Date: 3/12/21 – 3/14/21
Hosts: Philips
Theme: <>in-tensions<> (main) and No Waste (optional)
Design Concept: Door Dash Scrap
I was placed in a team with two other participants. In less than 48 hours, we developed a unique concept inspired by this year’s shared theme. The entire event was virtual and completed over Microsoft Teams and Miro.
Day 1
Territory Map
After some introductions, we watched a presentation video that introduced this year’s theme. We then had to interpret what we thought it meant using stickies. Stickies were clustered into groups that shared similar ideas.
As instructed, I created a sticky placed it in a territory that sounded the most interesting to me. I was placed into a team with two others while one of the jam’s hosts acted as our supervisor for the weekend. Together, we formed team [Unintended] Consequences.
Day 2
Identify (1 hour 30 minutes)
We decided to merge the two themes and came up with projects ideas focused on actions that unintentionally cause waste. I first started with the question: what causes waste? One concern I added was on the impact of waste caused by excessive packaging. The rest of my notes concerned waste by certain industries that provide invaluable service to others. I compared notes with my teammates and together we decided that our focus would be on food waste.
We wanted to learn about food waste and how it happens
Due to the limitations of our schedule, we decided to learn from individual consumers regarding their behaviors around food and food waste.
We interviewed four people who graciously volunteered their time for the jam.
Once we figured out what we wanted to learn and how we would learn, we prepared a set of questions for our upcoming interviews.
User Research (1 hour)
Each team member took turns interviewing and taking notes during each session. We identified the needs and habits of the users based on questions relating to:
1.) Food prep and planning
2.) Usage of takeout/restaurant food
3.) Shopping habits and diet
4.) Alternatives on other food services (such as Blue Apron)
5.) Attitudes toward food waste (including their definition)
6.) Trash composting
Synthesis (40 minutes)
We gathered our insights (pains/gains/jobs) and key themes from our research to address our users' needs.
Ideate (~2 hours)
Each team member wrote a high level summary of their story. After everyone wrote their story, we discussed which aspects to carry forward into a new service concept.
We summarized who our offer was for, what the offer was, and the opportunities it addresses (as identified from our user research).
Day 3
Storyboard
Testing (1 hour)
We wrote a script based on our storyboard and role-played in front of two separate participants.
Demo
Finally, our team presented our concept to the entire group.
Conclusion and Next Steps
There were still components we hoped to work on sometime in the future. Mainly, how our company would make a profit. I wanted to base the company model off of pay-what-you-want restaurants.
At the end of the weekend jam, each team was awarded some kind of accolade by our hosts. Our team was given Most Comprehensive Service Concept.
