Brief: Inspired by Antanas Mockus social experiments, our trio had to find a civic issue that mattered to us, design a thinking process to approach this assignment that mainly revolved going out to the public affected by the problem and interact using incisive questions and paying attention to feed it back to the assignment and see what solutions may come from it.
Issue: We chose tube strikes and the inconvenience they cause to commuters, tourists and Londoners as hot topic to tackle.
Process: Kenny, Xime, and I discovered some existing solutions already available through TFL and found some inspiration by The Fun Theory initiative of Volkswagen. After forming a set of three questions we went to the open courtyard between North Greenwich tube station and the O2 arena for insights. With the insights and existing solutions we already came across (all documented here), we tweaked the personas and started to breakdown the possibilities. The next step was to design the presentation in terms of what and how to explain our experience though the assignment. So, the process focused on background research, face-to-face interviews, open group discussions about the solutions and the presentation, and individual assignments for each team member.
Key finding: Most people are already informed about three days before the strike. Yet, those who are not familiar with the streets of London (out-of-the-city dwellers and tourists, for example) stressed the importance of having guidance on best alternative routes to get to their destinations.
Solutions: Our goal was to guide tube commuters in Central London stations during the next strike in delightful ways. Here’s what we came up with:
Small cover bands next to every closed station’s gate playing feel-good songs just to uplift the mood a bit.
Ex-cabbys because they’re the best people to direct those who need help with directions.
A social media driven campaign supported by removable sticker badges that say “I walked” to encourage commuters to walk and not put more load on other public transportation methods. The badges will be on a giant wall outside each station with encouraging messages to walk and to take some selfies with the badges and share their support for the city online.
Fix hypersonic speakers that play globally recognisable movie quotes and funny lines that can only be heard when directly walked under as part of making walking more rewarding and engaging than taking the train or a cab.
While walking, free fruits and drinks will be offered in coordination with the hypermarket industry using food and drinks that by regulations must be removed off the shelf but are still before expiry dates; and designated spots will carry signages to show how many calories were approximately burned during that walk to encourage people to keep going.
For those who needed to go to Waterloo train station from Covent Garden tube station, Super Mario Brothers costume characters would guide groups from point A to B with some hanging props that turn the scene into one giant video game.
If taking the bus is a must, we’re hiring tour buses to share the load and transport people in style by telling stories about London that the passengers may never knew about the city.
Presentation: We reminded everyone of the brief, explained our process, shared our questions to the public, our key findings and goal, followed by the solutions. Paul Sternberg made some interesting comments about the emphasis on process vs. solutions during presentations and thinking about the assignments in general.
Takeaway thought? It’s about the journey, not just the destination. And while on that journey get to know the passengers well and asking incisive questions.
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