UX Strategy, UX Researcher
Kyle Cayanan, Graphic Designer
Nara Kwon, Graphic Designer
Mohit Maini, Fashion Designer
Saba Rahimi, Graphic Designer
Anton Styntsov, Fashion Designer
Catarina Vale, Fashion Designer
1 Week
Best Overall Design Strategy
Best Circular Economy Proposal
Organized by the Brookefield's Sustainability Institute, this week-long design charrette challenged participants to create an innovative and sustainable garment for George Brown students. The final product had to integrate a circular design model, smart technology, consider garment innovation as well as student needs.
Our solution, a fashion-forward poncho, considers sustainability at its very construction by minimizing trimmings, facilitates campus life, and includes a service blueprint that improves on existing retail models at school to create a closed loop.
On the first day of the challenge, we focused on familiarizing ourselves with the brief and understanding the target audience. The organizers provide the following insights:
Insight
However, as our designs are meant for students we also want to understand their motivations which is why we conducted a survey. Out of 50 participants, we found that:
Define Problem
Many of these insights are interlinked and have similar motivators, which is why we decided to synthesize our findings into two personas that will guide our ideations and design brainstorming. Each persona identifies user needs which include style, cost, comfort, and efficiency. Creating a persona helped us synthesize our key challenges that will be addressed over the course of this design jam.
1.1 Personas
Key Challenges
On the second day of the design jam, we made use of our personas to brainstorm 3 ideas that would be presented to a jury. At this stage we knew we wanted to create an outerwear garment, with the intent that it had to work within a circular economy and had to include technology. To deepen our concept, we used several methods of ideation including an affinity diagram and an IDEO worksheets.
2.1 IDEO Brainstorming Worksheet
Based on the feedback we received and a round of dot-voting, we decided to move forward with the poncho. To help us flesh out both the product and the service, we filled out a business model canvas.
2.2 Business Model Canvas
We start the third day of the challenge by drafting key features and a garment pattern. Each aspect is chosen strategically to promote sustainability and innovation.
Key Features
To help highlight the usability of the poncho during the final presentation, I designed a service blueprint that outlines all the touchpoints included in the sale and distribution of the poncho, a life cycle map that shows how the poncho is sustainable, and a journey map that shows students buying, wearing, and getting rid of the poncho. Although all three artefacts have similarities (i.e. all three charts mention how the poncho will be recycled), they approach the same touchpoints from different perspectives and respectively highlight the business, environmental and user experience value.
The fourth day is spent in a similar way as Day 3 with the team working on the physical prototype and prepping assets for the final presentation.
3.1 Service Blueprint
3.2 Life Cycle Map
(Left) 3.3 Poncho Pattern Sketch
(Right) 3.4 Pattern Prototype
3.5 Digital Illustration of Poncho
On the last day of the design jam, we presented our prototype to a jury consisting of GBC teachers and industry stakeholders. Our poncho really impressed them, and out of four awards we won two: Best Overall Design Strategy and Best Circular Economy Proposal.
(Left) 4.1 BSI Certificate
(Right) 4.2 BSI Certificate
As a result of this week-long design jam, Brookefields Sustainability Institute moved forward with our proposal and developed a new phase of this project titled “For Tomorrow”, where a team of students and stakeholders developed a varsity-style hoodie inspired by our concept and incorporated our key features.
