Product Design for Desirability Course

Challenges from 2015 to 2019 are now listed directly on the course blog.

Challenges and Distinctive Projects from 2013 and 2014 are listed below

2014 CHALLENGES & WINNERS

Challenge 1: Duality of human nature + Breaking down the 4th wall

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Challenge 2: Dignity and strength in the sunset years

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Challenge 3: Interpersonal displays of status

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Challenge 4: Embodying different price points

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Challenge 5: Improving the desirability of an existing product

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Challenge 6: Getting out of your head and inside another’s

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Challenge 8: Designing for positive emotion and danceability

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Challenge 9: Design an icon

Presented at Harvard Innovation Lab for our final presentations.

2013 CHALLENGES & WINNERS

Challenge 1: Apply lessons from Swarovski + Design Museum’s digital crystal exhibit. Our first challenge was inspired by a case that Dr. Altringer created on Swarovski’s partnership with the Design Museum in London for the Digital Crystal exhibit in 2012. The exhibition brought together up-and-coming designers from around the world to produce pieces that showcased what is possible with crystal as a material. The first Design Survivor challenge was to apply lessons from the Swarovski case to design an exhibit showcasing what is possible with bamboo as a material. Their submissions were required to incorporate the lessons, and have branding benefits for the Black Belt region of Alabama, a low-income agricultural region shifting to bamboo production as a higher yield crop.

TOP SUBMISSIONS:
PAN-DA-BOO – Slides // Interview
Bam-Bam – Slides // Interview
Black Belt Bama – [no slides] // Interview

Challenge 2: Apply lessons from IDEO’s prototype for the Diego Powered Dissector System. Our second challenge was inspired by IDEO’s prototype for the Diego Powered Dissector System for Gyrus ACMI, ENT Division. IDEO’s work on this product is as well-known amongst designers for its prototyping story as it is for its final design, which received numerous design awards. The prototype was quickly created during a client meeting, as designers worked to interpret what the clients were describing, and communicate a potential concept. The mock-up was a rapid prototype, comprised of easily found materials, and it exemplified the benefits of ‘thinking in 3D’. IDEO’s designers are not surgeons and are unfamiliar with nasal anatomy. The prototype and the speed of mocking it up – with only a dry-erase marker, film canister, and tape – allowed the designers to communicate their concept quickly and for the client to respond equally quickly with feedback on the potential design and whether it could work for them.
Following a workshop on prototyping with found objects and thinking in 3D, in this second challenge, the students created rapid prototype solutions based on case studies representing the challenges faced during surgery by morbidly obese patients in the operating room. This was purposefully a challenge area that students had not likely thought of or new very much about. They learned to explore the problem by thinking in 3D, with the objective of producing prototypes that would enable a professional in the field to quickly understand their design concept and give user feedback.

TOP SUBMISSIONS:
Bed Petal – Slides // Interview
Inflatable Solutions – Slides // Interview

Challenge 3: Apply lessons from Zipcar’s made-for-mobile app. In our third challenge, Dr. Altringer created a case inspired by Zipcar’s mobile app, and Zipcar CEO, Scott Griffith’s, philosophy about the future of mobile. Following the Zipcar case, students learned to replicate existing apps quickly. In our app workshop, in conjunction with Occom Group, students learned that it is possible to create interactive demos of well-known mobile apps, like Kayak and Air BnB. They were then challenged to apply these skills to replicating an app of their choice. They had to substantially improve the existing app according to the following criteria: it had to provide the user with what s/he needs, when s/he needs it, where ever s/he is located, and using the tools s/he has handy. Submissions had to be interactive, and to clearly highlight the improvements made over the original app.

TOP SUBMISSIONS:
Starbucks // Slides // Interview
Harvard App // Slides // Interview
TKTS // Slides // Interview
Culture Now // Slides // Interview

Challenge 4: Open App Challenge. In the open app challenge, students had two weeks to create the concept of a new app (in week one) and to design an interactive demo for the app (in week two). For the conceptual challenge, they needed to identify a problem, to articulate why the problem area mattered, to show how their app solves the problem better than alternatives, and to estimate what it would take to make the app into a viable business. For the product challenge, students created an interactive demo of their concept.

TOP SUBMISSIONS:
Challenge Me – Presentation // Interview
One Good Deed – Presentation // Interview
Delorean- Presentation // Interview
Tripoff – Presentation // Interview
Link – Presentation // Interview

Challenge 5: What makes online content go viral? Our class studied research on what makes things go viral online, with a focus on blog posts and infographics. From this, I created a set of examples and a checklist of factors thought to make content go viral. Students used the checklist as a guide for creating content with the intention of releasing it (though they were not required to release it, only to create it as if they were going to release it with the intention of reaching the broadest possible audience). The checklist included items like: sufficient coverage of the topic, emotional impact, practicality, interest surprise and author credibility.

TOP SUBMISSIONS:
Defenestration of Cats – Presentation // Interview
Most Blank Cities – Presentation // (no video)
Think Again Startup Cities – Presentation // Interview
What’s in an Hour – Presentation // Interview
Sitting is the New Smoking – Presentation // Interview

Challenge 6: Creative in 3D. The purpose of this challenge was primarily to introduce the students to Solidworks software and 3D printing. Students learned to duplicate the design of an everyday object, a ball-point pen in Solidworks. They were then challenged to design a novel spin on the everyday pen, and particularly to explore personalization as a desirability strategy. Their designs had to incorporate the original pen casing, and would be judged on design functionality (they had to write) and originality.

TOP SUBMISSIONS:
Call Me Maybe Pen – Slides // Interview
Penna – Slides // Interview
Boomball – Slides // (no interview)
Dimple – Slides // (no interview)
Pretty in Pen – (no presentation online) // Interview
Quadripen – Slides // Interview
Wolverink – Slides // Interview

Challenge 7: Iconic Design. Inspired by three iconic and/or trendy product case studies, students were challenged to create their own. They learned the story behind Diane von Furstenburg’s iconic wrap dress, the story behind von Dutch’s trendy trucker cap, and the story behind Swarovski’s best-selling Slake bracelet.

TOP SUBMISSIONS:

Bob – Slides // Interview
Digishelf – Slides // Interview
Dipp’d – Slides // Interview
Thanks Mints – Slides // Interview