We have forged a new and innovative approach which we believe transcends the initial intention to revitalise, our design proposal conveys a transformative service which will enable new and vibrant connections and collaborations between seniors and youth in Glenferrie.
Student Profiles:
Hi, I’m Courtney. I am 23 years old and in my final year studying a Bachelor of Innovation and Design. Innovative design, human-centered design and design thinking motivate me and keep me curious to learn more and more about the world we live in, the people we share it with and how I can help solve problems we all face today. Coming into this course I was blissfully unaware of just how remarkable innovative thinking and design can be, and the huge potential it has to impact the way we live, function in society and most importantly how we feel. I have enjoyed every second of my journey learning about innovation and design, specifically working with our team this year, which so far has been amazing! Each and everyone of us have worked hard to get to where we are now in our design process and are excited with the prospect of where our design process will take us next semester, I can’t wait to see what we achieve.
Hi I'm Liam, I’m studying a Bachelors Degree of Secondary Education specialising in Product design and minoring in Literature. Design and the arts have been a fundamental aspect of my life as my mother is an Art and Visual communication design teacher. Design for me is the intersection between many of my interests, I have always had a proclivity for drawing and design has interested me because it is the connection between the fantasy and science fiction worlds I find fascinating and the realisation of that vision.
Through my study and the innovation design lens which is so integral to this project I am also growing my pedagogical understanding and grasping new ways in which design can be taught to others. This has been a strong motivator in my desire to be a teacher and I hope I may enable students to realise new opportunities in design which are cutting-edge and truly inspiring. In this way our innovation design process which we have engaged with in this project has enabled me to apply knowledge which I have learnt in theory and given me a firmer understanding so that I may be confident in sharing this advancement in the design process and utilise it in my own creative endeavours.
I am Eulalia an Exchange student from Barcenola, Spain, now studying in Swinburne University. My degree consist in a double titulation in Product Design and Engineering in Product Design.
I enjoy my studies, as I can learn new aspects of design from good teachers, by studying I have also discovered sides of myself and my surroundings that I didn't know before.
Being able to come to Australia to study during a semester, has been a big opportunity for me. I have been able to live in a new city, super far away from home, and above all, get to know new marvellous people.
Matthew Brincat, 24 years old.`
I’m currently undertaking my final year in a double bachelor degree of civil engineering and design and innovation. Throughout my life I have always been interested in how and why things worked the way they do as well as the designing and manufacturing that all products go through. I am very much a hands-on learner who is driven by curiosity and the want to learn. Design and innovation for me helps connect my theoretical engineering skills with my hands on natural ability and has provided me with a whole new way of tackling problems and ways to look at issues that arise in front of me.
Hi, my name is Tugba and I’m in my last year of studying the bachelor of innovation and design. Design has always played a significant role in my life which is why studying the subject has helped me gain a lot of knowledge on how I can apply my learning to future projects. With this project itself has expanded my own personal awareness on some problems that occur right in front of us which can be improved with the help and knowledge we as a group can work towards being able to enhance the problematic issues for the positive use that the community can enjoy. Which is why just being able to recognise what can be improved for the better use, I don’t regret being able to be a part of this project and the course itself.
Lecturer/Tutor Profile:
Maria Camacho
I am Course Director of the Bachelor of Innovation & Design and a passionate advocate on the use of design approaches in business, governments and society in general, to address complex challenges in creative, human-centred, and system-oriented ways. I have a PhD in design thinking (Swinburne), a Master of Arts in Design Leadership (MDX) and a Bachelor Hons in Industrial Design (Javeriana). I have internationally taught, researched, consulted and practised on design, strategy and innovation for over 20 years.
Background
We are a team of 5 university students at Swinburne University of technology, undertaking our final year Innovation Design Capstone Project. The university was approached by Boroondara City Council to become involved in their place-making and revitalisation project for the Glenferrie precinct. Students from different disciplines set off to tackle the project with their unique set of skills from architecture and communication design to our team of innovation design students. The brief we were given by the council was centred on improving health and well-being within the community, it was apparent the brief aimed to achieve tangible outcomes in the community with some room for broader exploration. Our intention as innovation designers is to explore all aspects of a design challenge to uncover the underlying problems and discover potential opportunities. We aimed to ask whether or not the brief was asking the right question and we needed to be open to alternative approaches which could lead to tangible changes in the community especially as our purpose is to view the issue holistically. If a solution which tackled social engineering and behavioural change was deemed to be more effective for improving the built environment in the long term rather than directly building something than this would be a concept we would pursue and keep in mind. Along with the support of our experienced innovation design tutor, our team represents a diverse multinational group of designers who have spent much of our formative years of study invested in the Glenferrie precinct either as residents or frequent visitors. To say that we consider Glenferrie to be a key place in the development of who we are as young designers is no exaggeration. We have an intrinsic connection to this place, studying at Swinburne University of Technology which itself is located in the heart of the precinct, provides us with a unique connection to the project and an enthusiasm to achieve the best possible outcome to this design opportunity.
Our Process
As students of design and undertaking design innovation as a unique perspective of design to address complex challenges, we combine an approach tackling design challenges which brings together design thinking and the design process. Design thinking which is often also called human-centred design means that our approach as a team is intrinsically focused on considering the ramifications of our designs and its process on the target audience for which we are designing. In this case it is the diverse and inclusive community within the Glenferrie precinct. Such diversity means we must begin with a holistic and open comprehension of all the influencing aspects which underpin just how the community functions as a collective whole and what impact this might have on the key aspects of the brief, health, well-being and tangible revitalisation.
Before stepping further into our process it is also valuable to have a clear view of our process more broadly. The design process typically involves six stages which function in a cyclical and repeatable loop. Firstly, research was undertaken which we call the Understand stage, this allowed the team to formulate an empathetic understanding of the target audience and factors which influence them in relation to the design challenge. This information is gathered through PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) research.
In keeping with our human-centred approach and our desire to be conscientious designers,we utilised ethnographic research methods along with qualitative observation and academic literature review to place ourselves in the shoes of members of the Glenferrie precinct thus completing the second stage Observe. These two stages are also critical as they allow us to reassess the issues defined by the design brief, opening us to the opportunity to form a systemic view of the problem rather than focusing on defined aspects of the brief such as a possible tangible solution and a focus on health and well-being. The Observe stage is followed by Defining a point of view, at this stage we suggested numerous potential POVs which re-framed the original design brief from a perspective which is directed from a member of our target audience whom we consider vital to our perception of the underlying issues for example a senior member of the community who is dependant or a youth who is interested in volunteering.
Glenferrie Today
The Glenferrie precinct is an active and thriving area where there are always groups of residents, students and retail owners in a rush to get the most out of the day. The area includes numerous food choices and supermarkets close by making it convenient for residents and students who live on campus at Swinburne. Other than the delicious food choices around the precinct, there is greenery surrounding the precinct with gardens including parks and communal spaces where community members may enjoy some free time for themselves. There is a sports field that is used by residents who enjoy sport and which shares a historical connection to the Hawthorn football club which in many ways represents Glenferrie.
The council is actively involved with the improvement of the community through festivals, transportation and maintenance of the community’s built environment. The well-being of elderly, residents and retail owners as well as temporary visitors are foremost in the community and council’s mind through taking initiatives to improve the daily lives of members in the community and ensure on-going efforts to become an even better community to live in for all members of the community. Such purpose is conveyed in the genesis of this community project in which have been involved and it demonstrates the on-going commitment of the council to although Glenferrie to thrive and provide residents with all of the aspects of the area they have come to love.
Challenges
Our research revealed that the Glenferrie precinct has a few unique challenges which it faces going forward into the future. Whilst the council suggested health and well-being should be the focus for on-going community revitalisation we saw that the community required more awareness of and hence more/better advertising of the services that are already on offer. As much of the population particularly students is a temporary group of people that are either by-passers to the area or living temporarily in the area they may be unlikely to use local health or social services. For many this is because they don't have the confidence in knowing how to connect with these services or they can just use the services in their home communities of which they are more familiar. There is definitely also the potential of greater infrastructure for these services into the future as we continue to see a growing student population and ageing residential population.
When we began our own research however a different challenge quickly became apparent, in the minds of the public and our initial observations were issues in the built environment. This was the unappealing and dirty spaces around public thoroughfares such as at the train station and Don Arcade. Many community members commented on online platforms set up by the council that these spaces erode the aesthetics and appeal of the community as a whole. Whilst this is an area of community improvement we could definitely see in the future a key underpinning of our research was a concept that is raised in a great deal of academic literature in regard to community revitalisation. From South Korea, Newark USA, Britain and across the world we read examples of redevelopments to the built environment which beautified and modernised public spaces with additional functionality in the hopes that it would benefit and change community behaviour. In almost all cases such attempts failed to create genuine social change in the community. This is what became the focus of our project, (see next section): whether genuine social change in the community is possible and would such change ultimately lead to the future longevity of community revitalisation. Further to this point it might be feasible that such social change would provide improvements to health and well-being in the community and achieve tangible outcomes as suggested by the original brief.
The next challenge which faces the community and was not immediately apparent however revealed by the challenge of changing social behaviour to improve the built environment was the concept of greater social connections which elicits greater community efficacy. Due to the temporary nature of many student’s time in the area whilst visiting university it can often be difficult for a real sense of community efficacy to be formed for young people with the community more broadly. Likewise, as seniors don’t have much opportunity to cross paths with the thriving and fast moving youth in the area it can be difficult for seniors to pass on their experience and understanding of what the community means to them. Ultimately, this became the key fundamental challenge we perceived the community be facing. Not only because it would directly enable change in regard to health, well-being and revitalising the built environment as the brief requires but also because in forging solutions to this challenge a wide variety of new opportunities would be opened to revitalise the community across all aspects. Furthermore, such a focus encourages an innovative solution and tackles new ground which we hope will allow us to propose something transformative and of genuine value for Glenferrie.
As such we discovered what we consider to be the most vital challenge the Glenferrie precinct faces today and for the prosperity of its future. What we discovered is that this challenge also presents itself as an untapped opportunity as we perceive it is for the community to enable social connection and build community efficacy between its vibrant and thriving demographics. Quite a challenge considering the diversity present in the community, however we attempted to simplify the demographics to two key groups, students and seniors. These stood out as being two major groups in the community which represented the division between permanent and temporary members of the community. Establishing a design solution which would enable the collaboration and sharing of ways of life, knowledge, culture and community values between these groups could enable contributions to the community seen rarely throughout the world. We hope that this stream of connection will enable benefits to the prosperity of local businesses, enrich the community's appeal as a leader in the eastern suburbs, revitalise community spirit and enable on-going community participation to benefit all aspects of the community whether social, economic and environmental. Our challenge is to discover and design a potential avenue for such social connections to be formed.
Problem Re-Frame
The initial problem statement was found within the brief and was the starting point of the our teams pathway to creating its own design vision. This was, how might we increase the health and well-being of the community? The first 3 weeks involved the group members conducting their own individual research which was concluded with a group activity which highlighted all the key aspects and ideas that had come forth during this research stage. This ultimately prompted the first re-frame question which was ‘how might we increase social interaction within the local built environment? Continuing on, as the group delved further into the underlying issues of the problem, it was highlighted that there were significant social separations between age groups within the Glenferrie Precinct which created disconnections and social distancing between various age groups. The project group’s current problem frame is as follows. How might we develop trans-formative social opportunities for youth and seniors to connect in order to build a greater community connection?
Personas
Preliminary Design Vision
Having redefined the initial problem statement we see the potential for a new opportunity which will simultaneously revitalise the communities sense of efficacy and transform the avenues for social connection in the Glenferrie precinct. Our solution to this social connection conundrum is WeSkill, we envision a service which empowers youth and seniors, two of the major inhabitants in the Glenferrie precinct to make use of the precinct’s spaces for the exchange of skills and knowledge.
From learning a language, cooking skills, sport coaching, technology know how and genuine opportunities to exchange life stories, history, culture and discussing the world today from different perspectives. This service would allow people of different ages and walks of life to meet in and use public spaces for mutual self-betterment an incentive of which we believe will uphold this platform as a defining force in the social revitalisation of Glenferrie.
Whilst the form of service may change as we continue our development we consider a platform which allows for seniors and youths to equally access the service. We may utilise a digital platform for students and tech savvy seniors, however more tailored options may be required to engage more specific members of the community. In these cases we may implement flyers, the post and public speakers to reach as many members of the precinct as possible.
The sharing of knowledge and teaching of skills in public places whether cafes, public gardens, shops and community buildings will also help to invigorate the local economy and bring people into public spaces such as the hawthorn library, arts centre, Swinburne campus and Central Gardens. We envision our solution bringing a reinvigoration into the physical spaces of Glenferrie and delivering a tangible revitalisation to the built environment.
Additionally, the service of WeSkill will support the mental well-being of participants providing them a sense of belonging, purpose and vital social interaction which we hope improves the happiness, satisfaction and mental health of the community. Furthermore, the service provides an opportunity to support physical health as well through the offering of sport related skills.
Design vision system map
What's Next?
As a group we have discovered with all that was determined, the need and prospective opportunity for the Glenferrie community that an opportunity for deepened connectivity between elderly and youth could create. Of course, we still have so much further to go with this POV in terms of additional ideating, prototyping and iterating as we continue to test the critical assumptions relative to it, WeSkill and any new ideas we come up with through cumulative quantitative & qualitative data we gather and knowledge we gain. And even then still, with all of this work our POV might change in the future depending on our discoveries, hence we will be continuing to challenge ourselves keeping our minds open.Our design process is an ongoing one and will be continuing from August to November during Semester 2. Furthermore, when we commence Semester 2 we will be revisiting the work we have done this semester and continuing on from that as we pursue further testing of WeSkill, gather data from results of our future testings, and use this data to educate us more on the needs of these demographics. Whilst we pursue divergent thinking within the design process we are driven by one common team goal to create an innovative inspirational design solution that challenges restrictive thinking and typecasts. Hence, we will continue to be faced with many unknowns including the numerous critical assumptions, logistics of our idea/s, if our idea/s truly meet the needs of the community, and countless more. These are not to be feared and won't be by us as a team but rather welcomed, as this is what design thinking calls for an unrestricted approach to addressing problems faced and an open-minded outlook on the process.