DMC Visual Diary #13 "Live life with purpose baked in"
I love design solutions that serve multiple purposes with a positive impact on people who have given their time, talents, and love for humanity. Today, we are hearing more and more about the challenges US military members are having after leaving military life and transitioning to civilian life.
As design leaders, one of the first questions one might ask is "Who are we designing for?" or "Who is our audience?" Knowing who we are creating a solution for and what problem we're trying to solve will help keep the people we're serving at the center of our design process. What is needed vs. what is desired will help design leaders see what is or isn't feasible as we craft our solution. For US military veterans, finding viable work after being enlisted for a time and being away from such an ordered environment, transition is challenging and finding support for mental health as well as employment opportunities and a sense of community can be challenging.
Georgetown University was tuned into these issues as they partnered with Dog Tag Inc. to help train veterans in entrepreneurship skills and how to run a business. There is a sense of community, purpose, and personal & professional growth. From the instructional design of the Dog Tag courses at Georgetown to the design of the logos, and the beautiful bakery brick & mortar shop, a lot of planning went into creating this solution for veterans and the impact has been amazing. Creating a business opportunity for a community going through the same challenges of reacclimating to civilian life is truly a human-centered design solution.
Some of the parameters for this project were things like resources to help build the program and recruit vets to participate, time of course, time frame to launch the business, financial resources, and a myriad of other parameters that helped to shape this project. As the business evolves, new design parameters will come into play. I'm looking forward to watching this business grow and supporting them along the way.