Design for
America
Design research / Design Leadership / FacilitationDesign for America is a national organization that uses a 6-step design
thinking sprint to address systemic social issues in communities and college campuses. I have been apart of UC’s chapter of DFA since fall 2022, and am in my 2nd semester of being our studio lead.
Through DFA, I have collaborated on projects addressing campus safety, food inequity in Cincinnati, quality of life for Cincinnati’s aging population, and led a sprint on student voter engagement.
Here is a showcase of work from our project on student voter engagement, in collaboration with democracy matters
A design sprint is a condensed version of the design thinking process. In a 5 week sprint, we quickly move through a problem space, immersing ourselves in research, ideating on solutions, and building prototypes, all with the end goal of tackling social issues in our community and campus.
We spent the semester focused in the area of college student voter engagement.
While voter turnout among college students is on the rise, they are still showing up to the polls in low numbers compared to their older counterparts.
While voter turnout among college students is on the rise, they are still showing up to the polls in low numbers compared to their older counterparts.
We immersed ourselves in the problem space by collecting research via online sources,
as well as by interviewing UC students. We identified these key insights:
as well as by interviewing UC students. We identified these key insights:
With these insights in mind, my team was curious about how we could increase overall dialogue and awareness of the voter process on campus, as well as prompt students to explore their own political beliefs, outside of influences such as parents or social media. This led us to the following How Might We question.
We spent some time ideating on solutions with this How Might We question in mind.
As we ideated, a common theme that arose was immersive experiences that prompted
political dialogue.
As we ideated, a common theme that arose was immersive experiences that prompted
political dialogue.
Thought Box
After our ideation process, we arrived at our final idea: The Thought Box
The Thought Box is an immersive installation where UC students can anonymously share their thoughts on elections, candidates, and politics. Inside a phone booth-like space, they write on a tablet, and after a delay, their messages are projected outside for the campus to see. This creates a space for reflection on personal beliefs and peer perspectives.to now?