Design that Matters – that was the title of a course I held in the Masters Program of Business Communication at the University of Applied Sciences, Berlin. With Design Thinking techniques we focussed on finding innovative answers to questions raised by current social issues.
Topics or questions the students wanted to address were for example: to reduce the amount of plastic rubbish or how to help people to recycle their plastic correctly, the “Kita Krise” in Berlin or how we can fight loneliness and anonymity in major German cities, not just for the elder.
Even though the topics themselves were not new, the students were able to find new solutions through empathising, a strong focus on the persona’s needs and the use of different brainstorming techniques.
threeeasy – recycling made easy…
The initial question of the group of students was: … Through intense fieldwork and letting their interview partners document their trash situation with photos, they found out, that …
threeeasy’s three brand values: encouraging, eco-friendly and easy
The SOLUTION for small households:
threeeasy – the three-piece garbage bag and an App that helps you sort your stuff
(students from left to right: Lena Lülfing, Jonas Hilkert, Carolin Oberst)
Visualising research data and findings was an essential part of the development process, as well as prototyping and creating mood boards.
Student feedback:
“The course was very dynamic and we were able to do a lot of creative work independently in our groups. I also found the lectures on design thinking and „good design“ very interesting and enlightening.”
Course: Design concept, Design Thinking
Contribution: course design, teaching
Program: Master of Business Communication
University: HTW, Berlin
Year: 2019
