Challenge and selection

My class wanted to identify some of the problems faced by teenagers in the Northern parts of Kenya who are in need of completing their secondary school education but they do not have school fees. The design thinking tool that I took in place was visualization, this enabled me to get a clear understanding of the problem among the members of the community before deciding to come up with possible measures and solutions to the problem. I have frequently used this approach within our school in visualizing some of the problems teenagers face within our society today and how best the problems can be tackled when the right measures are put in place. The technique that I applied in visualization was that one of straw man, this was achieved by asking questions and observing some of the challenges teenagers were being subjected to. The main intention of this was to allow teenagers to interact freely with one another so as to identify key elements they were facing. And in so doing, straw man visualization created room in coming up with possible solutions to help teenagers from this part of Northern Kenya continue with their education.

Application

I started handling the problem by developing a straw man graphic design. This is mainly achieved by extracting information from available secondary sources such as magazines, journals and reports so as to understand the society of the Northern part of Kenya. The straw man graphic can also be achieved by ob- taining ﬁrst hand information from the aﬀected teenagers. All the teenagers are given equal opportunity of giving genuine responses on the types of challenges they are facing. This is achieved mainly by using straw man template icons and shapes found on the internet.

In carrying out this exercise, I used 50 teenagers by grouping them into 2-5 members. The teenagers were then issued with copies of framed straw man graphic, where I needed them to write their responses. I designed four ques- tions about the problem space: What are some of the alterations that can be made on the straw man graphic; what components are not found on the straw man graphic; How can the graphic be designed to cater for the problem of these teenagers, and lastly what ought to be excluded from the straw man graphic to handle the problem space. The groups were supposed to discuss the questions within 45 minutes, and come out with concrete points aﬀecting them. After discussing they have to share their ﬁndings in posters by explaining each and every problem.Immediately after the exercise, I noted common features or in- sights within the problem space and classiﬁed them basing on their strengths and weakness.The common points identiﬁed in this problem space enabled me to come up with a new straw man graphic that included all the problems af- fecting these teenagers and try to l for a possible solution.

Approach and Insight

The most important part is the application of revision in graphic design that helps the respondents to understand what they need to tackle. This gives them a rough idea on the task that need to be done which reduces high chances of

confusion and boredom. In so doing, the information obtained from teenagers when handling the problem space is precise and accurate hence saving on time and resources that could be used to train them. The revision graphic also plays a major role in helping to identify some of the key elements that are missing in the problem space, and clearly outlines the variables which need to be added so as to tackle all the challenges within a problem space.

One of the interesting think I learned is that design thinking plays a vital role in sharing of the information needed to tackle challenges within a problem space. In my coming activities am going to apply visualization as my reference point when solving the problems faced by teenagers in our society today. The results obtained from this revision graphic will play a vital role in the upcoming study.

