Favorite Design Thinking Tools
Mind Journey
Solving a problem and using a design process takes your mind on many highs and lows. Your mindset could be expansive, reductive or a play between the two when going through each design phase. Knowing what mind state you should be in can create a more direct and meaningful experience. Acknowledging each mindset and being present during each of these tools will provide a coherent story and get you closer to solving your design problem. Mix and match the tools and see what kind of journey your mind will go on.
5 segments
These processes are to be followed in the order seen in the categories. Within the categories feel free to only select the tools best needed to solve your design problem.
Tool descriptions can only be seen on a computer.
Holistic Wellness
Healing House
Project: To conduct research for the owner of the The Authentic Body, a small business that specializes in holistic wellness through yoga and flower essence. Tapping into a strategy in response to our challenge: How can we create a viable business model for The Authentic Body that allows it to scale and become the basis to inspire and unite a community.
Action: With a deep understanding of our challenge statement we used different research tools such as landscape analysis, future forces, ethnographic interviews, personas, business modeling and financial pro-forma.
Result: A Co-Working Healing Space
The Authentic Body owns the space, but rents space to various types of healing practitioners. Together, they can unite the fragmented market of natural healing and create a community of people supporting each other through their healing journey. Think of a WeWork for only holistic practices.
Future Forces
A look at trends that may effect the holistic healing industry
Key Insights
Key Insights from potential customers, practitioners and people who are generally looking for a holistic lifestyle.
Personas
Through insights personas were created to understand pain points and jobs to be done, we can also see opportunities arise through by understanding ones journey.
Ideate & Prototype
Based on what we learned from our insights we dove deep and evaluated problem we were trying to solve. Using our design thinking tools, we synthesized our top ideas and developed the concept behind the Healing House.
After we refined our main idea. We realized we still need more information which lead us to prototyping. Next we identified questions and assumptions that we want to explore in real life applications
Implement
Elements to consider regarding the objective, concept, and financials that can make The Healing House a viable business.
With Simply escape we take the road less traveled.
Simply Escape
Project: Our thesis project at Parsons focused on solving a problem in a selected market. Analyzing the root cause and also filling a gap missing in target market selected was the requirement. Whether it was a product or service, key benefits and features were to be developed. Tapping into a personal interest in artisanal hand craft, my strategy in response to the market was: How can we create a viable business model that embraces artisanal craft through storytelling and community participation to bring awareness to quality and craftsmanship.
Action: With a deep understanding of my challenge statement I used different research tools such as landscape analysis, future forces, ethnographic interviews, personas, business modeling and financial pro-forma. This included a year long research project that involved prototypes and pivots that alowed a new idea to emerge.
Result: Simply Escape an interactive monthly subscription box that focuses on artisans with an influential message and craft. This exposure allows further connections and financial support to also focus on artisans with a smaller following and allow community experiences. With Simply Escape projects, community events and experiences are all under one platform. Think Birch Box meets Meet Up for crafts.
Inspiration: The Artisan
I’ve always considered artisans to be heroes, their defined as workers in a skilled trade. Especially someone that makes things by hand. Through their hands we’re able to be transported to a different time, a time with strong values, resourcefulness and rich experiences. People travel from all over the world to buy artisanal products and feel a special experience through craft and community. Artisans come in all ages, from every region with unique stories and products to share.
Three Markets:
With this source of inspiration and passion in mind I dove into three markets for more insight. The artisanal sector which is a 32 billion dollar industry, consumers today are caring more about who made their products and want a deeper connection to the things they decide to buy.
The second industry I looked into was the DIY market. The world of DIY has evolved tremendously in recent years due to resources like etsy, youtube and Pinterest.
The experience market has also seen a boom and transformation due to services like Air BnB experience and Eventbrite. In general we are living in a FOMO era and we value experience more than materialistic items. Through landscape and competitor Research, user interviews, prototype and pivots along the way all lead me to create Simply Escape.
We’ve gathered a roster of influential artisans who are diverse in their reach, background and product but all have strong story to tell regarding their values through their work. Each month we’ll uncover an artisan and send you a DIY project box and and a guided experience to Simply Escape.
“With Simply escape we take the road less traveled. It’s for those who act locally but think globally. We connect to artisanal values by exploring different forms of craft to promote a more resourceful lifestyle and we look to share immersive experiences that inspire these crafts.”
How it works: The first artisan we’re introducing goes by the name of JAHNKOY. Her strong values involving consumerism, racial and cultural inequality, crafts and the political and economic restraints that surround it has gotten attention from companies like Puma and Vogue. Not to mention she’s a Parsons MFA alumni. We’ll be providing a project inspired by the aesthetic of her most recent work. And promoting her values of upcycling to improve consumer awareness. With this project you can reconnect with your old garments that haven’t been used in years and give it new life with the additional supplies we provide!
The experience we’ll be providing will share the energy of the artisans and what inspires them. In this case we’ll be hosting a community show with live drummers, performing artists and installation that inspire JAHNKOY. We’ll also have an outdoor workshop to get more inspiration and to enhance your project further!
The monthly box will come out to $30, the experience will be $25 and a combination of both will be $50.Simply Escape combines the best of both worlds. Sharing the value of creating and using your hands while sharing memorable experiences and connecting to a community. We believe that Simply Escape will help our users explore to new places, mindsets and help connect people to others with similar values
Our mission at simply escape is to keep these boxes affordable, sustainable and unique.
To make these boxes affordable and resourceful we’ll be partnering with companies like fab scrap which is a company that recycles fabric that would have gone to landfills, and sourcing our materials and supplies from deadstock stock storage units- there are beautiful unused accessories and supplies that are sitting in storage that are no longer on a sales floor. Our goal is to also use recyclable packaging for the actual box.