Background
The Challenge
Each year the Ford Motor Company Fund Smart Mobility Challenge runs a competition for teams of students to propose new ideas for sustainable urban solutions for communities.
The goal is to create something that can improve lives by shaping the way people and goods move within their urban communities.
Opportunities
After discussions and creating mind-maps exploring many issues, we concluded that food delivered to communities was not an efficient use of delivery vehicles. Many vehicles going to one location at different times wastes energy and creates pollution. Students living in halls became an excellent group of people to make use of this service. They are already in communities and have pain-points from limited access to transport, making walking to supermarkets and carrying heavy loads of food difficult and time consuming.
There are opportunities to create a service as many students are environmentally conscientious and want to reduce their environmental impact. Students can find it challenging to find the time to go food shopping, don't like the packaging waste and don't enjoy carrying food back from the supermarket. They usually have limited budgets and, therefore, limited options when food shopping. There is a gap in the market for a service that meets all these needs.
Approach
The Process
1. As a team we created a mind map of different ideas and problem areas. After discussion and research these were narrowed down to examine the transport of food.
2. As a team we generated ideas through "how might we" statements and discussions. These were grouped into themes. We discussed potential target users. We consulted with academic tutors and visitors from companies and the local council.
3. We researched in the form of semi structured interviews and created a mock business to gather feedback.
I strongly feel that designers should balance improvements to the quality of life and the environment's needs. This balance matches Kate Raworth's doughnut economic model. I particularly enjoyed this project as for changes to improve lives also needing to cater to environmental demands. I presented the case for the refill system to be included in the communal delivery system.
Goals & Challenges
As an extra project alongside the degree, challenges included managing the project and finding times to meet. These were our goals:
- Create a brand that students would want to associate with.
- Ensure the concept was desirable.
- Resolve details such as how the refills would take place. For example: Could the refill stations be in shared kitchens and automatically charged? Should we bring pre-filled containers to them? Should we set up inside a van and have a portable refill shop?
Outcome
After testing concepts with students, and discussion with the local council for their feedback on the needs of the community we had secured our concept idea. We had decided that a bringing pre-filled containers with their orders would be the best solution for the space in the student common rooms, avoiding mess and making the collection convenient in busy halls. Picking up food quickly, or their friends getting their food allows for deadlines and students rushing to lectures.
I created the logo with two other team members, and together we created a brand image and service concept. We tested the solution by setting up a test stand in student halls and getting feedback, and adjusting accordingly.
We split up tasks to refine the persona, journey map, example user interface, poster and a summary board.
We won funding for our concept to develop it further and we have plans to keep developing this. I am currently working on researching the impacts of covid-19 on the food industry and how this concept could be developed further.
The Concept
