FOUNDATIONS OF DESIGN AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (FDE) RESEARCH- D:LAB MOBILE REPORT
September 1, 2016
The class of 2019 is the pioneering class for the Foundations of Design and Entrepreneurship course at Ashesi University College. So we have a hands-on experience of the course like no one else. The course has been one of the most challenging courses anyone of us has encountered. Although to some, it was exciting. Our research project focused on a look-back at the entire FDE experience and coming up with ways to make it better. The research process includes personal reflections, interviews of other classmates and the use of ethnographic research tools and analysis frameworks. At the end of the research process, we came up with strategies and suggestions to make it better.
Problem statement Based on our research, FDE was a major threat to students as it was not only a source of stress but also time consuming. The course which is made to be fun turned out to be an enemy to students. Based on our findings, this was as a result of the work load and poor timing.
Several methods and ideas have been proposed on how to go through the course. This is not only going to save on time taken but a convenient way of selecting FDE ventures for the second semester making it interesting and giving the students a motivation when working on their ventures. The two main methods which were suggested during the venture selection were the course registration method and CATME.
Research Objectives After brainstorming, we settled on the following objectives
To make FDE a course which every student enjoys doing for the two semesters
Enable students to apply knowledge gained from FDE in real life and reduce the workload of the course.
Methodology/ Research/Approach Our research method was a sandwich of both primary and secondary. The reason for this is based on the fact that for some of the pain areas discovered, it was easier to carry out interviews and/or send questionnaires. But for some, drawing insights from the internet was a lot easier and effective. The design thinking approach was used in almost every aspect of the process. The first thing we did was to brainstorm on the whole FDE experience. Secondly, we interviewed some of our colleagues to get a bigger picture. We then categorized our findings into headings indicating major pain points. After generating interview questions out of the pain points and carrying out the interviews, we used analysis frameworks to generate POV’s.
Findings/Analysis and discussion After thorough research on the problem space, the data was obtained majorly in the form of notes from observational shadowing and depth interviews. The major information obtained was on the pros and cons the students had experienced taking the FDE course. Further, students gave their suggestions on how the negative aspects of the course would be changed for the better. Through card sorting, these were grouped into 8 groups under which similar suggestions fell. These were:
Merging or Partnerships of ventures
Ashesi venture accelerator’s role in FDE ventures
Blogs/Websites for ventures
Launching flexibility
Choosing teams for FDE ventures
Quizzes and Reading Assignments
Grading of the Course
Transition from a problem space to a business venture
Through intuition, empathy and our analytical skills, we came up with hypothesis to these statements, and then went ahead to test them. For the most part, we used the idea of depth interviews by giving the research subject different scenarios and seeing how they would react to the different cases. Thereafter, analysis frameworks such as empathy maps, 2 X 2 matrix, journey maps and persona were used to analyze the outcomes of the hypothesis testing.
Solutions to the different problems that made
The aspect of partnership, FDE ventures should be encouraged to partner amongst themselves to boost the practice of the things learnt in class and other advantages
With old-fashioned way of choosing ventures was highly disliked by several students. Henceforth we came up with a solution that doodle or the “course registration system” should be used for selecting ventures in the second semester
CATME should be adopted in the FDE course for an effective evaluation of team members. And for an easier analysis of the students evaluations.
Furthermore, to improve on the awareness of the different FDE ventures, students should be encouraged to set up blogs, websites and social media. This will help them increase their awareness as a well as customers
Quizzes should be reduced and further more readings should be explained before the quiz is taken.
Conclusions and recommendations This research mainly aimed at making the FDE experience at Ashesi more effective, and not necessarily an easy course. With regards to this, the solutions suggested in this research are made after careful analysis of the research data. The reasons given by the research subjects are highly considered, and not just the mere statement of how the course should be modified. We therefore hope that with the outcome of this undertaking, the course will be more effective.
Suggestions for future research
The number of teachers appropriate for a class at a specific semester should be looked into.
The relevance of the specific text books for class should be further researched.
Team:
Purity Musau
Jobe Wuyeh
Maureen Molly Basemera
Margaret Odero
TRADEWORKS SOLAR PROJECT – D:LAB MOBILE REPORT
September 1, 2016
The Tradeworks project was a project which originated out of the need for the owner of the Tradeworks factory to find a way to improve employee productivity but later evolved into a project which seeks to solve the problem of employee productivity in any factory while providing the members of the team with first hand involvement with the factory revolution in Ghana.
Problem Statement The problem is that the owners of factories do not know how to measure employee productivity therefore they cannot improve it because once something is not measured it cannot be improved. This is a problem because a decrease in productivity can lead to a decrease in revenue and employee dissatisfaction can affect the company in many ways negatively. The opportunity this problem brings for our team is to become pioneers in consulting for factories in Ghana when it comes to improving their employee productivity.
Research Objective The team wanted to find a way to measure productivity, they then wanted to find what the obstacles where and how to get rid of those obstacles when it came to improving employee productivity.
Design Approach The team did do some primary research with engineering students from Ashesi when they had to build solar generators; we used this as a simulated experience. We are currently doing primary research and analysis in a factory we are working with to gain more insight into the pain points of our users.
Findings and Analysis We found out that allowing employees to have a say into what happens to them and which environment they worked in is very important, we also found out that ergonomics is important in factories because things such as color of instruments and posture go a long way to affect employees. We also found out that factory workers work better when they work according to a rhythm be it music or the sound of the machine. We are also looking into using technology to measure productivity and improving but are still in the researching and testing phase .Also we found out that some problems are unique to some factories and that the management of factories are not usually open to improving employee productivity because of the cost incurred, they would only do this if they have an assurance that their revenue would increase after improving employee productivity.
Solutions We are still in the Research and Development phase.
Conclusion It has been fun working on the project but would have been cooler if we had frequent meetings to get updates from other projects to find more insight and also if the D-lab takes care of transportation.
Suggestions The D:lab should do well to constantly be updated with the pain points their researchers have to be able to solve them quickly. Future researchers should ask those who have done it before (us) how to go about things to avoid making mistakes we did.
CASA TRASACCO USER EXPERIENCE PROJECT – D:LAB MOBILE REPORT
August 31, 2016
Under this project, we aimed first at identifying what this experience is for a customer of Casa Trasacco. Once we discovered this, our next goal was to analyze the features of this user experience, under the elemental factors of usability (ease of use of services/products), content (layout of the products, display of pricing info etc.) and images.
Thereafter, based on our analysis and findings, we would have proceeded to crafting a user experience model for Casa Trasacco, which would detail out what the ideal experience/interaction is for anyone who walks into the showroom. This step holds the key to unlocking results in the final project objective, which was to make an effort to create flexibility in the Casa user experience model so that it can be remodeled for other luxury retailers, in order to make it easily adaptable to the customer climate of other luxury retailers.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The problem was identified via the technique of immersion. Upon exploration of the showroom, we realized that the shopping experience was not smoothly facilitated. Different types of products were displayed within the same space; bedrooms and kitchens were displayed right next to each other, making it difficult to compare one product with a similar one.
The issue here, was that customers looking to buy one type of product were unable to find them in a particular section at the showroom. Thus, they were distracted by the several other product types on display. With other customers validating our discovery, it became clear to us that an opportunity lay in creating a seamless, unbroken shopping experience for the customers.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
As aforementioned, our team set its focus as a three-way: identifying the user experience that currently exists for customers of Casa Trasacco, analyzing the features of this experience under the elements of user experience, and then creating a model that will improve the current user-product interaction for customers of Casa Trasacco. We also set out to discover, and observe, the kind of customers that visit the showroom, so that the final solution we craft will ideally cater to the needs of all customers of Casa Trasacco.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH
Under the aim of identifying the current UX, our team aimed at observing customers at the showroom at different times of day for a period of one week. The deliverable here was to find a persona/personae that we would use as points of analysis and ideation in the creation of the UX model. Thus, our fundamental approach was observation as a primary research technique.
Additionally, we sought to take a close look at the customer’s experience at every stage of his/her interaction with the products on display, and the overall service provided to him/her at the showroom. In order to capture this, we planned to use a journey map framework, which would ultimately help us to map out a customer’s step-by-step user experience, throughout their visit.
FINDINGS
On visiting the showroom over the span of a week, our team realized several findings that were relevant to our goals and research objectives. The findings we discovered include:
There was no particular layout of the items on display,
Kitchen sets are the core product,
A restaurant is soon to open within the showroom,
For products that have multiple components, each component has its own price,
Promotions on products are not boldly advertised to customers,
Customizable color options for kitchens, cabinets and bedroom sets,
Sales personnel are very engaging and informative; front desk personnel, however, come off as rather strict and serious.
RECOMMENDATIONS & FUTURE PLANS
Given that our team was a third party looking to use a company’s working space and customers, our project was very sensitive; more so, because Casa Trasacco has very tight rules and customs regarding outside individuals who aren’t business partners. Thus, the only recommendation I’d suggest on behalf of my team, is to find out how high such a company’s interest level is, in connection with third party projects. This way, the decision to either pursue or abandon a project will be influenced from early on, so as not to cut short the flow of the project midway.
As regarding future plans, I believe I, with some of my team members, would like to pick this project up again. But at a time that fits best with the company’s plans for third party affairs. My personal plan is to take the roots of this project to another company, and grow them there.
by Jean Quacopome, Lead of the Casa Trasacco UX Project
VODAFONE MOBILE UTILITIES – D:LAB MOBILE REPORT
August 31, 2016
Vodafone mUtilities is a design lab program supported by Ashesi University, for the purpose of helping customers with their utility concerns. The project started in the early month of June. And the main aim was to help customers manage their utility expenditure through a mobile platform. This project resulted from the customer complaints and difficulties with electricity tariffs at the time.
A meeting was arranged with Chief Information Officer of Vodafone, a leading telecom company to see what they expected from such a solution. Insights gained from the interview were included in the notes for secondary research. Secondary research was undertaken with the aim of identifying what practical solutions would be within our means to implement when solving the problem in the prototype stage.
The second part of Design thinking involved research and understanding the problem. The problem statement agreed on by the mUtilities team was; Customer difficulty in managing utility expenditure. Primary research involved a sample size of forty four. This involved domestic customers, small business owners, an electricity vendor and an ECG employee.
The methodology in question was interviewing. Customers were asked about their grievances in relation to utilities. Research showed that although both water and electricity tariffs had been increased, people only complained about electricity. Also, prepaid users were more likely to have complaints than postpaid users. This narrowed the problem to electricity and a solution was being prepared.
From the brainstorming session; a home management system was selected. The following are models from which our prototype could be designed;
Neurio Home Management System
Samsung home management system
TED Pro electricity monitor
Do It Yourself Home Energy Monitor
Controlling Appliances over WIFI and Ethernet
The next step would have been customer validation. However due to a lack of time that has been postponed until further notice. The customers for customer validation stage will be selected from the sample size; comprising of domestic and business customers. And over a period of time comments will be recorded and the solution improved until it satisfies customers.
Team members:
Joshua Mensah
Edwin Adatsi
Dorcas Maku Tamartey
Claude-Noel Tamakloe
Kelvin Degbotse
SUN SHADE ENERGY – D:LAB MOBILE REPORT
August 31, 2016
This project is a student engagement collaboration with sun shade energy, a company that promotes cooling through the design of appropriate window systems, shading structures as well as adding the benefits of generating energy for basic lighting. Our role as D lab students is to employ the design thinking process to ideate, design and prototype shading structures that makes use of solar energy to generate electricity for homes as a source basic lighting.
Ghana being in the tropical region of the world is exposed to generous amounts of sunshine. 21stcentury challenges resulting in ozone layer depletion thus global warming, record intensified sunshine and heat gains in the country. As though that was not enough the recent power crisis, popularly known as ‘dumsor’ inhibits us from keeping our homes and offices cool, as we are unable to power our cooling devices. As such, Ghana residents spend huge amounts of money on cooling devices like air-conditioners etc., just to keep cool. Base and middle of the pyramid citizens, however uncomfortably contend with the heat while a free potential source of alternative power (the sun) remains unexplored. In capitalizing on the energy providing potentials of the Sun and working with sun shade energy, we tackle this problem by proffering cooling solutions using the heat problems of homes in Ghana by targeting home windows to reduce air-loss and heat-gain – thus reducing energy demanding cooling imperatives in such a way as to make air-conditioning affordable to all levels of the economy.
As at the time we joined the SSE team, primary research had already been carried-out by the founding team. As such, we engaged from secondary research to revise the research findings obtained initially and familiarized ourselves with the companies’ mission and vision. We were also supplied with resources to familiarize ourselves with the solar industry and to understand heat gain in homes. As technical partners, perspective synchronization with our clients guarantees us standardized and timely solutions for SSE.
Our project required us to focus only on ideation. This is because the research and analysis stages were covered up by the sun shade energy team. We went through a series of brainstorming sessions together with both the CEO and by ourselves to improve some existing shading products of the company as well as design new shades with the provided materials. The information that was obtained from the secondary research findings helped us to develop human centred products that would be readily accepted by our target market.
We observed through our research that the human mind associates shade with leaves. As such we decided to create some of our products with leaf-centred themes.
We also had a series of discussions as well as brainstorming sessions with the CEO of the company to come up with the right products for the right market. She emphasized on the importance of doing research and ensuring that our solution or product is perfect for our target users (the market). Also that our designs must not require a lot of behaviour/culture change.
By the end of summer school, we had developed product designs for window shades, window panes and blades. The window blades were to be redesigned with wood instead of the usual plain or tinted glass for maximum cooling effect. The blades would also be lined with solar panels that would capture the suns energy, to be converted to solar energy and stored up in battery cells for domestic use.
The shading material was also designed in the form of blinds with some splattered with leaf themes. These would also be lined with OPV solar panels to harness and store up energy from the sun. These products are in line with our primary goal at SSE to mitigate heat gain in homes and provide an alternate source of energy for the people of Ghana.
The projects timeline had to be extended due to clashes with examination preparation and other school activities. We are however looking forward to the next stage which has to do with developing prototypes for the designs generated and watching them manufactured into products ready for market consumption.
Participants:
Sherrie Thompson-CEO and Founder of Sunshade Energy Ghana
Carl Agbenyegah-Project Facilitator
Pearl Gemegah-Project Lead
Martin Ampah
Gideon Larmie
Alex Waweru
Kofi Anamoah
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