by the instructor and posted online or selected from an online repository.

While a pre-recorded lecture could certainly be a podcast or other audio format, the ease with which video can be accessed and viewed today has made it so ubiquitous that the flipped model has come to be identified with it.

scenario based learning / Contextual learning

It uses interactive scenarios to support active learning strategies such as problem-based or case-based learning.It normally involves students working their way through a storyline, usually based around an ill-structured or complex problem, which they are required to solve.

OBJECTIVE

Students apply their subject knowledge, and critical thinking and problem solving skills in a safe, real-world context.SBL is often non-linear, and can provide numerous feedback opportunities to students, based on the decisions they make at each stage in the process.

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Project Based Learning

Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge.5 keys to rigorous problem solving:Real world connection- authentic problemEffective learning- through the project Structured collaboration

Student driven- Teachers become facilitators and students take control – as a facilitator she needs to ask goodquestions. a facilitator needs to ask good questions and also redirect if necessary

Multifaceted assessment – in between assessment, formative assessments, throughout. Students should be able to assess themselves.

OBJECTIVESCritical thinkingProblem solving skills

LEARNING OUTCOMES»»Become more engaged, self-directed learners»»Learn more deeply and transfer their learning to new situations»» Improve problem solving and collaborative skills»»Perform as well or better on high skates tests»»Students blossom – they have a voice and a choice»»Can reach ALL students and get them engaged»» It improves learning – learn deeply»» It provides opportunities for students to use technology»» It makes teaching more enjoyable and rewarding

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Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game to facilitate interaction between players for playful, healthful, educational, or simulation purposes. Game design can be applied both to games and, to other interactions, particularly virtual ones

Elements of game designAbstraction(concept/reality)GoalsRulesConflicts/competition/cooperationTimeReward structureStorytellingCurve of interestAction of gameMethod – steps, runs etc

Game and Game Design

Learning through play is a term used in education and psychology to describe how a child can learn to make sense of the world around them. Through play students can develop social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the self-confidence required to engage in new experiences and environments.

Key ways that young students learn include playing, being with other people, being active, exploring and new experiences, talking to themselves, communication with others, meeting physical and mental challenges, being shown how to do new things, practicing and repeating skills and having fun.

Play

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Design - Centered approach at avantika

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We talk with extreme users. We immerse ourselves in their lives.

We explore the tension between what people say versus what they do.

We prototype.-Arianna McClain

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Th i n k i n gTh i n k i n gD e s i g n

D e s i g n

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“Design Thinking is a human centred approach (vis-a-vis critical thinking) to innovation that draws the designers’ tool-kit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology and the requirements for business success“Some of the most natural design thinkers in business are actually CEOs who are able to hold these tensions in their mind and yet make choices and come up with solutions’’

– Tim Brown

“Thought is a metaphysical stateThinking is an ability to detach from thought and process itThe metaphysical gets converted into physical world through design.

Design is the connect of metaphysical and physical world”

– Dr. Sanjay Dhande

Design thinking is the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system.

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De

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- Idris Mootee

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Design thinking is a way to get businesspeople to think like designers and designers to think like businesspeople. But design thinking is more than that.So,What is Design Thinking?A way to take on design challenges by applyingempathy?An approach to collective problem solving?A framework to balance needs and feasibility?A means to solve complex or wicked problems?A mind-set for curiosity and inquiry?A fixed process and a tool kit?A problem-solving approach to handle problems on a systems level?A culture that fosters exploration and experimentation?A design buzzword to suggest that designers can do more than just design?A management buzzword sold as the next strategic tool?The answer to all is, “Yes, and more!” Here is my definition of design thinking: Design thinking is thesearch for a magical balance between business and art, structure and chaos, intuition and logic,concept and execution, playfulness and formality, and control and empowerment

In practice:This is a framework for a human centred approach to strategic innovation and a new management paradigm for value creation in a world of radically changing networks and disruptive technology”

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Action oriented: It proposes a cross-disciplinary learning-by-doing approach to problemsolving. It allows us to accommodate varied interests and abilities throughhands-on and applied learning experiences between individuals. A bigpart of design thinking is design doing. It’s getting your hands dirty and experimenting instead of being an armchair strategist. Comfortable with change:It is disruptive and provocative by nature because it promotes new ways of looking at problems. The strategic framing of complex and ambiguous issues requires an approach free from organizational dogmas, codified limitations, and old assumptions. A large part of the design thinking process is steppingout of conventional roles and escaping from existing dogmas to explore new approaches to problem solving. Human centric:It is always focused on the customer or end user’s needs, including unarticulated, unmet, and unknown needs. To do this, design thinking employs various observational and listening-based research techniques to systematically learn about the needs, tasks, steps, and milestones of a person’s process. Integrates foresight:Without an anticipatory, disciplined imagination of the future, the strategic planning process is dead in the water. Foresight opens up the future and invites us to explore uncertainties. It encourages us to be comfortable with working with unknowns and expects us to cope with inadequate information in the process of discovering and creating a tangible outcome. Dynamic constructive process:It is iterative. It requires ongoing definition, redefinition, representation, assessment, and visualization. It is a continuous learning experience arising out of a need to obtain and apply insights to shifting goals. Here, prototyping, creating of tangible sharable artifacts, becomes an important piece of the design thinking tool kit.

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Promotes empathy:It puts users at the core of everything. It encourages the use of tools to help us communicate with people in order to better understand their behaviours, expectations, values, motivations, and the needs that drivethem and will improve their lives. We use these insights to develop new knowledge through creative learning and experimentation. Reduces risks:Whether it’s developing and launching a new product or a service, there are many benefits in learning from small and smart failures. This will always happen, but applied design thinking practices help reduce risks by considering all the factors in the development ecosystem, including technology, the market,competitors, customers, and the supply chain. Create Meaning:PowerPoint and Excel spreadsheets are limited in their ability to communicate insights or ideas. Creating meaning is the hardest part of the design process, and the communication tools used in design thinking—maps, models, sketches, and stories—help capture and express the information required to form and socialize meaning. Arriving at this takes time and emerges through multiple iterations and conversations. Bring enterprise creativity to next level:It fosters a culture that embraces questioning, inspires frequent reflection in action, celebrates creativity, embraces ambiguity, and creates visual sense making through interactions with visualizations, physical objects, and people. A design thinking organization creates strong “inspirationalization” and “sensibility” to give tangibility to the emotional contract that employees have with organizations. New competitive logic of business strategy:Design thinking is the most complementary practice that can be applied side by side with Michael Porter’s theory of competitive strategy. It allows companies to create new products, experiences, processes, and business models beyond simply what works. It turns them into desirable products, which is a truly sustainable competitive advantage through innovation

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Design thinking is NOT an

Experiment; it empowers and

encourages usto Experiment.

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it is a PUReLY

anaLYtiCaLaPPRoaCH to

PRoBLeMsoLVinG

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an aPPRoaCH

a BeGinneR’s MinDset

avantika’s

Create new options

Make experiential impacts

Change the way we tackle problems

Create Value

Totake

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A specific culture and context

Providing solution to needs of users

For

Building in order to think

Learning by making things

Iteration

Doing

Following a divergent and convergent thinking

Forming a balance between synthesis and analysis

Following systemic thinking

By Thinking

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Human-centric

Dis

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Connected and Flat fun

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Risk-taking

adaptableHig

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Speed and agility

Committedin

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Passionate

Creative and innovativeflexible

Purposeful

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Perceived Non-design

Design as Art

Design as Aesthetics

Design as Process

Design as Innovation

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Perceived non-design: Earlier no special attention was given to design. The product development was done by company staff who used to lack expertise in the field of design. The opinions and views of the end-user also only played a negligible role in the composition of the product.

Design as aesthetics: Companies at this stage were slightly more aware of the role of design in business, but only on a very superficial level, with design being considered only as part of the aesthetics of the final product. Companies had some engagement with professional designers.

Design as process: Design of the product is adapted to the task at hand and is more focused on the needs of end-user. It typically requires a multi-disciplinary approach and therefore more resources.

Design as innovation: The final and most advanced stage of the ladder, where designers work with senior management to develop innovative approaches within significant parts, if not all of the company.

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“Traditional” problem-solving often takes a methodical, almost scientific form. Pinpoint a problem, define the steps to take and tools to use to reach a solution, then stick to the plan and hope for the desired result.It’s straightforward, but not always flexible, innovative or effective. What if the issue identified isn’t the real source of the problem? What if the steps don’t lead to the right solution?

traditional Problem solving

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Design thinking as a new

approach to Problem solving

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“design doing” is experiential and social

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Written materials alone cannot capture all the nuances of design thinking because it involves a structured approach with a lot of unstructured elements.

Design thinking, like jazz, requires an appreciation for improvisation; learning how to apply it is an experiential and social activity.

Like learning to ride a bicycle, it is experiential. You cannot learn how just by having someone explain it to you—you have to actually try to do it yourself to find your own balance. You also need to practice to get better.

You can also increase your understanding by observing and interacting with more advanced practitioners—in this way, it is social. You enhance your understanding by practicing with your peers, sharing perspectives, and giving each other feedback.

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engineering and Design

engineering DesignDeductive learning

Rational, predictable agents/ actors

Hypothesis testing

Emphasizes tech requirements:

Tech feasibility - business viability - user desirability

Functional jobs to be done

Low- risk tolerance

Big downside

Statistical significance, quantity> quality

Inductive/ abductive reasoningIrrational, unpredictable agents/ actors ( eg. human beings)Assumption testing

Emphasizes user requirementsUser desirability - business viability - tech feasibility

Emotional and function jobs to be done

High risk tolerance

Low downside

Evidence, small n, quality> quantity

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sharedSimilar processes

Observation

Research

Test design

Prototyping

Testing

engineering Design

Data capture

Iterate

Build

Similar thinking :Critical thinking strategy

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Crit

ical

thi

nkin

gThe real life story of ‘Vanilla ice cream that puzzled General Motors’ is a peep into Critical Thinking.

Critical Thinking is objective analysis and evaluation of an idea in order to form a judgement.

It entails systematic classification, finding logical connections and patterns between ideas.

We need it when you confront complex and diverse issues which could be even

Contradictory in nature.

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Creative thinkingThink of ‘Creativity’ and image of Leonardo da Vinci springs up. He made the first Flying

Machine, the first Helicopter, the first Armoured Car, the first ....

The word ‘Creative’ comes from Latin ‘Creo’ which means ‘Make’.

Creative Thinking leads to generation of new ideas by changing ‘viewing lens’ and applying

those ideas in specific context to explore new connections, discover new possibilities and

Seek solutions that are unusual, original and fresh.

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Different aspects of Design as innovationBreaking from the conventional design Process

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1. a. Observation and Interpretation

b. Understanding Culture and context

c. Confrontation and Inspiration

2. Insight Building

3. Proactivity and Needfinding

4. Idea generation - Enhancing and improving ideas

5. Storytelling and story-listening

6. Delight and Value creation

7. System Approach; Strategic foresight

8. Creative Culture: a. Synthesisb. Testing and feedback - by making c. Building in order to think

9. Divergent and Convergent Thinking

10. Problem Solving

11. Failing Forward

12. Creative Confidence

13. Embracing Ambiguity

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Environment

Universe of Brands

Mathematics

Spaces

Industrial Design

Mechanical Engineering

Products

Energy

Design thinking tracks

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Human mobility

Wellbeing

Habitat

Communication

Electronics System Design

Urban Planning

IOT

IT

Interaction

Experiences

Autonomous Vehicles

Physical and Digital Interaction

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success stories

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01. Roads that Honk themselves: smart roads by HP Lubricants and Leo Burnett india

While Indian truck drivers urge others to honk, with their ‘Horn OK Please’ message at the back of their trucks, honking is usually considered ill mannered, although most Indians choose not to consider that. However, not all kinds of honking is bad, especially on a blind turn. In a quest to improve safety on highways, HP Lubricants and Leo Burnett India have come together to develop a system that involves roads that would honk. The first prototype of the system is currently being tested on NH1, the highway connecting Jammu and Srinagar, which is known for being one of the most dangerous roads in the world.The system uses SmartLife poles just before sharp turns and hairpin bends. These poles wirelessly communicate with each other, and exchange data on incoming traffic. They gauge the speed of the vehicles and alert the drivers of approaching traffic by sounding a horn.They transmit electromagnetic waves and then measure the change in the frequency of the reflected wave to determine the speed of the approaching vehicles with the help of a radar sensor.The number of accidents significantly reduced after installation of the SmartLife poles, according to local police. The companies are observing the system and plan to install it at other locations across the country in near future.India ranks high in the list of countries with the largest number of road fatalities, especially driving conditions in mountain roads are very risky as there are no traffic rules followed. According to reports published by the government, more than 140,000 people were killed in road accidents in 2015.

Automakers are constantly working on making their vehicles safer for the occupants and pedestrians, SmartLife poles may be one step forwards towards safer roads. When all is said and done, a very important factor that would help in improving roads in India is by educating road users of rules, that have been placed for the safety of themselves and others.

https://youtu.be/h5DqvAYUdTA

Human mobility Electronics

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While we all know how important it is to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, it can often be difficult to use all that we buy before they spoil. A product known as FreshPaper, however, is claimed to keep such foods fresh two to four times longer than normal – and it does so just using spices.The proprietary mix of organic spices infused in every paper sheet was discovered by inventor Kavita Shukla.

The sheets themselves can just be placed in the bottom of a fruit bowl, fridge drawer, or anywhere else that fresh produce is being stored. The produce itself is then placed directly onto the sheet, the herbs in which reportedly inhibit bacterial and fungal growth.As long as the sheet emits a maple-like odor, that means it’s active. After about two or three weeks, the smell will fade and the biodegradable sheet should be replaced.

FreshPaper is a 5 x 5 inch sheet of paper infused with organic spices. When the paper is near fresh fruits and vegetables, it inhibits bacterial and fungal growth, preserving produce and limiting food waste.What led the young entrepreneur to

02. spicy Paper:Claimed to keep fruits and veggies fresh longer

Wellbeing Universe of Brands

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develop FreshPaper? In middle school, Shukla went to visit her grandmother in India and accidentally broke the “don’t drink the tap water” rule while brushing her teeth. Her grandmother mixed up a concoction of herbs and spices for her to drink, and she didn’t get sick.“I was curious about how and why this magical home remedy might have worked,” says Shukla. Through her high school years, she worked on figuring it out. She had noticed at the grocery store that it was difficult to find a carton of strawberries that didn’t have a few berries on the bottom without fungus, so she used strawberries in her experiments.By dipping strawberries in different mixtures of spices, she found which combinations inhibited the growth of bacteria and fungus best. These experiments led her to invent Fenugreek FreshPaper. The company’s name comes from fenugreek, an ingredient in FreshPaper that’s also used in many Indian dishes.

In 2010, she and her partner started taking handmade FreshPaper to farmers markets, and it caught on. It’s now being manufactured in the United States and sold in stores across the country. The company is committed to keeping its operations in the U.S. The money from the sales will enable Shukla to do what she originally wanted to do — give FreshPaper away to those who will benefit most from it.

Fenugreen started the Buy a Pack, Give a Pack program last year. For each pack of FreshPaper purchased between Thanksgiving and the end of January, another pack was given away to food banks to help keep fresh produce from spoiling during distributed to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Shukla sees this as an opportunity to help with the relief efforts in a specific, useful way.There are still thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Sandy who are relying on local food banks to help them get through. In March, Shukla will be traveling to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey to educate the workers and those in need about how to get the most benefit from FreshPaper.

Eventually, Shukla would like those benefits to reach the developing world. Fenugreen has a mission of “Fresh for All.” There’s enough food to feed everyone in the world, but 1.6 billion people have no access to refrigeration. About 25 percent of the food grown globally is lost to spoilage. FreshPaper can be used from the farm though the entire life of the food until it is eaten, extending the freshness of produce with no refrigeration necessary.

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03. Warka Water

ConteXtThe root cause of Ethiopia’s major health problems is the spread of diseases perpetuated by the lack of clean water and sanitation systems. Water quality is severely poor and often contaminated by human and animal waste. The impact of poor water quality on the health of communities is shocking – approximately 54,000 children die each year directly from diarrheal diseases and 217,000 more die from related illnesses, such as malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria (UNICEF February 2012).

Habitat Interaction Environment

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The Warka’s water harvesting technique and construction system are inspired by several sources. Many plants and animals have developed unique micro- and nano-scale structural features on their surfaces that enable them to collect water from the air and survive in hostile environments. By studying the Namib beetle’s shell, lotus flower leaves, spider web threads and the integrated fog collection system in cactus, we are identifying specific materials and coatings that can enhance dew condensation and water flow and storage capabilities of the mesh. The termite hives have influenced the design of Warka’s outer shell, its airflow, shape and geometry. We also looked at local cultures and vernacular architecture, incorporating traditional Ethiopian basket-weaving techniques in Warka’s design.The name of the project ‘Warka’ comes from the Warka Tree, which is a giant wild fig tree native to Ethiopia. It constitutes a very important part of the local culture and ecosystem by providing its fruit and a gathering place for the community.Warka Water relies only on natural phenomena such us gravity, condensation & evaporation and doesn’t require electrical power. It is a vertical structure designed to harvest potable water from the atmosphere (it collects rain, harvests fog and dew). Warka Water is designed to be owned and operated by the villagers, a key factor that will facilitate the success of the project. The tower not only provides a fundamental resource for life – water – but also creates a social place for the community, where people can gather under the shade of its canopy for education and public meetings.

WW design and development activities have been mainly conducted at the Architecture and Vision labs, in

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Italy. Since we started with the WW projects we have built several full scale prototypes and conducts several experiments.A number of 12 prototypes have been constructed to date and WW has been assembled and constructed for test, demonstration, exhibition in several countries such as: Italy, France, Germany, Ethiopia, Brazil and Lebanon.

Warka Water mainly uses local natural and biodegradable materials. It is a temporarily structure designed to not leave traces on the environment after removal and therefore doesn’t require excavation or ground modification works for set-up. The Warka doesn’t extract water from the ground. In addition to drinking water, the water generated by the Warka tower can be used for irrigation, reforestation, and ecosystem regeneration.As part of training local villagers, we plan to institute a water management program that teaches the best practices of using, distributing, and recycling harvested water. Through this program, we hope the villagers can understand our relationship with the environment and move away from the “slash-and-burn” agriculture, which is responsible for deforestation.

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Communication Universeof Brands

04. share a Coke

Share a Coke is about taking our global brand and making it personal to our consumers, giving them the chance to Share a personalised Coke with friends or loved ones and creating special moments of happiness, and memories.

They selected the most popular names and printed them on our labels, and made even more available online. It sparked a sharing frenzy across the nation and quickly became one of our most successful marketing campaigns. It was overwhelming to see how many people picked personalised bottles and cans and used them to create and share stories, selfies and special moments.

They were able to deliver many more moments of happiness by giving everyone the chance to share, with over 1,000 names on shelf and over 500,000 names available through the Share a Coke online store. The reaction to our campaign has been fantastic to watch and be part of.” Chris Ross, Senior Brand Activation Manager

This campaign internally known as “Project Connect” based on its ambition to both strengthen the brand’s bond with Australia’s young adults – and inspire shared moments of happiness in the real and virtual worlds – became known as “Share a Coke.” The first-of-its-kind campaign celebrated the power of the first name in a playful, social way by swapping out Coke branding on bottles and cans with the 150 most popular monikers in Australia.

And it worked.

That summer, Coke sold more than 250 million named bottles and cans in a nation of just under 23 million people. The campaign has since made its way around the world, reaching more than 70 countries, to date. Coca-Cola teams from Great Britain, to Turkey to China – and, most recently, the United States – have put their own creative spin on the concept, while preserving the simple invitation to “Share a Coke with (insert name).”

A new font called ‘You’, inspired by the Coca-Cola logo, was created for the names.

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Share a Coke 2014 by numbers:

• Over a thousand names on our bottles• 998 million impressions on Twitter• 235,000 tweets from 111,000 fans using the #ShareaCoke hashtag• More than 150 million personalised bottles sold• Over 730,000 glass bottles personalised via the e-commerce store• 17,000 virtual name bottles shared online across Europe• 65 experiential stops on the Share a Coke tour

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Conversation between Jeremy Rudge (creative excellence lead) and Lucie Austin(Marketing Director) of Coke.

What research inspired ‘Share a Coke’?

LA: Our research showed that while teens and young adults loved that Coca-Cola was big and iconic, many felt we were not talking to them at eye level. Australians are extremely egalitarian. There’s a phrase called “tall poppy syndrome.” If anyone gets too big for their boots, they get cut down like a tall poppy. By putting first names on the packs, we were speaking to our fans at eye level.

JR: Australia is one of the world’s most developed markets, which means growth is hard. We have a rich history of effective, innovative marketing. A few years ago, we created “Bottle Blast”, a campaign that eventually spread to 80 markets. It defined why people loved Coke, but it wasn’t making them buy more of it. Coke had become too familiar, too predictable. We were given a clear challenge by the head of the Pacific region to do something extraordinary. I remember Lucie saying, “We need to come back with something that makes everyone sit up because of its impact …and we only have a few weeks.”

Describe the creative brief and the concepts that came back.

JR: With no time to dwell on strategy, we wrote a clear and completely open brief that gave our agencies everything they needed to know as quickly as possible and full license to come up with their best stuff. We engaged our key creative partners in Australia, and one from Singapore. We told them, “That idea you’ve got tucked away that you’ve always wanted to do for Coke? Now’s the time for that idea.”

LA: It was a 151-word “mass reappraisal” brief.

JR: Despite the tight timeframe, the response was incredible. We had a full day of pitches. The second agency to pitch sold to us with a standout visual – a wall of Coca-Cola cans stacked horizontally, each with a name written in the Spencerian typeface. Fifteen minutes later, Ogilvy, our incumbent agency, came in and presented exactly the same idea in the same way. It was an extraordinary coincidence… one of the most bizarre moments I’ve ever seen in advertising. In the end, we went with our existing agency, Ogilvy, due to our long history with them.

Once you had the idea, how did you bring it to market?

JR: There was a great deal of nervousness internally. Not so much about the idea, but about the scale of approvals we’d need to go through, and ensuring we had accounted for all risk factors. There were countless late-night conference calls with the global team in Atlanta, risk assessment meetings, and conversations with trademark counsel, bottling partners and other stakeholders.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8Bd3-G6IU

The real creativity kicked in when we had to bring the idea to life and problem-solve the “how.” Originally, the idea was conceived with the names printed in the traditional “Coca-Cola” Spencerian script. We couldn’t do that due to trademark issues, so we created a brand-new typeface inspired by the “Coke” logo. We call it the “You” font because it’s about you, the consumer, not Coca-Cola. That typeface really made the campaign and has since been used across the world in different ways including for a global Coca-Cola Christmas campaign. We also had to figure out how to get the Coke red color exactly right on the digital printers we used to label the packs, which took a long time.

Communication and Design

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Millions of Italians can now say they own a one-of-a-kind Nutella jar. 7 million jars appeared on shelves in Italy, all of them boasting a unique label design. And here’s a weird twist: Every single one of those millions of labels was designed by...an algorithm?

Yes, algorithm. The word you hardly knew until HBO’s Silicon Valley focused an entire show about the immense power and responsibility that comes with creating one.

But instead of compressing files for a made-up startup, this algorithm’s output was millions upon millions of labels for real-life Nutella jars. “An algorithm has usurped the traditional role of a designer,” writes design magazine Dezeen. There are jars with polka dots. Jars with zigzags. Jars with splotchy shapes. All sorts of other patterns, too. Every one of them is eye-catching and colorful. They’d certainly stand out on the shelf at your grocery store.

And what was the reason for “hiring” an algorithm to design all the jars exactly? A video about the campaign says Nutella wanted “to make each jar unique and expressive as the Italian people.” That seemed to jibe with Italy’s grocery shoppers. All 7 million jars sold out within a month.

The campaign was called Nutella Unica and was brought to life by advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Italia. So the real reason is clear: to create irresistible demand and sell lots and lots of Nutella. This comes as Ferrero, the company that owns Nutella, finds itself defending the use of palm oil as an ingredient. A report from the European Food Safety Authority flagged palm oil as a “potential health concern,” if not processed properly.

Changing everything but the logoNutella’s label has been through many iterations since the ‘60s. The most classic one features a white label illustrated with piece of bread slathered with the spread alongside a glass of milk. The Nutella brand name is always in bold, red letters.

This campaign kept Nutella logo, but stripped away everything else on the front label. Dots, stripes, squares and various shapes were all fair game when the algorithm went to work. It pulled from dozens of patterns and thousands of color combinations. It’s pretty cool to see the wide variety of labels being slapped on jars in the packaging facility.

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05. nutella Communication

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Human life throughout history has developed in alternating waves of migration and settlement. The movement of people across the earth led to the discovery of new territories as well as the creation of new communities among strangers forming towns, cities, and nations. Navigating this duality between exploration and settlement, movement and stillness is a fundamental essence of what it means to be human.In the aftermath of global wars and natural disasters, the world has witnessed the displacement of millions of people across continents. Refugees seeking shelter from disasters carry from their homes what they can and resettle in unknown lands, often starting with nothing but a tent to call home.

“Weaving a home” reexamines the traditional architectural concept of tent shelters by creating a technical, structural fabric that expands to enclose and contracts for mobility while providing the comforts of contemporary life (heat, running water, electricity, storage, etc.)Design is supposed to give form to a gap in people’s needs. This lightweight, mobile, structural fabric could potentially close the gap between need and desire as people metaphorically weave their lives back together, physically weaving their built environment into a place both new and familiar, transient and rooted, private and connected. In this space, the refugees find a place to pause from their turbulent worlds, a place to weave the tapestry of their new lives. They weave their shelter into home.

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06. structural fabric Weaves tent shelters into communities

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Idaho-based Solar Roadways is hoping to build solar-powered roads that will not only provide power, but will also create digital driving surfaces that can be remotely controlled. Solar Roadways says that if installed nationwide in the United States, their roads could provide more renewable energy than the entire energy the country uses.

Solar-powered roads by Solar Roadways are comprised of hexagonally shaped panels that consist of four layers: a base layer of recyclable materials that is placed on the ground; a support structure with embedded circuitry; LED lights that collect sunlight and convert it into electricity; and a top layer of reinforced glass with traction support for vehicles.

The panels can support trucks weighing up to 250,000 pounds (115,000 kilograms), and the lights can be remotely controlled to provide guidance to drivers or to reallocate spaces in a parking lot.

Electric vehicles would be able to use mutual induction technology to charge while driving. The panels would also contain heating elements connected to the electricity grid that could melt snow and ice that forms on them. An attached cable corridor would help store and treat stormwater, while also providing a place to store power and data cables.

The cost of the solar panels could be covered primarily through the generation of electricity, which could also power connected homes and businesses.

solar Roadways estimates there is about 31,000 square miles (80,000 square kilometres) of usable road surfaces in the U.s. that could be converted into solar-powered roads.Solar Roadways received a contract from the Federal Highway Administration to build a prototype in 2009. Now it is hoping for $1 million in funding to begin mass production.

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08. thirsty Concrete

The building material company Tarmac has developed a new kind of concrete that is capable of absorbing up to 4,000 liters (1057 gallons) of water in the first minute. On average, one square meter of this new road surface, called “Topmix Permeable,” can drain 600 liters (159 gallons) in a minute.

In a statement, Tarmac said: “The high-tech concrete works by having a permeable layer on top, which allows water to drain through a matrix of large pebbles and then down into a loose base of rubble beneath.”

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The water is then fed into a drainage system that’s connected to groundwater reservoirs. Thus, the water that quickly disappears from the surface is fed right back into the city’s irrigation system.

This breakthrough in permeable concrete is a huge step forward in how we deal with flooding. According to Tarmac, two-thirds of homes damaged in the U.K.’s 2007 floods were due to water running off pavements and inadequate drainage systems. The recent floods in Carolina further highlight the need for advancement in water management and drainage technology.

Old Faithful spews thousands of gallons of water high into the air, but elsewhere at Yellowstone National Park, another wonder is quietly gulping water down.The park recently unveiled a new 4,000-square-foot walkway built with Flexi-Pave , an asphalt replacement made of recycled tires and stone. Just one square foot of the material can absorb 3,000 gallons of water per hour.

Kevin Bagnall, founder and CEO of KBI, the company that created Flexi-Pave in 2001, says the technology is especially useful for Yellowstone because the park’s geothermal system supports two-thirds of the world’s geysers.

Unlike asphalt or concrete, which wicks water away from the surface, Flexi-Pave’s porous material allows rainwater to shoot straight into the earth, where it can settle in nearby aquifers.

Flexi-Pave is 23% porous, thanks to a careful combination of tires, stone, and a proprietary binder invented by KBI. That allows it to absorb rainwater quickly, which keeps storm runoff from mixing with local contaminants before entering the water supply. That helps decrease water pollution, which is especially important at Yellowstone.

“We were the material of choice because of the zero environmental impact that we have,” Bagnall tells Business Insider.

In total, the park used 1,536 shredded Michelin tires to create a 4,160-square-foot path.

Bagnall has a larger vision for Flexi-Pave outside Yellowstone. As urbanization and population density both increase, he says conserving clean water will become a much larger concern.Flexi-Pave is already being used in 200 to 300 cities across the US, Bagnall says. But in time he hopes KBI can expand to every major city around the world so that Flexi-Pave can become the default material used in all urban construction projects: roads, sidewalks, parking lots.

Flexi-Pave isn’t the only “thirsty” concrete on the market. There’s also Topmix Permeable , a similar product made by British building materials company Tarmac. The material uses fine pieces of granite instead of recycled rubber and can absorb 880 gallons of water per minute, according to the company.

But Bagnall believes rubber is the superior choice to granite because it won’t crack or settle - a quality he calls flexibility.

“Our most valuable resource is water,” Bagnall says. “If [Flexi-Pave] can be used in better urban planning, that valuable water is going to go back into the earth where it would naturally go, and therefore we’d be keeping the levels of our aquifer for potable water supplies.”

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In the sustainable energy market, Energy Floors, a Netherlands-based firm is trying hard to make its place. They sell products like Sustainable Energy Floor and Sustainable Dance Floor, that convert footsteps into electricity. As soon as anyone steps onto the floor, the tile flexes round about 10mm, and that movement is converted into electricity-15 Watts on average, and up to 25 Watts peak. If the tiles are connected together, 40 to be precise, the network can produce up to 1kW and this is possible due to the modular nature of these tiles.

Although we do not know how these magnificent tiles are made but for what we know is that it’s not piezoelectric. For what we can see, it looks like a rack-and-pinion that drives a small permanent magnet generator.

The flow of electricity is directed by a controller module. Charging low voltage devices, charging batteries, or lighting pathways with LEDs is all that can be done from the 12V output.

When you step on the blocks, they light up and this intrigues people to step on them again. Thus it would be an attractive marketing technique too.

09. Generating electricity through Walking

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As much fun as they may sound, these aren’t a techie joke or a high-tech toy. Russian Railway Research Institute has partnered with them and hopes to put Energy Floors on railroad platforms and high-traffic walkways. They also plan on looking into the use of this technology in order to gain energy from the movement of cars and trains.

Interesting fact, apart from the company’s sustainable focus, not only are the floor tiles made out of recyclable materials but has an expected lifetime of 30years.

Laurence Kemball-Cook delivers a TED talk on this concept:

‘Sustainable energy is a multifaceted industry. Solar, wind, and hydroelectric are the big players, but small energy-harvesting products have their place as well. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Energy Floors could make that step more productive.’

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10. Changing experiences through empathy

Design thinking has often-times been described as an empathic approach. Leonards and Rayports classic “Empathic Design” is a close relative of this thought: How might we find out what people themselves do not know? At GE Healthcare empathy was needed to understand how children experience CT, X-Ray and MRI scanning procedures.

Background

Diagnostic imaging procedures are cutting-edge technology, but at the same time they are an unpleasant experience for patients – and even more for pediatric patients. Doug Dietz is an industrial designer, working for GE healthcare since more than 20 years. He remembered the first time when he saw a little girl who was crying on her way to a scanner that was designed by him. Doug suddenly saw the situation with the eyes of the girl. “The room itself is kind of dark and has those flickering fluorescent lights”, he remembers in his TED talk. He adds “that machine that I had designed basically looked like a brick with a hole in it.”

Challenge

A new challenge was born. How could one create a scanner experience that children would love?

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Approach / Insight

In their book on Creative Confidence the brothers Tom and David Kelley (2013) recall how Doug Dietz tried to find new inspiration for this project by trying out design thinking. He went to Stanford’s d.school for a workshop.

“The workshop offered Doug new tools that ignited his creative confidence: He learned about a human-centered approach to design and innovation. […] Going through the human-centered design process with people in diverse industries and roles—from management to human resources to finance—struck a chord in him. “I started to imagine how powerful this tool could be if I brought it back and got cross-functional teams to work together.”

He started by observing and gaining empathy for young children at a day care center. He talked to child life specialists to understand what pediatric patients went through. He reached out for help from people around him, including a small volunteer team from GE, experts from a local children’s museum, and doctors and staff from two hospitals. Next, he created the first prototype of what would become the “Adventure Series” scanner and was able to get it installed as a pilot program in the children’s hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.”

Implementation

This is what Doug Dietz invented after his user research:

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“In the Pirate Adventure, a visual transformation of the equipment that was available before, patients are on a dock. There is a shipwreck and some sand castles in the corner. Children then work on the plank to be scanned. The Coral City Adventure in the emergency room gives children an underwater experience. It has a disco ball that makes light like bubbles around the room; children get into a yellow submarine and listen to the sound of harps whilst the procedure takes place. The Cozy Camp gives children the chance to be scanned in a specialized sleeping bag, under a starry sky in an impressive camp setting.”

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Impact

Some positive impacts derive from Doug Dietz’ Adventure Series. First of all, the patient satisfaction scores went up 90 percent. Children do not suffer of anxiety anymore. Instead some of them even ask their parents if they can come back tomorrow. It makes it easier for children to hold still during the procedure what in turn prevents the doctors from having to repeat the scan. This less need for anaesthesiologists meant more patients could get scanned each day, which heavily impacts the financial side of the equation.

The experience of joy and play during the scan also took away the fear from parents. As Doug Dietz puts it: “If you got the child you got the parent, and if you got the parent, you got the child.” He now trains other GE employees to use design thinking and innovation methods in their teams.

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Anyone who has flown a kite knows this simple rule: the higher you go, the better the wind. This is the theory behind the Makani Airborne Wind Turbine. Unlike a traditional wind turbine whose three enormous blades are thrust high into the air atop a 328-foot tower, the Makani uses one fixed-wing glider attached to a tether (like a kite) that pilots itself in the same pattern as a spinning turbine. The tether allows the kite to fly much higher than a turbine to reach much stronger and more consistent winds. The energy it creates then travels down the tether and into the power grid. At one-tenth the mass and half the cost of a regular turbine—but generating the same amount of power--the Makani makes generating energy seem like child’s play.

11. the Makani energy Kite—Generating energy at 1,200 feet

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Makani is working to make clean energy accessible for everyone.They are developing energy kites, a new wind power technology that can access stronger and steadier winds at higher altitudes to generate more energy with less materials.

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HOW IT WORKSThe Makani energy kite system consists of four parts:

The KiteThe largest part of the kite is a high-performance wing. The wing is driven in circles by the wind, just like the blade of a conventional wind turbine. Rotors on the kite act like propellers on a helicopter to launch it from the ground station. Once the kite is in flight, air moving through the rotors forces them to rotate, driving a generator to produce electricity, which then travels down the tether to the grid.

The TetherThe tether is made of conductive wires surrounding a high strength core. The tether connects the kite to the ground station, and transfers power and communications between the kite and ground station in both directions.

The Ground StationThe ground station holds onto the tether, and is used as a resting place for the energy kite when not in flight. The ground station is much smaller and easier to install than the tower of a conventional wind turbine.

The Computer SystemThe computer system uses GPS and other sensors along with thousands of real-time calculations to safely and reliably guide the kite even in turbulent winds.

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12. Kochi Metro- Paving the Way

Kochi Metro is a newly inaugurated metro system for the south Indian city of Kochi in Kerala, India and is the fastest metro project in India in terms of completion time. The Kochi metro project became the first metro in the country which connects rail, road and water transport facilities. The first phase is being set up at an estimated cost of 51.81 billion (US$800 million).

Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the Kochi Metro rail project in 2012, construction work was started in June 2013 and a 13.4 km (8.3 mi) section of the line from Aluva to Palarivattom was opened to public on 17 June 2017 by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. A second 5 km (3.1 mi) section from Palarivattom up to Maharaja’s College will be made operational by August 2017. Kochi metro also includes the technology for driverless trains and is hoping to implement this in the near future.Kochi metro was lauded for its decision to employ Kudumbashree workers and also members from the transgender community. Kochi metro is also involved in sustainable initiatives with the introduction of non motorized transport corridors in the city, installation of solar panels for power and vertical garden on every fourth

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metro pillar. Apart from the regular tickets, it has also adopted a single card, single timetable and a singular command and control. This debit card along with the Kochi One Mobile App will allow passengers to access all modes of public transportation as well as be utilized for mercantile and internet transactions and will introduce the ‘click and collect’ feature in the near future where goods ordered online can be collected in the metro stations. Every Kochi Metro station is designed on a specific theme around Kerala culture and geography.

The Kochi metro has appointed 23 transgenders to different positions, ranging from housekeeping to manning the ticket counters, thus becoming the first government-owned company to officially appoint them, according to a report in the Hindu.

Kochi metro’s Aluva-Palrivattom corridor has 11 metro stations and will hire 530 workers as part of Kerala government’s Kudumbasree Mission for poverty eradication.

Elias George, Managing Director, Kochi Metro Rail, told the Hindu that the Metro wants to give transgenders their rightful share in jobs and that there will be no discrimination between transgenders and women working at the stations.

All candidates were trained in both soft and technical skills, and had to appear for written tests as well as interviews, before they were selected for the posts.

The first service trials of the Kochi Metro began on 10 May, paving the way for commercial operations. The metro train service will commence from June this year, an official said.

The ₹5,180 crore project will eventually cover a distance of 25 km from Alwaye to Petta, though the opening in June will see the train service operating a distance of only 13 km from Alwaye to Palarivattom.

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A new initiative advocates for more of these beautiful installations.When you think of sprawling urban areas and local governments that have taken environmentalism into their own hands, cities like Portland, Copenhagen and San Francisco might come to mind. But how about Mexico City?

In 2012, regional social awareness non-profit VerdMX started creating stunning—and environmentally-friendly—vertical gardens around the city. “The main priority for vertical gardens is to transform the city,” architect Fernando Ortiz Monasterio told the New York Times at the time. “It’s a way to intervene in the environment.” Four years later, as a result of a Change.org citizen petition to the government, a similar initiative dubbed “Via Verde” has expanded to incorporate existing structures around town.

Everything You Need To Know About Mexico’s Secret Morning Cure-AllLearn How To Cook With Insects In MexicoChef Enrique Olvera’s Guide To Mexico City“Via Verde includes the installation and maintenance of more than 40,000 square meters of vertical gardens in more than 700 columns on the second floor of the beltway around Mexico City,” the petition proposes. “This would bring new green areas for the City of Mexico, generate multiple environmental benefits for citizens and

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13. Mexico City’s Vertical Gardens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DzoApcHfBQ

positively change the urban image of one of the busiest roads of Mexico City, along more than 30 kilometers.” The plants will grow around metal frames, which will be buffered against the pillars with fabric to avoid damaging the highway structure.

The project aims to cultivate enough plants to produce enough oxygen for more than 25,000 residents and create hundreds of jobs—both directly and indirectly—in the process. “Vertical gardens are cultivated on exterior building walls with plants that grow without the need of any type of soil,” explains Mexico City: A Knowledge Economy, a brief published by Mexico City think tank Scientika. “Among such plants are epiphytes, many types of mosses and lichens, orchids, ferns, and bromeliads. Also called ‘air plants,’ many of these species are dependent on other plan species and do not root in the ground. Vertical gardens serve as air filters and regulate heat, reducing temperature by as much as eight degrees outside and can decrease as much as ten decibels of noise pollution.”

“We live in a very gray city,” Via Verde project director Fernando Ortiz Monasterio told Reuters. “Very gray. And we forget because we have become used to that being our urban landscape. As soon as we find a park, a green landscape, we realize our mood changes.”

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14. Recycling Machine feeds stray animals

In many cities around the world stray dogs are part of city life. One such city is Istanbul, where 150 thousand stray dogs and cats share the streets with 14 million human inhabitants. A clever device by the Turkish company Pugedon aims to increase recycling while providing food and water to stray dogs and waking up our kindness and humanity.

The topic of stray dogs is often polarized. Turkey, in particular, has a history of controversial “solutions” to the problem. In 2012, the government drafted a law that would send city dogs to “wildlife parks” on city outskirts. The proposal outraged animal rights activists who referred to a brutal act of animal cruelty from 1910 when the city’s stray dogs were sent to an island and left there to eat themselves to death or die of hunger.

Whether we like it or not, we have to take responsibility and accept the fact that stray dogs and cats didn’t just appear one fine morning on our streets. As Istanbul-based animal rights lawyer Ahmet Senpolat says,

“The draft law does not address the problem at the core: animal smuggling and illegal pet shops. Animal smugglers only face a fine of a few hundred euros at worst, they continue to bring expensive pure-bred puppies and sell them to pet stores. People often buy the puppies from pet stores, and abandon them when they become too tough to handle.”

Until we are ready to address and fix the core of the problem we’ll have to accept that stray dogs have become urban dogs and co-inhabitants of our cities. They have learned to survive in a completely different ecosystem – one with traffic lights, humans, and trash bins that provide food. Still, food is often a problem and dogs often rely on the kindness of strangers to

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be fed.

It is this same kindness that Turkish company Pugedon aims to tap into with its street recycle-bin-kibble-dispenser. The device encourages passersby to recycle and look at our animal co-inhabitants with different eyes. The principle of the machine is very simple – it has containers for water (you can pour the remaining water from your bottle before recycling it) and for dog food. A fixed ratio of kibbles is dispensed when a bottle is recycled. The project is independent from the government and covers the cost of the food with the recycled bottles.

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15. solar software Platform fast-tracks Grid Connections

Testing at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory enables larger amounts of renewable energy on the nation’s electric grid.

When customers install solar, their panels don’t start producing electricity right away—a utility must first assess the project’s impact on the electricity grid before it gives permission to flip the switch. These interconnection delays are a pain point for solar customers across the United States and each day solar systems sit unconnected, customers are unable to start experiencing the cost-saving benefits of solar electricity.

Since the influx of electricity generated from solar impacts the grid, engineers and utilities are cautious when approving large-scale projects or projects in areas where there’s already a lot of solar. As a result, some utilities conduct in-depth, custom impact studies before approving a solar project, which can cause costly delays to both project developers and customers.

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GridUnity—formerly Qado Energy— set out to completely change the interconnection process with a cloud-connected tool that determines a solar project’s impact on the grid. From early-stage concept development in 2012 through use-case modeling and basic function testing in 2014, SunShot Initiative’s Incubator program readied GridUnity’s technology for pilot opportunities with potential customers. The resulting energy analytics platform can assess the grid impact of any distributed energy resource project, like solar or wind, at the distribution level.

To bring the platform to life, GridUnity also collaborated with researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to create realistic models of the distribution system. Using feeder data and system information from interconnection applications, the company worked with PNNL to improve the algorithms that power the platform and help utilities determine whether a solar project could interrupt normal grid operations. By creating a more efficient screening process, the platform allows utilities to shift their attention and resources to connecting larger, high-impact projects helping to speed up connection for everyone.

When a customer submits an online interconnection application, the GridUnity platform analyzes the project’s location and identifies the circuit the project will join. The platform automatically calculates the circuit’s hosting capacity and then provides the utility with an instant response regarding the suitability of the circuit for the project. If additional screening is needed, the GridUnity platform conducts automated studies that leverage advanced power flow algorithms, cloud computing, and machine learning.

The platform enables utility engineers and support personnel to focus on reviewing results rather than generating costly, time-consuming simulations. The platform can speed the impact study step from 55 days to just 60 minutes, reducing the total interconnection process from 81 days to hours—that’s 98% faster than the processes used by most utilities today.

Once a solar installation is connected to the GridUnity platform, the data can be used in the aggregate to help the utility explore grid, market, and program optimization strategies. By leveraging the GridUnity analysis capabilities, utilities can proactively analyze their grid hosting capacity to identify and publish locations where distributed energy resources will provide grid benefits, further accelerating the interconnection process.

GridUnity successfully brought the technology developed with their Sunshot Incubator award to the marketplace. Utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Hawaiian Electric Company are now customers of GridUnity and are using its platform to connect high volumes of solar projects to the grid. In these solar-dense areas, interconnection can be especially tricky and require in-depth technical screens. PG&E has been using GridUnity to connect customers to the grid since early 2016 and later that same year, the utility announced that on average it took three days to connect the 6,000 new solar customers it gets every month. The platform’s analysis and real-time reporting will help utilities in the West save tens of millions of dollars in operational costs, allowing everyone to see the returns on their solar investment much faster.

GridUnity is also working with SunShot to expand the platform’s capabilities. GridUnity’s 2016 award enables it to partner with industry leaders to create a tool that accounts for both distribution and transmission impacts on the grid, giving utilities a more holistic view of grid operations.

With more solar, storage, and other renewables added to the grid every day, utilities across the country have an opportunity to rethink outdated processes and adopt new solutions to better meet the needs of their customers. The GridUnity platform helps both utilities and customers by providing transparency throughout the interconnection process, enabling customers to connect to the grid and start realizing their solar savings faster than they can watch a television show.

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AirBnB is community marketplace for all kinds of accommodations. It enables people to list, discover and book their properties to guests via their website or smartphone applications. Listings range from apartments, villas and tree houses to castles, boats and other eccentric places at any price point imaginable. So far it has over 500,000 listings in 33,000 cities and 192 countries.

Design thinking and design research inform strategic decision-making on many levels. This is an example of how AirBnB’s Insights team uses data to address current user experience challenges on the platform.

The AirBnB user base is quite diverse. Sometimes the situation arises that a request does not match the host’s lifestyle or expectations of what a ‘proper guest’ may look and behave like (just think of young Berlin party tourists trying to book the quiet apartment of an elderly couple). In such or similar occasions the likelihood of hosts rejecting or not responding is relatively high. Even though one might feel sympathetic to the host’s decision, the user experience for the guest breaks. Especially inexperienced first time users are unlikely to come back. AirBnB knows exactly, that running a multi-sided platform model entails the mediation and facilitation of user relations. It therefore has to find ways to resolve or prevent such conflicts, e.g. by adequately matching certain user profiles. In order to do that however it first had to know why hosts reject, i.e. what are reasons that aren’t understood yet and how may they be addressed?

AirBnB knows exactly, that running a multi-sided platform model entails the mediation and facilitation of user relations.

The resulting and still ongoing ‘Why Hosts Reject’ initiative is a good present example for AirBnB’s devotion to deliver the best user experience possible. They made it a focus area and formed a team to conduct an in-depth foundational research in which Insights and Analytics teams work closely together. Data from 100 quantitative surveys (closed and open-ended) with hosts who recently said ‘no’ was triangulated with insights from analytics as well as with one-to-one interview follow-ups with selected respondents. They found a myriad of often emotional and logistical problems and reasons, e.g. merely insufficient information on the guest’s background, weirdly worded messages with lots of scribal errors or inaccurate representations of availability in the hosts calendar, to name but a few. After data analysis and synthesis the team ended up with a tree-structure-like taxonomy of reasons why hosts say no.Unfortunately we are not allowed to share detailed contents of the taxonomy here, as similarly to the ‘Snow White« project this is handled as classified information. Nonetheless we can say, that it emerged as an elaborated visual representation during the synthesis sessions: “Even the fact that we took the time to beautifully communicate this, is a definitive example of [the design thinking posture] here, which is pretty special. You

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might say it’s not that important. But it helps to communicate to a large audience in here”, Sasha Lubomirsky, AirBnB’s Head of User Research, rapturously points out. “We now have our own map with the top categories of the taxonomy and we’re working through them right now” she continues. This is done by using existing host and guest personas as a lens to approach problem areas from the taxonomy. Some personas act more as property mangers whereas others are more concerned about personal relations to the guest they are renting out to.

The taxonomy helped us to formulate those very well-informed hypotheses. When you understand the problem, the solution is way more straightforward. If you understand the problem, the ideas follow!Sasha Lubomirsky, Head of User Research at AirBnB

The team now focuses on situations, where those problem fields and personas are involved, which might have the biggest impacts when they get resolved. This is done by small experiments on the platform, e.g. making hosts more comfortable by providing them with more custom-tailored information about their guests. Sasha is very clear on the fact that it was “the taxonomy that helped us to formulate those very well-informed hypotheses. When you understand the problem, the solution is way more straightforward. If you understand the problem, the ideas follow!” The ‘Rejection Taxonomy’ therefore stands as one good example for AirBnB’s lived design thinking practice, which values the user experience above everything else, even if the company is growing fast.

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AirBnb new logo campaign: the Bélo story

Launching a new logo is always a risky business for any brand. And (if you are world renowned) the initial “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” reaction can be particularly significant. This is what happened to AirBnb when they decided to launch “the Bélo,” a new concept for their logo with an interesting story behind it… The new logo represents the essence of connection and a sense of belonging to an ever expanding global environment. AirBnb produced a video for this occasion explaining the reason of this new branding approach. They also created their own “custom experience” platform where every AirBnb user could personalize their own Bélo using a variety of colors, lines and backgrounds. But, what about those millions of users who already knew about the brand and were very active with their services? Brian Chesky, corporate CEO, sent them an invitation to an exclusive webinar where he himself explained the reason underlying this major change.

It has a name: Bélo

Airbnb desperately wants to be more than just a short-term housing rental market, as we dryly described it in our introduction. They’ve been bandying the term “hospitality” around for a while, and now they’re cranking up the abstraction another notch.

The rebrand campaign insists that Airbnb isn’t about saving a few bucks on hotel fares; it’s about “belonging,” one of the most deep-seated human needs (hence Bélo, and the company’s “Home” project at this year’s London Design Festival). That encompasses more than just housing: the company has hinted that it may move into carpools, cleaning, and all sorts of other niches within the so-called “sharing” economy.

It sounds to us like they’ve watched a few too many of Don Draper’s pitches on Mad Men, but who knows. People might just buy into this “Bélo” stuff.

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It has DIY potential

In design, people are constantly evangelizing “simplicity” and “minimalism.” And yes, the Apple Inc. logo is very simple in concept, but give a Sharpie and whiteboard to your Average Joe, and his rendition probably isn’t going to look that great — even if you don’t hold him to the metallic effect and gradients.

The new Airbnb logo, in contrast, was designed to be so simple that virtually anyone could replicate it in a way that looks decent and charmingly unique. Consisting only of a single flat, looping line, it looks like it would actually be fun to draw (you can give it a whirl using the company’s Create app).It evokes the human anatomy

Everyone else is going there, so we figured we should at least touch on this. And let’s face it: once you see it, you can’t un-see it. Will the fact that this logo resembles a certain, um, body part (take your pick …) prevent people from taking it seriously? Or does it introduce some much-needed humanity to the neuter repose to which most logos subscribe? We doubt this will be a make-or-break issue, but hey, never underestimate people’s capacity for immaturity.

https://99designs.com/blog/trends/airbnb-logo-redesign/

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02. Reinventing solar energy supply for Rural africa

There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing and 1.6 billion people worldwide with no access to electricity: A fact that Mobisol set out to change 4 years ago.

Being part of an ever-connected society, many people in the Global North can barely fathom that still more than 1.5 billion people live off the grid. Instead of simply plugging in, they use kerosene lanterns that only illuminate spots in their home, walk miles to charge their mobile phones, or run a diesel genset for their business.

Proclaiming 2014 – 2024 the “Decade of Sustainable Energy for All”, the United Nations has brought the issue of access to modern energy services to the center of the international development stage, underscoring the importance of energy for development efforts in areas such as health, education, clean water, and economic progress.

Mobisol’s mission reads like an excerpt from the UN goal of providing clean, reliable energy to rural off-grid households in sub-Saharan Africa to stimulate social and economic prosperity. The company combines technology, deep customer knowledge, and a sustainable business model into a product that has started to revolutionize the rural sub-Saharan energy sector: solar panels large enough to power bigger appliances with an unprecedented rent-to-own payment model that enforces customer loyalty.

How Mobisol’s Story Started

With no more in his hands than a technological tweak—a light bulb that could be switched on and off with a simple text message —Thomas Gottschalk embarked on an adventure that in the course of three years would transform a three-person startup into a market leading company with 350 employees spread across three countries. After three years of iteration spent perfecting technology, value proposition and business model the company had its breakthrough. In August 2015 alone Mobisol sold more solar systems than between 2011-July 2015 altogether. Now the company is moving on: from scaling, to expanding into new markets in new countries.

The Birth of a New Company: A Simple Technology Combined with a Simple Idea

“On the one hand, we saw rapidly decreasing prices for PV solar technology; on the other hand, we saw how the mobile revolution put cellphones in the hands of millions in sub-Saharan Africa. We wanted to combine that, but had no clear idea how,” says Klara Lindner, Mobisol’s co-founder and design thinking architect. “We chose

AutonomousVehicles

EnergyElectronics

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PV solar because of their efficiency, modularity, and low maintenance. Despite steep cost decreases, they were still quite expensive. We added a remote control functionality to embed this technology into a more long-term finance agreement: If a customer does not pay for his or her PV solar, we could simply switch it off.”Design Thinking First and Always First – Business Ideas Will Follow

Being an alumnus of the HPI School of Design Thinking, Klara Lindner, the company’s design thinking architect, was the person to introduce the methodology into the startup’s founding process from the very beginning. A smart technology alone – the text-message-switch light bulb – was not enough to create a great business idea. The team started to engage in field research without having a final product in mind. Design thinking experience guided them: This meant that researching user needs first will likely spark an idea that could hit a sweet spot in the market.

Field Research

With the production cost of solar panels dropping and the adoption of mobile solar panels in sub Saharan Africa rising, the three-person startup, backed by an angel investor, decided to fly to rural Tanzania to gain empathy for their potential users. They observed villagers in their everyday life and talked to them about their needs for electricity and the potential use of mobile solar panels. Mobisol’s Silicon Valley venture-capital-founded competitors followed the mainstream assumption that solar electricity is primarily needed for lighting purposes. This was a notion put forward, for example, by the ‘Global Offgrid Lighting Association’ founded in 2012 by the World Bank.

‘Advisers’ said: Make the system cheaper! Give one-year credit maximum! Simply rent out the system, people will only pay 5€/month!

But Mobisol realized: if people really want something, they find ways to pay for it — also in small Tanzanian villages.

In the meantime, the Mobisol design thinkers quickly realized that energy needs in rural Tanzania were about more than just light. They are mainly about radio (information), TV (status) and cell phone charging (communication). The Mobisol crew further discovered that cell phone and MPESA use was everywhere, as was PV solar, but due to a lack of maintenance infrastructure only with very poor quality. Nevertheless, energy spendings already averaged roughly 15€/month and home. The startup further realized that cost was not the limiting factor in this emerging market. For example, many people they visited owned expensive phones. Mobisol concluded that whenever and wherever people really want something, they will try to find ways to pay for it—also in small Tanzanian villages. In these areas people often had three to four different sources of income. They relied on these funds, in particular when they really wanted to buy something extra.

Identifying Constraints and Design Principles

Back in Germany in June 2011, the Mobisol crew extracted four key design principles from their field research on which they based their subsequent product development. The table below summarizes some of the design team’s major learning cycles.

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Sno Observation Insights Design Principles

1 What people really need is radio and TV, not light.

The demand for electricity is way higher than just for lighting.

Solar panels must be big enough to power larger appliances, such as televisions.

2 There exists no infrastructure to save up money (no banking infrastructure, houses can’t be locked).

Money has to be spent the moment it is earned.

Monthly payment options are a core requirement.

3 Belongings are well-kept and respected.

Private property is better maintained than rentals are.

Renting may win games, ownership wins championships. To ensure long-term electrification, people need to have the feeling they actually own their solar panels.

4 Existing PV are solar are often non-functioning.

If a supportive infrastructure isn’t provided, people can’t maintain their solar panels.

A maintenance infrastructure on-site is key to success.

Having engaged intensely with customers, Mobisol knew it was imperative to build a system that was large enough to power televisions and radios, in addition to providing lighting and cell phone charging. The cheapest system for these functions cost €500. In addition to not following the mainstream assumption that solar is mainly needed to power lighting, Mobisol rejected the prevailing reasoning that credits may only be given for a maximum of one year. Furthermore, Mobisol refuted the argument that rental solutions are the most profitable ones. Despite counter advice and laughter from their competitors, Mobisol thus gave their customers a three-year credit with a rate of 15€/month and introduced the concept of ‘rent-to-own’. All of Mobisol’s competitors offered rental solutions back then. Today all of them offer rent-to-own solutions, too.

Discovering the Critical Details of the Business Model

The rent-to-own concept is at the heart of Mobisol’s simple but effective payment philosophy: Ensure that customers have good reason to pay back their entire credit. Sounds too simple too be true, so how does Mobisol make sure customers really pay their monthly fees?

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A Feeling of Ownership Customers don’t rent the system, but pay 36 monthly fees to OWN the system at the end. The feeling of ownership makes the product more precious to customers and attaches them emotionally to ‘their’ solar panel.

B Smart Payment Enforcement The Mobisol solar panel can be switched on and off via the internet [GPRS/GSM]. In case the customer neglects to pay, the solar panel is deactivated via a text message until the payment is made.

C Good maintenance infrastructure

During their field work Mobisol realized that systems were often in bad shape and if panels didn’t work properly, customers would obviously discontinue paying back their credit.

In 2012 (A) and (B) were already in place, only (C) —a good maintenance infrastructure— was still missing. Therefore the young startup had to embark on its next design thinking challenge: How to create a self-sustaining, reliable maintenance infrastructure?

Business Challenge #1: How to Create a Self-Sustaining, Reliable Maintenance Infrastructure?

The starting point of maintenance is the system’s installation on the roof of the house. Mobisol experimented with an easy-to-use plug-and-play system that customers could simply install themselves. The team went again to Tanzania, gave the plug-and-play system to customers, watched them install it, iterated the system based on this user testing, and eventually developed a easy-to-understand comic installation manual along with a plug-and-play system.

However, the design team also realized: “Our customers feel like they just bought a Mercedes. They are very proud of having the solar panel but at the same time also very afraid of breaking the precious, new panel. Customers would actually rather pay someone to come install the panel and know their new “Mercedes”— aka solar panel— is safe.”

Mobisol decided to adopt the already developed and tested plug-and-play system to this customer insight. Klara Lindner recalls: “It’s actually super easy to install the system. Our customers just don’t want to do it themselves as they don’t want to be responsible if something goes wrong.” So how about training people from the village, who already have a reputation for being able to repair things (e.g. cell phone repairmen or craftsmen) to safely install the solar panels? This idea lit up like fireworks.

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Chosen people receive two weeks training and then install panels as certified Mobisol freelancers, who receive money for each system they install. Today there are 200 freelancers (with the number growing) installing Mobisol solar panels. Mobisol’s vision to foster social and economic prosperity in the region – besides electrification – starts to take shape.

Mobisol also benefits from this model directly, as over the course of time customer care has become Mobisol’s most valuable asset. In addition to exceptional maintenance service infrastructure, there is a free Mobisol hotline where Mobisol employees immediately help customers with any technological problem.

Business Challenge #2: How to Rethink Last Mile Distribution?

The final challenge Mobisol encountered during their field research and testings and before the business could really take off, was the last mile distribution. In rural areas, where postal services (such as DHL) are non-existent and where infrastructure is chaotic, without any maps, street names or street numbers, with streets sometimes barely wide enough to let a motorcycle pass and sometimes only reachable by boat, it’s basically impossible to actually deliver goods to a customer’s house.

Again, Mobisol’s key design insight to circumvent the problem of last-mile-delivery arose from field observation. Mobisol used a technique called ‘analogue observation’: They visited places (informal markets) where last mile distribution already works smoothly and efficiently. This led to the realization that they were not the right one to handle last mile distribution. Why? Because only customers know the most cost-efficient ways to their homes!

When building a house, people pick up the material needed at markets and transport it themselves the last few kilometers to their homes. In an analogy, Mobisol sells their products at informal marketplaces and customers take the components to their homes where they meet the service technician who then assembles and installs it. Problem solved!

Really…? Even though this approach of last mile delivery works perfectly well for Mobisol’s offering in the current context, the team couldn’t stop thinking about this problem space: What about medicines, smaller deliveries and similar urgent parcels? Can’t there be a more efficient way of handling last mile deliveries?

New Business Opportunities are Looming

Having realized how big the general problem of last mile delivery is in these rural communities, Mobisol asked itself: What if we did it again and combined smart technology with deep customer knowledge and a sustainable business model?This inquisitiveness is exactly the reason for their latest business expansion. Mobisol’s newest

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pilot project is a drone delivery service. The vision is, ‘to become the Amazon or Alibaba for remote, rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa.’ Through-the-air delivery by drones is already possible but mainly hindered by the short distances drones can fly.

Mobisol’s newest pilot is a drone delivery service. The vision is ‘to become the Alibaba for remote, rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa’.

But what if there was already a distributed system of solar charging stations in place? These could be owned my Mobisol’s loyal customers who also had the opportunity to earn additional income by allowing the drones to recharge via their solar panels. Wouldn’t that be a win-win situation? One that might even increase the sale of solar systems? And wouldn’t those with additional income be able to afford more Mobisol panels?

Impact

The field experiment is ongoing. Only the future will show whether a solar-powered drone delivery can be another viable element of a future Mobisol business system. What is certain as of now is that serendipity favors the prepared. If Mobisol hadn’t engaged in deeply empathic user research and continuous experimentation it would not have been able to discover new business opportunities like these. And speaking of business, below is a short summary of Mobisol achievements with its rapidly growing solar core business up to now. Welcome to the world of business opportunities based on customer needs; welcome to the world of design thinking.

Environment All systems installed until December 2015 save a total of

15,525 t CO2 eq per year

Education and Capacity Building

People trained in Mobisol Akademie Tanzania/Rwanda

End-user training delivered to

Children being able to study at night

About 600/200

Over 35,000 customers

About 105,000

Jobs Full-time jobs created

Small entrepreneurs working as contractors for Mobisol

Small businesses built from solar solutions

Over 400

Over 280

About 12,000

Mobisol’s impact to date in 2014

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Exploring the Context 02: Female installation technicians ease contact with house-women

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Co-Creation Sessions 04: Improving the usability of the maintenance software with local staff

Exploring the Context 03: Bad roads leading to customers’ villages

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Impact: PV Solar not just about light

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03. extreme Bathroom Users: Lapeyre embraces the elderly

A major French furniture company challenges an international team of students to redesign the bathroom experience for the elderly – and receives a product that ends up changing the way their organization approaches senior customers.

When Lapeyre approached their ME310 student team for the first time in October 2013, the marketing representative didn’t exactly expect much: “As an old adventurer in marketing, I thought I had seen it all, heard it all”, commented Jean-Philippe Arnoux, director of marketing at Lapeyre. “Putting the user in the center of my thoughts is the basis of my work.” Design thinking? Merely “a new design discipline among others, nothing new on the horizon, something fashionable.”

And indeed, the journey that Lapeyre was about to take with the ME310 team may sound winding and difficult: A company giving a challenge to a group of students, who themselves explore design thinking – often for the first time – while working in two different locations. What followed, though, was a process that showed intimate user research, intense iteration loops, a convincing final prototype, and ultimately a change in Lapeyre’s strategy of addressing the issue of accessibility. Here is how it went about.

Within the Stanford University ME310 course, companies set tasks for international student teams – in the case of Lapeyre, eight students with five nationalities at the German Hasso Plattner Institut (HPI) and the French d.school at the École des Ponts Paris Tech (ENPC). The Lapeyre representatives, intending to expand the company’s market towards the 22 million people above the age of 50 in France, challenged the team to reinvent the bathroom experience of elderly people to gain more autonomy in their houses. The challenge came with restrictions, though: The final product had to be producible in France, like all Lapeyre furniture – a principle that the company advertises – and sold for a price below 1000 euros.

Design Thinking from Paris to Potsdam

Communication between the two team halves proved to be a challenge: “In the beginning, it was really difficult,” Florence Mathieu comments. A student of industrial engineering at the time, she was part of the ME310 team located at the Paris d.school. Nowadays, she is in charge of projects about the

Interaction Experiences Wellbeing Spaces Products

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elderly at the d.school. While the students in Paris worked on the project full-time, the Potsdam crew spent two and a half days per week on the challenge – and therefore needed to be more organized, according to Florence: “They had to plan: ‘On which day do we build which prototype?’, and so on.” The students tried to stay in touch via Skype and phone calls, e-mails and a Facebook chat group – only to find a good old weekly handout to be the most helpful measure. “We were also really lucky to be able to visit and meet each other quite often in comparison to other teams.”

While a separated team seems to be an intricate prerequisite, the different locations were also insightful for the students: “I was especially surprised about the cultural and sociological differences between France and Germany even though we are neighboring countries,” IT-Systems engineering student Johannes Jaspers commented. “I think in Germany, there are fewer barriers about how you see the elderly,” Florence points out. Additionally, the two team parts were able to divide up focus points within the process and thus to produce much more prototypes and explore more possibilities.

To understand the posed challenge, the students conducted a market analysis by desk research and interviewed experts in the field of elderly psychology and physiology, such as nurses, doctors, and ergotherapists. Trying to immerse themselves into the physical situation of elderly people, they built their own grand age accelerator or tried one at an exhibition. The team also interviewed the actual users: the French students were able to talk to the inhabitants of an elderly house in Bry-sur-Marne, a suburb of Paris, where they would also return regularly for testing.

The results of their research were depressing: Elderly people don’t like to see themselves as such, because their significance in society is fading. They suffer from disabilities and lose autonomy in their own homes. At the same time, their environment is not adapted to their needs: “In France, there are already 22 million people who are over 50 years old but only 6% of the households are adapted for their changing needs,” the team concludes.

People prefer to disregard and hide the impairments of old age until they are finally forced to accept growing old because of a nuisance too great to ignore. Products made for the elderly furthermore reflect their conditions, they tell the users that they are old – an unpleasant stigmatization the team terms ‘mirror effect’. “An older generation friendly bathroom equals a disability-aware bathroom in practice,” Johannes explains.

Physical Limitation Loss of autonomy due to an increase of disabilities in a non-adapted environment

Psychology People rejecting the idea of being an elderly person and of having to adapt something in their lives to their age; stigmatizing products

Society People of grand age lose their place in society

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Need 1 Elderly people need to be able to sit in the bathroom because they get tired and feel uncomfortable easily

Need 2 People need to store water sensitive items on a dry working surface

Need 3 Users need to store items temporarily on a open working surface in immediate reach

Need 4 Elderly people need to be able to reach the storage space from the sink because their accessible zone is reduced

Need 5 Users need bright, symmetric lighting in their bathroom

Need 6 Elderly people need to see themselves from up close and from different angles

The Morning Routine

Wanting to establish how they could improve the bathroom experience for elderly people, the team returned to the field and tried to observe the morning routine of their users. The bathroom routine is an intimate and private procedure, though: It turned out to be easier to follow close friends or relatives through their daily course of action in the bathroom than strangers. Florence observed her own grandmother, Jacqueline, and noticed some significant habits. Jacqueline would wander between the bathroom and her bed during her morning routine, needing to sit down for tasks such as applying crème on her feet. The team realized that all needs and problems they had come across in previous research were linked to Jacqueline’s problem: the lack of a piece of furniture that would allow a comfortable morning routine at the sink.

The team identified two problem areas in the bathroom that they wanted to tackle: The procedure of washing oneself, and the daily ‘sink routine’ of getting ready in the morning (e.g. brushing teeth, combing hair, applying make-up et cetera.) The students then established six needs of elderly people doing their sink routine.

A List of Requirements: The ‘Wizard of Oz’ Prototype

Based on their findings, the team established the core needs of the elderly in the bathroom – and cross-checked them with the existing offer on the bathroom market, eliminating needs to focus on. “I actually think that generally, one should avoid to do the benchmarking too early in the process, or otherwise one could go into the field biased,” Florence argues. The cross-checking advanced the team’s work, though, when they realized that the need of reaching storage space from the sink (Need 4) was not yet fulfilled by furniture on the market, and that none of the offers managed to satisfy all of the detected needs within one solution.

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None? Looking further, the students came upon a piece of furniture that could fulfill most of the needs – but until now, it was mainly found in 18th century bedrooms and had no access to running water: The classic dressing table. This analogy inspired them to create ‘a place in the bathroom that offers a sink, a comfortable seating position, storage and a working space and good accessibility of the items needed.’ Thereby, they planned to reintroduce functionalities in bathroom furniture, an area in which innovation is primarily seen in design and aesthetics.

With this long list of requirements, the team went for a ‘Wizard of Oz’ prototype: A magic sink that talks to the user and fulfills all of their wishes. From there on, they gradually iterated their prototype, simultaneously focusing and improving it.

These are just some examples of how the team iterated their initial prototype to test and improve certain functions.

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Prototypes Testing Set-Up Insights Learnings

Step 1: The Dark Horse Prototype

A ‘Wizard of Oz’ sink that allowed users to ask for (and receive) everything they need during their morning routine – even newspapers or food – while sitting on the toilet.

The possibility to sit down is very useful for usual bathroom activities. Users do not wish to take on further activities (such as having breakfast) in the bathroom. Users do not wish for voice interactions with bathroom furniture. Users do not wish to sit on the toilet for morning activities.

Focus on the chair/table possibilities

Step 2: Round Shape Prototype

A bathroom table with a round, turning surface, allowing to push the sink away and use dry surface.

Users like the concept of easily switching between dry and activities at the sink. Users feel that round shape is ‘avantgarde’ and not desirable, though. The round shape wastes a lot of space and necessitates a special design of the water supply, which would be expensive and unreliable.

Try a shape that needs less space

Step 3: Corner Solution Prototype

a table designed for a bathroom corner with an embedded rotating sink.

Corners in bathrooms are often already occupied. Difficulties with the technical implementation (concerning water supply) remain.

Bathroom design and furniture is very conservative: try more traditional shapes.

Step 4: Slim Wedge-shaped Prototype

a slim table that allows easy access with chairs and wheelchairs, storage room at both sides of the table can be covered with a sliding panel.

Users liked clean design and easily accessible functionality. Sink and working surface was criticized as ‘too small’. The prototype chair (a regular office chair) seemed unfitting and alien in the bathroom.

Chair needs to be integrated in the dressing table.

Step 5: Table with integrated chair

a table solution that offers space for an integrated chair as well as wheelchairs. Drawers offer storage, the sink can be covered with sliding panels.

Overall concept is approved, but details need to be added and improved.

Add adjustable mirror and power socket.

Add adjustable mirror and power socket.

Several prototypes to improve the chair, including a stool versus armrests to facilitate standing up, cushions for an upright seating position, and the possibilities of rolling versus sliding the chair.

Users prefer a chair with armrests, cushions, and small wheels.

Finalize prototype with according chair.

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The Final Prototype: A Product For All

Based on their iterated prototypes, the team finalized their concept and built a CAD model of the furniture. At this point, their industrial partner was involved strongly again: Two students of the team visited a Lapeyre factory to support the company’s engineers at transforming the concept into an industrially manufactured prototype. They had to consider the aspects of the possible technical feasibility in a short time frame, the price limit and user needs. On top of that, some elements of the prototype – like a chair – had never been manufactured by Lapeyre before, which proved to be a challenge. For other parts of the furniture, existing solutions from the Lapeyre catalogue could be reused.

Sink Table Prototype Elements

Integrated Seat: Retractable seat providing a comfortable, active seating position. Chair can be removed to offer space for a wheelchair

Sink and Tap: Sink height is accessible from both standing and seating position. Extensible faucet offers possibility to wash upper body at the sink.

Working Surface: Working surface can be slid over the sink to offer large dry working surface

Storage Space: Drawers at the right side of the seat offer storage space in accessible zone. Additional space is available beneath the sitting surface.

Mirror and Light: Large mirror that can be moved in all directions; light source above the mirror

Power Outlet: Integrated power outlet for electricity supply

What makes the the team’s sink table special is its non-stigmatizing design and transgenerational accessibility. Many products for elderly people are designed in a way that clearly labels them so, and fear (of accidents or injuries) is often used as a trigger to buy these products. The Lapeyre team’s prototype, in contrast, is aesthetically appealing and its functions are not exclusively tailored to people of old age.

“Elderly people are the extreme users of the bathroom.”

“We realized that elderly people are the extreme users of the bathroom,” Florence explains. A product that solves their usage problems will ultimately profit every bathroom user. “We get feedback from all kinds of persons for our solution: ‘It’s amazing for children’, or ‘When I put on my make-up I really like to sit down.’”

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Bringing Concept’Care to the Stores

Critics complain that many design thinking student projects tend to end with an inspiring concept that never makes it to the market. For this team, things went differently: The Lapeyre representatives were convinced by the testing results and the final prototype – and persistent enough to go through with the implementation of an innovative new product.

Florence partly attributes this to the close cooperation between the design thinking team and Lapeyre: “We tried to get involved with the company partner as much as possible,” she explains. Early on, the team opted for a furniture solution “because it just makes much more sense for Lapeyre”. Furthermore, the students often checked back with Lapeyre representatives to ask for their opinion on prototypes. “We weren’t trying to make a concept that’s great for the user but can never be implemented,” Florence says. Team colleague Johannes feels that sometimes, there were moments where ideas were discarded in advance out of fear to be too ‘crazy’. “We may not have made quantum leaps with our prototype, but we also did not outpace our partner – and in the end, this was the right approach for Lapeyre,” he concludes.

The compromises the team had to make with their final prototype sometimes resulted in solutions that were not the best – but the only ones achievable for a certain price. “During every step we considered desirability, feasibility, and viability,” Florence explains.

To put it in stores, Lapeyre renamed the student-dubbed Intemporel as Concept’Care – “Intemporel”, coincidently, was already branded as a door within the Lapeyre line. By now, Concept’Care is available for purchase in the Lapeyre catalogue and 130 stores all over France.

“Some people say design thinking is about developing a crazy idea that no one ever had,” Florence explains. “But for me, our solution shows the beauty of design thinking. It’s when you hear: ‘Why did this not exist before? It’s so simple!’”

From Concept’Care to Vita Confort: A participatory concept store

The Concept’Care furniture resonated well: Media stories about the product keep getting published, even one and a half years after the ME310 presentation. Florence estimates that about 85 newspapers, online platforms, radio or TV stations reported about the project. “In France, it was a revelation that a big company such as Lapeyre tackled the subject of the elderly,” she says. For Jean-Philippe Arnoux, director of marketing at Lapeyre, the process leading to Concept’Care underlined the need of including elderly people: “A new approach to address one of the challenges of our society should be welcomed: the challenge of an aging population.” According to him, it is the duty of manufacturers and distributors to create the conditions for a mass market of both comfort and accessibility.

For Concept’Care, there is still an obstacle in this transformation, though. A vital characteristic of the furniture is that it supports the needs of elderly without looking like a product for the elderly. “It’s difficult when the Concept’Care is presented by people who don’t understand that philosophy,”

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Florence says. The next task, then, would be to re-design the buying experience for the elderly.

Lapeyre might just have taken a step into that direction. The company has used the Concept’Care product line as a door-opener for implementing a new strategy of approaching the issue of accessibility – for elderly people, handicapped people, and everyone else as well. In October 2015, they opened a concept store in downtown Paris called ‘Vita Confort’, where they present accessible bathrooms with non-stigmatizing design – such as the Concept’Care or a douche with a seat, the Facilot. The 280m² shop facilitates the discovery of products with sound guidance for blind people, a simultaneous translation device in sign language and sound amplification for hearing aids. The facility includes a space for meetings and conferences, where employees conduct workshops with elderly people from the neighborhood to learn more about their views on crucial subjects. Lapeyre plans to open two more Vita Confort shops in France during the first quarter of 2016, and forty more in the next three years.

“The Concept’Care was a start to change the strategy,” Florence points out. Lapeyre was already looking to the market of elderly people before the ME310 project commenced, but the insights that came with the development of Concept’Care gave them a new vision: During the ME310 course, the Lapeyre representatives discovered a unique aspect of design thinking methodlogy. As Jean-Philippe Arnoux put it: “If placing the user at the heart of our development processes is not novel, this manner of listening, understanding and integrating the user in prototyping is radically new.”

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A slim table that allows easy access with chairs and wheelchairs

A bathroom table with a round, turning surface, allowing to push the sink away and use dry surface.

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THE FINAL PRODUCT, DESIGNED BY THE ME310 TEAM AND MANUFACTURED BY LAPEYRE.

Several prototypes were built to improve the chair.

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Experiences

PRIMARY FUNCTION:Nomadic modular freestanding system INSPIRATION:Our constant moving with my family meant never having a HOME, so I started to think of a way to carry with me a basic structure, like a shell, that could be a shelter. Something that would be a constant in each house. Inspired by Kondo’s book, which challenges us with the question of what things we really need. By having everything on display, LYNKO offers users the chance to live efficiently only with the objects that bring them joy. It also offers the user the chance to design their own space UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION:Different sized metal frames and wooden hinges create an innumerable amount of configurations. These self standing structures can be clothes hangers, office panels , dividing screens, children’s puppet theatre. The system comes with accessories such as mirrors, hooks, hangers, trays , shelves, leather or fabric pockets , etc. The frames can be moved by the hinges to adapt to any space. When needed it can be folded flat for storage or easy transport. At any time more frames.

01. Lynko freestanding Modular system

Products

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Interaction Wellbeing Spaces

An invention of Simplest and Human-Centric Solution for People with Parkinson’sSimple and creative solutions have always left us in awe and often proved to be best for complex problems. And the live example of this statement is the invention of ‘The Staircase Illusion and No Spill Cup.’ This invention was a result of classroom project called ‘Design for Special Needs’ of Mileha Soneji, a Product Design student of MIT Institute of Design.

“I understood the value of interviews, observations and asking the right questions and working on this project with empathy. I have learned to get to the crux of the problem and then solve it with frugal innovation. I really believe in this grass-root level design and live by the philosophy that was ingrained in me, that Simple designs that fit the user’s context and need are the most impactful.”

Inspired by her uncle who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a disease with a disorder of the central nervous system that results in rigidity, shaking, slowness of movement and difficulty in walking, Mileha invented two highly conceptual yet highly innovative products that gave her uncle the confidence to interact and sit with people, which he use to retreat earlier to avoid embarrassment.

In her TED talk, she stated, “As a designer, we always dream of designing solutions that solve multifaceted problems. One solution that solves it all. But it need not be like that, you can target simple problems and start looking solutions for them. And eventually make big impact.”

“My aim was not to cure Parkinson, but make everyday task much easier.”

She empathizes with her uncle embarrassment to drink coffee or tea in public because of the tremors. So she designed ‘No Spill Cup’, which is curved shaped at the rim and opening. It deflects the liquid back into the cup rather than spilling it out. The handle of the cup is bigger giving extra grip at the finger for easy handling. The cup is featured with every small details to help people with tremors.

“And the idea for the ‘Staircase Illusion’ just came, when I visited to my uncle. I noticed that he was moving with difficulty. But a surprise was that he walked smoothly while climbing up and down stairs than in flat ground. That moment inspired me to try something like an optical illusion. So, I took black and white sheets of A3 paper

02. an invention of simplest and Human-Centric solution for People with Parkinson’s

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and stuck them together with tape. And it worked! When I put the illusion on the floor, we noticed him walking more smoothly and with confidence across the area where the illusion was placed.”

With her accessible designed products, Mileha wants to reach out to people with special needs. She wants everyone to adapt these products and make people with disabilities feel welcomed.

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Experiences

This is possibly the most simple thing but it’s high time band-aids became less of an annoying eyesore. They fray and come apart, sometimes they cut off blood circulation, and they’re virtually impossible to shower with. It’s about time designers solved these problems, even if it’s one step at a time.Designer Lin Huahui decided it was time to bring an end to the band-aid’s inability to flex. Most band-aids get put on fingers, which obviously do a lot of bending. Designed much like the fabric knee sleeve, the band-aid design features a cut out that allows the band-aid to bend along with the finger. If I may also add, this happens to be one of the most feasible redesigns I’ve seen for the band-aid in a VERY long time. Big win!Designer: Lin Huahui

03. Bendy Wendy Bandaid

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Interaction Physical and Digital Interaction

Experiences Products

04. art of Play a project done by students of hyper island

We started off with some research, interviews and discussions on the streets with people. The question we asked everyone was, “What was the most important thing about being a kid?”. “Let kids be kids” surfaced as the strongest insight. Playing on this, we came up with the concept of spreading the joy of being a child through technology and art and making it personal

BUILDING BY PLAYINGWe gave our concept - Art of Play - a tangible form using an XBox Kinect. It captured the happy, joyful expressions of kids. We recorded them dancing, singing, laughing…just being themselves. Each motion was then turned into a unique motif to represent the child. These motifs found a meaningful place on limited edition t-shirts and prints. One could also scan the motifs to view the details of children associated with them and donate for their future. This innovative use of technology and the intersection of strategy, user experience and marketing helped SOS Barnbyar (Children Villages) connect easily with young urban adults, and establish a relationship with them on a personal level.

https://youtu.be/Z_dsIJ0d5cc

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tHanK YoU!

t H a n K Y o U !

Date post:	26-Jun-2020
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