Hi everyone, welcome back! The inspiration for this post comes from a recent online panel I attended, which involved several students and scholars in design talking about our recent experience at the Design Research Society 2024 conference.

Work Summary - Weeks 1-3

As we have approached the halfway point of this project, I have finally reached a firm grasp of our goals, plans, and group dynamics.

In the first week, we learned about Mexico City, its environmental issues and actions, and did some research about the waste recycling situation in Mexico City. We also met Enrique, the CFO and our point of contact from Rennueva, as well as many volunteers who are interested in this project.

In the second week, with multiple visits to the Rennueva recycling plant and interactions with different people in Rennueva, we had a clearer idea of the project goals and timelines. Our team's key question for this project is: How might we improve the implementation of the digitization process to ensure Rennueva has a smooth transition for clients and staff towards higher efficiency and impact?

To approach this challenge, we took inspiration from the design thinking process. The second week was all about empathize, define, and keep empathizing. We conducted user interviews and surveys to understand employee's attitudes and experiences towards their current method of data documentation (physical data sheets called "folios"), their attitude towards this change, and how they imagined this platform to help them. We also spent a long time understanding Rennueva's current recycling workflow, and shared it with the volunteers to help them understand the bigger picture and our small step.

In the third week, we focused on ideating and prototyping solutions based on our user research. The employees mainly expressed three ways of helpful training: video (to watch at own pace), interaction (to see demonstration), and manual (to refer back to). Therefore, we discussed with Enrique and the communications team at Rennueva to see what works best. 

On August 1st, we are planning to host our first set of training to test our "prototype" of user manuals and training, as well as encourage our actual users to test out the new platform in their work practice.

Reflection on Design

On Saturday morning, I had a fruitful discussion with some design experts, in which I reflected upon how my Mexico experience shaped some new thoughts in design.

A week before coming to Mexico City, I volunteered at the Design Research Society 2024 Conference. I had the opportunity to learn about many new topics in design research, such as "more-than-human" design, transitional design, translational design, etc. However, a recurring theme that I hear in the conference is: What is design research? Is design research even meaningful?

It wasn't until I fully engaged in the volunteering experience in Mexico City that I realized that yes, design research is powerful, and it fuels social innovation in every scale. To start with, the design thinking framework, which have been discussed way too many times in design research that people feel tired of, really helped us frame a feasible challenge and develop a strong timeline. The user research skills and considerations for inclusivity, sustainability, and clarity, has offered us much valuable insights on how to evolve our project and design our solutions. Design also taught us to be responsible, to care for the actual impact instead of the action, so we carefully crafted our timeline to allow room for adjustment and post-action user feedback.

Aside from our own project experience, the social actions in Mexico City that we observed also greatly inspired me. The first examples are the urban agricultural spaces that also serve as activity centers, educational grounds, and agents of social change. I was genuinely impressed by the fact that while some aspects of this city are far behind the most recent standards (accessibility, noise, etc.), there are examples far beyond expectation that can inspire more actions in all parts of the world.

The second example is Iztapalapa, a municipality with housing, infrastructure, poverty, and some other issues. We visited two of the 16 amazing "Utopia"s, which are municipality-established centers for public entertainment and cultural activities. They allowed residents of Iztapalapa to access free activity centers within 1km walking distance. In Utopia Freedom, the education center used the most simple blackboard and paper to teach a variety of subjects, spanning from Art to Traditional Medicine to Astronomy. On the mountainous side of Iztapalapa, a cable car system was implemented to provide easier daily transportation. It is the creativity and commitment that makes a tangible difference to the residents of Iztapalapa.

All of the above, I later learned in the panel, are called "designing for the real world" (Papelnek, 2023, I still need to read this book :0). Designs that escape the real world lack cannot convince people, and only in the practice in the real world can we keep reflecting on design and its power. To me, design has in its roots creative and communicative powers, that bring people together and create change. I am excited for the second half of my journey.