Collaboration, Interdisciplinary, Multidisciplinary (September 2015)
Ensuring that every student earns a diploma from high school should be one of the highest priorities of our nation. Our quality of life is improved in EVERY way when we have an educated public.
Many reforms have been put in place, from the US Education Department down to parent’s groups in individual schools. We partnered with Everyone Graduates Center, a Johns Hopkins's research program, that has comprehensive analytics and tools to empower students, teachers and schools to retain and graduate more students.
Problem: Develop a tool / service / event / experience to inspire 9th graders to stay in school. Initially targeted to Baltimore City 9th grade students, the solution considered scalability to other nationwide districts with low graduation rates.
Process: See Images
Solution Summary: Full Presentation
Meet Trevor: a smart kid, who is bored, not engaged in school and has no role models or support at home/outside of school. How do we engage Trevor and keep him in school? How do we harness his existing skill set (independent, problem solver) to improve his experience?
Introducing Work Study 2.0: a modern work study program that allots students the opportunity to work in environments of interest and acquire skills that will serve them throughout their time in school and after graduation.
This program aims to address the issue of at risk students, ambitious, but stalled teachers, and parents that have become less involved in their child’s academic life.
Work Study 2.0 Journey from 9-12 grade
● 9th (work in school): establish a foundation; gather an understanding of the system they are being introduced to how they will fit into it
● 10th (work outside of school begins): gain independence, really delve into the core of Work Study 2.0
● 11th: start to build a resume
● 12th: begin mentoring incoming 9th grader
The program will encourage a variety of partnership/mentorship opportunities including teacher-to-teacher, teacher-to-student, teacher-to-parent and student-to-student.
The Result
● A co-op, community environment within the school
● Development of useful skill sets
● Mentorship and network for support
The state of MD has a 4-year graduation rate of 87% . Baltimore City’s rate is 68%.Studies show that drop out rates peak in middle school. Keeping students enrolled through their 9th and 10th years is proven to be crucial to achieving graduation. There are approximately 47 schools with 9th grade.
After conducting in-depth research, including interviews with teachers and students and fly-on-the-wall observations, into the current state of the Baltimore high-school system, we utilized the design principle of Stakeholder Mapping (a way of diagramming the network of people who have a stake in a given system).
We then moved onto Persona Profiles (an informed summary of the mindset, needs, and goals typically held by key stakeholders), crafting five personas of students, teachers and administration who we wanted to target with our solution. These personas included information about personal life, skills, activities, goals & motivations, and challenges.
Quotes from alternate Personas:
● Kinsley Smith (Student): “There have been a lot of changes in my life but I am determined to graduate high school and become the next big movie director.”
● Henrietta Washborn (Administration): “There’s no saving the system until we have children who behave & want to come to school. We are not parents.”
● Irene Morales: “We don’t call the children ‘students’, we call them ‘scholars’.”
After completing our research, we conducted a brainstorming session within our team to determine the factors that effected students' participation in high-school. We used Concept Mapping (a way of depicting the relationships between various concepts in a given area) to enhance our discussion.
We summarized that students were effected by four major factors: educational infrastructure, skill sets, role models and (activities) outside of school.
Each team member then re-examined the research, personas and experience map. After reflecting with white-boarding, post-its and other tools of collaboration, we created and shared a "How Might We.." statement to move forward with (an approach to phrasing problem statements that invites broad exploration). Possibilities ranged from building stronger support communities to creating jobs and leveraging technology.
We then used a Problem Tree Analysis (a way of exploring the causes and effects of a particular issue) to prototype the concept of a work study program. This program would have multiple aspects including partnerships with local businesses, mentoring opportunities, and the development of skill sets.
We used Experience Diagramming (a way of mapping a person's journey though a set of circumstances) to prototype understand what a high-school life-cycle would look like if we introduced the concept of "Work Study 2.0" - a refined, modern work study program that allows students the opportunity to work in environments of interest and acquire skills that will serve them throughout their time in high-school and after graduation.
At the end of our 4 week class, teams were given fifteen minutes to pitch their concept to their peers. The audience included fellow participants, as well as administration from MICA, community mentors, and members of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University.
Click here for the Full Presentation
August 2015 - June 2016
(Work in Progress)
With the introduction of Governor Hogan's Transit Plan, we wanted to lead a rapid prototyping design sprint, through Design for America (DFA), to address the public transit issues in Baltimore, MD and see how we as riders could positively contribute to the upcoming changes.
We worked with Kevin Quinn, Director, Office of Planning and Programming, Maryland Transit Administration, to provide guidance and design expertise on the MTA BaltimoreLink project, a total redesign and rebranding of the city’s transit system. We provided strategic recommendations to MTA Maryland on how design research, information design principles, and user engagement could strengthen the design and rollout of the BaltimoreLink project
Update 2017: The Baltimore Link MTA has started to role out new bus signs, based on the findings of our design thinking workshop and design exploration. The new signs focus on the primary bus riders, as opposed to being geared towards passing cars.
Design for America is a consortium of talented, pioneering, passionate students who radically collaborate with community organizations and nonprofits to solve real world problems. The organization creates social impact by understanding the challenges of our communities, creating powerful solutions based on human-centered insights, and partnering with organizations to execute our transformative ideas. Design for America believes in the power of students and the local community to affect real change in our world using their boundless energy, social intelligence, and fresh perspectives.
The Baltimore studio, established in 2011, comprises graduate students from Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Current projects include addressing the patient experience in Washington DC with the American Academy of Pediatrics and working with Thread to strengthen the relationship between mentors and Baltimore’s at-risk youth.
(All images courtesy of Annie Hill)
MTA Maryland is facing several issues. The state’s public transportation – particularly in Baltimore – suffers from substantial perception issues. Novices and visitors to the city often cite that, while they would “like to use public transportation,” current structures leave the bus, subway and light rail “intimidating.” The present infrastructure is confusing and practically prohibitive. Signs can be poorly labeled with incomplete route information. Stops are illogically positioned. Timetables and bus schedules are difficult to locate if available. A frequently asked question is simply “how can I pay?”
We took to the streets to explore the issues facing riders of MTA Maryland's public transport options. As you can see, the bus stop signs are perplexing.
We found several issues with the bus stop signs put up by MTA Maryland.
We examined bus stop signs around the world to see how other cities were communicating their transportation information.
We redesigned the bus stop, adding a light for better visibility, clear signage on routes, information about transportation apps and parking warnings.
After presenting our initial ideas on the MTA Maryland Bus signage, we were approached by several groups including Transit Choices and MTA Maryland themselves, who asked us to prototype a Rider Guide for Baltimore, which included information on multiple modes of public transport.
Work in Progress
New Signs
Baltimore Link MTA's new bus branding and stop bus signage to demonstrate a unified and recognizable brand for all MTA services in Baltimore
Application user interface for 365 by Whole Foods Market app, designed to target and engage millennial consumers through features such as social media, ratings, recipes etc.
The App utilizes your smartphone's camera and image recognition software to help you craft a healthy and affordable meal. Users can take a picture of an ingredient and obtain information on nutrition, origin, deals, recipes etc.
Sample Commercial - Password: Class project
(collaboration with Chris Schilder, Bianca Jackson)
All images created by Priya Pappu and superimposed by Bianca Jackson
Image courtesy of Bianca Jackson
The need to engage customers, partners, and employees across the growing number of digital channels is spurring demand for an improved digital experience.
Identify: IBM needed a digital way to engage their client, in order to educate them about IBM's offerings and also inform various divisions at Morgan Stanley about existing engagements between the two firms.
Reframe: Using design tools such as visual thinking, storytelling, and client-centered messaging, I generated a tailored and unified message, delivered through the digital Newsletter. I reframed IBM's engagements at Morgan Stanley, highlighting success stories in order to promote reference selling.
Build: Writer, editor, and graphic designer for the IBM - Morgan Stanley Newsletter, used as a sales and marketing tool for IBM's Client Executives on the Morgan Stanley Account ($400m revenue, global client). Each Newsletter focused on a particular topic and used information visualization to convey achieved and aspirational business goals.
Sourced, wrote and edited articles for the Newsletter, tailoring existing content to suit Morgan Stanley's business and IT needs. I created the layouts and designed the visual experience of the newsletter, including physical and digital delivery. Newsletter was used to positively influence the way Morgan Stanley interacted with IBM's people and products.
Articles contained in the Newsletter are IBM Confidential.
Utilize the concepts learned in the material exploration (Iterative and Ideation) to create a product that addresses a business need.
Identify: In the future, retail will be multi channel and customers will not be purchasing their goods in store, but rather have them delivered directly to their homes.
Immerse: People are watching television and using their tablet at the same time. They expect the same kind of integration with their shopping experience. Brands who don't provide a multi channel experience will lose significant customer loyalty and sales.
Reframe and Build: Transitive retail structures, such as this one made of inexpensive materials such as cardboard, can be used to generate brand awareness, harness customer information and serve as pop up retail facilities.
Cardboard is inexpensive and easy to source, requires little man-power to assemble and can be disposed off in an environmentally friendly way. Companies who use this cost-effective structure to differentiate their brand / boot / table at conventions or other gatherings can focus their budget on alternative marketing efforts such as signage or technology.
Exploration of a cardboard sliding track.
Sliding cardboard compartments, that operate on a cardboard track, can be opened to form a variety of spaces and provide display options.
Prototyping
October 2015
Design sprint utilizing reverse engineering. Students were given objects and tasked with dissecting them. My team of four people chose an electric coffee maker.
Identify: After dissecting the object, the teams were asked to create technical drawings.
Reframe: Using the visual language that I discovered during my object dissection, I reapplied the forms of an electric coffee maker (specifically the heating apparatus) to create a new environment. I utilized hand-drawn technical drawings to demonstrate my concept.
Internal and external parts of an electric coffee maker.
Plan and Section: Utilizing the shape of the heating apparatus contained within a standard electric coffee maker, I envisioned a teleportation capsule. (Ink on paper)
Prototyping
October 2015
Part of the beauty of prototyping is that you can learn from and contribute to a wealth of knowledge on how things fit together.
Immerse: Through the ideation and iteration, I explored the materiality of cardboard in order to test its components.m
Reframe: Utilize the principles of Japanese post and beam construction (no adhesive material) to construct a product.
Build: I constructed a life-scale product that was inspired by my iterations matrix. These cardboard chairs can be used for doll houses and are load bearing. An accompanying step-by-step guide can be found on on Instructables:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Miniature-Cardboard-Chairs-for-a-Dollhouse/
Through iteration, we learn.
This is a catalogue of ideas and application of cardboard into product and environments. The catalogue not only displays different products but also the evolution of products as I think through 48 different manifestations of what the material could be.
Load bearing miniature chairs made of cardboard, using Japanese joinery techniques employed in carpentry. No adhesive was used in the white chair; adhesive was used to add the seat base and back for the colored chair.
Exploring the various shapes of cardboard.
