OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

A Design Sprint: designing a public intervention to create conversation

I enjoy designing to empower people so when we were given the opportunity to design an intervention that will create conversation in a public space in Philadelphia, my teammate and I decided to engage people to talk about challenges they overcame. We decided to use the Art Museum stairs because we found them to be a good metaphor for a challenge especially after the Rocky movies.

Participants were given three stickers, each of them numbered to track their answers. Their task was to answer the questions on the boxes, write down their answers on one of the stickers and stick them on the corresponding boxes as they climbed up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, they could write the challenge they overcame on a 2 dimensional barbell, a symbol of the challenge, and they could get their picture taken holding it over their heads. We also gave out candy as an extra incentive to participate.
Our goal was to have people reflect on their past challenges and move them to feel empowered and be happy to empower and learn from others.

We had to consider several pieces in order to attract and engage people who already had their own plans. Those in this space are usually working out, going to the art museum or just hanging out so we chose an early Saturday afternoon knowing there will be more people present. We also used big boxes and bright colors to provoke curiosity.

Overall, many took part in the sprint, some even chose to run up the stairs. Partakers shared personal stories ranging from funny to profound. People tracked and read each others answers like we had wished for and some even voiced how refreshing it was to take part in such an activity.

More images and a video can be found here http://designsprint.tumblr.com/

The three steps were spread at the bottom, middle and top of the stairs.
A bonus step was to have people get their picture taken while holding up the challenge they overcame.