Picture by Matt Hardy
Water For All
Team: Manaal Joyo, Hanan Dogar, Pranav Mudiam, Cher Phakhasetthakarn, Isabelle Marsh
Discipline: User Research, Human-Centered Design, Sustainable Design
Duration: Aug ‘21 - Dec ‘21
Tools: Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Mural, UX Research Methods
Methods: Ethnographic Interviews, Affinity Mapping, Ideation Sprints, Personas, Prototyping
Overview
For UC Berkeley Haas School of Business’ course “Innovation and Design Thinking in Business”, we were organized in small groups to find a sustainable solution to a local problem. Upon deliberation, we decided to focus on water inaccessibility for the homeless community in Berkeley. Through this project, I learned…
User-centered research
Extracting valuable insights
Cycle of divergent & convergent thinking
Innovative storytelling
Rapid prototyping
Authentic collaboration
Designing for a sustainable future
Process
My Role
While our team was comprised of different strengths, I took the lead on design and creating visual representations of our ideas.
Conducted 2 extensive user interviews
Organized quotes and behaviors on affinity map
Created persona boards
Organized and led my peers in meetings
Created one physical prototype
Designed digital wireframes
Reiterated designs based on user feedback
Problem Space
How might we tackle the cycle of water inaccessibility for the homeless residing in Berkeley?
Scenario
Danny has been homeless for 4 years in Berkeley. He finds water and food by going to the shelter down the road. However, COVID-19 forced the shelter to close. Danny does not know where to find other shelters and water resources.
Challenge: How might we tackle the cycle of water inaccessibility for the homeless living in Berkeley?
by Storyset
User Research
Conducting extensive interviews with homeless residents in Berkeley, our team learned about daily injustices they face.
“Without water, we cannot function”
- Kathryn, 16 years old
We separated key quotes and behaviors on an affinity map to help visualize our data. Other categories included High Cost of Political Inaction and Last Resorts.
Extracting Insights
Since the homeless do not have a political voice, politicians make policies about the homeless based on what the housed want.
Most information and resources for water accessibility require technology, hindering accessibility for the homeless rather than improving it.
Inability to access water is a never-ending cycle that leads to uncleanliness, excluding the homeless from sites that offer water, further dehumanizing them.
Each brainstorming 25 insights (total of 100), we used acute observation and deduction to find the
why behind the what.
Personas
While Shawn lacks access to technology, Paulina does not know how to use her government-issued phone to find shelters.
Solution Ideation
We ideated solutions using STEEP framework — through social, technological, economical, environmental, and political lenses.
Seeking wild and unusual ideas in our concept generation, we used…
Absence Thinking, looking for what is not there
Reverse Brainstorming, seeking to prevent the problem from happening in the first place
Dot Voting, to narrow down our ideas
I created this digital prototype featuring…
a) Solar-powered water fountains
b) Public kiosks to locate water fountains and shelters
Prototyping
Our team used recycled materials to create quick prototypes, my work is in the bottom left.
We created a two-part solution, focusing on access and communication.
User Feedback
After hearing feedback, we discovered our solution was not feasible with our key partners, due to the high cost of building solar-powered water fountains.
We decided to cut out the water fountain, and solely focus on the communication of existing resources.
Final Solution: Public Kiosk for the Homeless
Our final solution is a digital kiosk that features an interactive map, shower reservations, an awareness campaign, and job postings.
The board will also have on-site wifi and outlets to cater to homeless people who have cell phones.
Business Model
Ultimately, our solution will create a stronger communication network for resources, address stigma around basic homeless needs, and expand clean water access to all.
Given our solution, we will drive value by managing the boards through a nonprofit connecting the city, shelters, and homeless.
This will give the city a hands-off approach while providing water resources to the homeless community. All while supporting the environment and expanding sustainable resource offerings.
We created an extensive business model canvas, but here are the highlights.
Reflection
Working from a sustainability lens was an interesting approach to this project. While our team was concerned with meeting the needs of the homeless population, we worked within the constraints of respecting our environment. When creating, it is important to first consider our social and environmental responsibilities, which is why we focused on a solution that was energy efficient and used existing water resources.
As a Berkeley student, the lack of regard to the homeless population is a visible and pertinent issue. Solving pressing social problems on a local scale gave rise to a natural passion that fuels future projects of mine.
