Design Project Zero
Energized / Motivated / Heavily Eager. : Words that described me anticipating Product Lab.
I walked into class with sweaty palms 5 minutes early and sat down on a front row seat near the door.
“This is the beginning,” I thought.
I have always been interested in anything entrepreneurship, social enterprise, social good, innovation, engineering and business. In particular, merging engineering, innovation and business have fascinated me for the pure fact that they are things I love and can be utilized to make this world just a tad bit better (ok maybe more than a tad).
So when this opportunity came to harness my interests and possibly turn it into something bigger than me, I grabbed it by the reins and held tight.
“Hello,” both my professors introduced themselves and my teaching professor gave an introduction to what the class was about. As he gave the introduction, the whole class seemed calm but giddiness filled my atmosphere.
First line of business? Make a product!
What? Already? On the first day? YES.
Our professor handed all of us a long and wide packet titled An Introduction to Design Thinking.
“What was this?” I thought.
We were about to partake in Stanford’s Design School’s Design Project Zero which is a fast paced project that takes a student through the full design cycle. No time was wasted as we dived in.
Our aim: Identify the need and create a physical prototype.
Heres how it went down:
First we designed our most ideal wallet (3 min)
Interviewed our partners to discover their need and use of their wallet. We were given another 6 minutes to dig deeper and gain empathy (14 min)
Next we captured our findings and took a stand with a point of view (6 min) “_______ needs a way to _____________ because (OR but ... suprisingly) _____________
Ideate! Make up to 5 design ideas (only 5 mins, omg)
Reflect, get feedback, then iterate as needed
At our next class, our drawings came to life as we created the wallet for our partner
And that was that!
My partners needs were 1)slender size and 2) coin holder. So for him I created an open fold wallet that had a zippable coin holder on the right and a card slot holder on the left. There was a color coded money holder where he could put different amounts of monies in each section (blue for $100, green for $20, yellow for $5′s, green for $1′s). On the outside it had (imaginary) see through license and picture holders.
I had a lot of old stuff in my wallet so my partner made me a removable wallet that would detach a memory flipbook.
My entire class presented their prototypes and it was very cool to see the array of creativity. There was one guy who had a partner that had lost his wallet so he built a wallet with a balloon attached to it! There were balloons on the supply table but really no one knew how to incorporate it into their prototypes. Except for him of course.
The entire experience was lighthearted but at the same time was a strong start. We didn’t go over logistics or tips but rather dove in fingernails first and journeyed through.
I’ll be honest. I did not think I could make a prototype under 20 minutes. Let alone come up with a solid idea I was proud of. But I did and it came out pretty well!
The whole ordeal was a challenge. I felt stretched and felt as if I had to go head to head with my limiting thoughts. The time aspect especially didn’t help...well it actually did because it induced urgency. My point is that it was hard having 5 minutes to brainstorm 5 ideas! But at the same time things don’t get done by people who take their time rather they do by people who are proactive and find a way to stretch every minute.
This semester is going to be exactly like that except with just a little more time, resources, education and expectation.
Really happy about this project and about where this class is headed already.
Next up is the real stuff. Forming a team.
Let the inventing begin.