Design Thinking Workshop "Organic product or monoculture?"
During the one-day workshop, we tackled an everyday topic and worked together on the following design challenge:
Organic product or monoculture
Provides certainty for the sustainably minded consumer of fruit and vegetables.
A generous supply of food for our workshop participants
The (morning) warm-up
The group consisted of nine participants who wanted to experience and learn about Design Thinking on this sunny day. My fellow student Jean-Philippe , and I recommend two moderators for a group of this size.
Before we started with the theory of Design Thinking, the group got to know each other in a playful and amusing way with a warm-up exercise.
WARM-UP EXERCISE
Morning & the Problem Space
The design challenge was tackled in the resulting groups of three, and the morning was dedicated to the problem space . The groups prepared a "download" of their perspectives on the challenge and attempted to get to the bottom of the issue.
The brainstorming session formed the primary research of the first Double Diamond, where the second Diamond represents the Solution Space . To complement the perspectives, the group was sent on a field trip, visiting two different organic shops at three different locations in Zurich and putting themselves in the consumer's shoes. The staff (and customers) welcomed the group warmly and were very helpful.
DOUBLE DIAMOND PROCESS
Personas, Problem Tree & How Might We?
After a leisurely lunch at Moudi's Lecker Café, near our office, the groups defined personas and "framed" the problem using a problem tree. In a final, converging step, they "How Might We questions .
Like the morning, the afternoon was equally hands-on, and after a creative ideation session (Diverging in the Solution Space, see Double Diamond above), the groups moved on to prototyping. They had a good hour to build their first prototypes. They also had to consider how to pitch these to our expert "Andrew" in his fictional role as a potential investor.
Let's get pitching!
The results from the prototyping were simply brilliant! After a short break, we were shown three innovative and super-pitched solutions and were absolutely amazed 😉
Here are some impressions of the three different prototypes:
Bio Foodprint for/on vegetables and fruit
Virtual Food/Diet Assistant
Guided “Seasonal” food online shop
Concluding remarks
A huge thank you to all the dedicated participants and the incredibly creative prototypes! On top of that, the unique storytelling and a healthy dose of humor in all the pitches – Kudos !
For both Jean-Philippe and me, it was incredibly enriching to see how the groups engaged with Design Thinking and the associated Design Challenge. They developed fantastic ideas in such a short time. I personally had to suppress a broad grin of enthusiasm; it was simply wonderful to lead and moderate such a diverse group as they tackled the Design Challenge.
A joint toast to a successful workshop
Personal conclusion
For me, it was the first (but not the last!) Design Thinking workshop I prepared and facilitated. It was a lot of fun , and I'm looking forward to more creative workshops! The effort was more than worthwhile, and the joy and reactions on the participants' faces made us facilitators extremely proud! 😉 To conclude, we had the opportunity to network over a generous reception and reflect on the day together.
TRIANGLE WORKSHOP
Thanks to the group's composition, we had a strong focus on Design Thinking methodologies in the workshop , but aspects like content and team building weren't neglected either! If you, dear reader, are also interested, check out our Academy page and secure your participation in the next session!
