There’s a project I’ve been working on for a few months now that I haven’t written about yet because of many reasons, but mainly because I was having a hard time finding the words.
Right now in Innovation Diploma, we’re working with the developing company S.J. Collins enterprises to design an outdoor space in their new shopping center in the Chamblee-Brookhaven area in Georgia. This requires us to interview a lot of people and ask for feedback from the residents of Chamblee and Brookhaven.
This last week, we did more in-depth interviews and unpacked all of our past interviews onto one of the walls in our room. I like having the visual reference whenever I need it in such a big place because it makes it so much easier to understand where ideas came from.
From there, we figured out patterns in what people said and incorporated them into a “How Might We” statement, which developed into two Design Drivers:
How Might We inspire play through natural beauty?
How Might We create a feeling of togetherness where stories, laughter, and joy can be shared?
As we move forward, we’ll be fast-tracking prototyping based on the user insights. This means translating what people said into ideas, comparing those ideas against the Design Drivers, and incorporating those ideas into new and different models of the space.
A lot of people we interviewed like to bike whenever possible, so a bike rack is probably important. Other people like to have places to sit that are comfortable and relax. Some talked about Europe and coffee shops. Some liked traditional pieces, and others like modern pieces. I’ll certainly be interested to see how we incorporate these likes into our design.
The Creek Bed 