DESIGN TOOL :-  LEARNING LAUNCH    CHALLENGE     During my first year in college I was part of an organization which aimed at bridging gaps  between urban and rural areas along with working for the upliftment or the betterment of farmers  in our country. The challenge was to improve the financial situation of these farmers by  providing them with a source of self-sustaining income.     My colleagues and I paid many visits to their households and gathered data like their financial  troubles, their other income sources if any, cause of their current situation and more. On  accumulating sufficient data and brainstorming  for several sessions we thought of setting up a  farmers market in our vicinity, this because from the data collected we found that one of the  reasons for insufficient income was the presence of middlemen in the whole buying and selling  operation which meant high possibilities of exploitation. Hence we came up with a solution  which would eliminate the middlemen and provide farmers a sustainable income source.    SELECTION     Setting up a farmers market was the solution to the challenge we came up with but to put this  into reality was difficult and a risky affair, hence we tried the learning launch design tool which  generally speaking is just a small trial experiment where one could try out one solution and see  if the solution is viable.    APPLICATION    Before conducting the learning launch several factors such as location selection,transport  activities, and permissions had to all be sorted, after this we conducted online surveys  pertaining to the question of whether or not the consumers will be interested in buying their  produce. Along with this we also conducted physical surveys where we targeted local  restaurants/eateries to try and convince them in buying the required produce from the farmers  directly rather than their usual vendors. After completion of all the aforementioned we went  through the response and found out some positive responses from the surveys. We then  set up  a trial market which was operational only on weekends for two months    We found that during the initial weeks there were not a lot of sales but this changed during the  latter weeks as word spread quickly and an increase in sales was observed. The restaurant that  agreed to buy the produce had provided us with good feedback which made us come to a  conclusion that the possibility of this being a solution is good enough.

INSIGHT AND APPROACH    From the learning launch tool we came to know whether this solution would work in reality. After  applying this design tool I came to know its benefits and its importance when starting something  new. On a broader scale this tool showed me that in design thinking there is presence of a  much efficient and minimal risk tool which will yield substantial results and if it fails would surely  provide other insights which would help me in developing a new solution    Next time for better results I think I will use a combination of storytelling and learning launch as  design tools because I think if we had used storytelling as a design tool in the form of showing a  video highlighting their journey and daily life in our online surveys we would have had a lot more  visitors to the trial market, and also while conducting physical surveys in restaurants we could  have used storytelling to make them understand about their scenario, we might have had more  restaurants tying up with us

