This was a collaborative design research project for the Huckleberry House in Columbus, Ohio. It is a crisis shelter for teens ages 12 to 17 who are in difficult situations. My group and I focused to design with our co-designers, the workers and youth, instead of for so we could create a solution that would help serve them best.
Method Observation:
Entryway | Dining Room & Kitchen | Living Room | Piano Room
Initial research on the design space:
We went throughout the space and used the method of observation. Our initial idea was that the pain-point for the house was the schedule, but we came to find the biggest pain-point was the lack of structure for what each room was for.
The Design Space | Surface Pain-Points | Focused Pain-Point of the Purpose of Rooms
Our Objective:
Conduct design research and help create a more structured environment for the staff and youth of the Huckleberry House.
Our Co-Designers:
Staff Persona | Youth Persona
Method Daily Moments & Prompts:
This method gave our team an insight on the staff and clients main pain-points of the house and schedule.
Daily Moment from Staff | Daily Prompt from Youth
Method Cognitive Mapping:
We asked both staff and youth, individually, to complete cognitive maps of the first floor of the house. We observed what they drew, the size, and order. This helped us see what their mental model of the house was. A common theme we found was that most of them loved the round room, but most forgot about the game room because you had to go down some stairs and take staff with you so the youth aren't always allowed to go there.
Staff Cognitive Map | Youth Cognitive Map
Method Current Experience Model:
After analyzing all of our data we were able to create a clearer picture of the pain-points for people at the house based on the daily schedule and interior spaces.
Method Creative Toolkit: Ideation:
We created a floor plan for the first floor of the house and the furniture out of sticky notes. The floor plan helped us figure out further what the staff and youth wanted to be able to do within the space. We started to find the theme of utilizing the round room as a possible art room and being able to use the game room more.
Group of Staff's Toolkit | Group of Youth's Toolkit
Method Creative Toolkit: Refinement:
Using the same concept we refined the layout of the house to help create a better visual for our co-designers. This helped them make the final decision of which room, between the round room and current game room, should be the art room and game room.
Before the Feedback | After the Feedback
Our Results:
They picked the round room for an arts and crafts room and the game room to stay as the game room, but want to open it up to make it more accessible for the youth and staff. Overall this was a positive design research project that impacted the Huckleberry House to be able to become more structured in its environment. I am privileged that I got to participate in this collaboration.
Shout out to my fellow collaborators Kelia, Amanda, Manny, Lauren, and everyone from the Huckleberry House.
