Challenge    As a student of sustainable design, I had the opportunity to meet the indigenous Mixtecan  community from Oaxaca, Mexico that are living in Nuevo León, a city in the north of the  country. They had the problem that their incomes were decreasing during the quarantine  period of the Covid-19 pandemic, so they couldn't afford basic necessities like buying food.  Therefore, I presented the problem in the class of social projects for sustainability, and my  team and I used the design thinking process to find a solution to it quickly since the  community needed to solve the challenge in order to increase their income to survive.    Selection    The tool that we thought would be the most useful was mind mapping, since we can order  information with sticky notes, and move them if it's necessary. Mind mapping also helps a lot  to find patterns of information and translate them into insights that can be more  understandable by people that need to visualize it easily. On the other hand, we used the  mind mapping to show in a more illustrative way the insights that we gained to the  community and to encourage themselves to analyze if the information made sense to them.    Application    First of all, we started to understand the current situation of the community. We ask them  information about what they did before the pandemic, what were their sources of income and  how much money did they receive for that. All the information obtained from the interviews  were translated to key words and written in sticky notes, to put them as the “What is”  scenery in our mind map.   Later all of it was analyzed and  we found that the community was dedicated to the sale of  handicrafts made with handwoven textiles. Thanks to this information, more questions were  asked about how they sold these crafts, if they have contact with their customers, etc. With  this we designed a map of the channels used to sell and who were the clients as well as  their respective phone numbers.   With this customers were contacted and asked why they bought these handicrafts, and why  they stopped buying them, what characteristics of these products are the ones that attracted  them the most and what they would like to see the artisans do to buy more handicrafts to  them.    Insights    The mind mapping tool helped us to find very important information. The clients prefered the  textiles made by the community because of its high quality and accessible price. In addition  to the fact that their textiles have a wide application both for clothing, tablecloths,  accessories, special gift wrapping, and more applications that clients were giving to the  community's artisanal textile.    Another insight found was that clients prefer to buy the handicrafts on an online platform due  to the pandemic, since they cannot go outside of their homes because of the lockdown but  they still buy stuff to give away to their loved ones.

We also found that the customers would be willing to pay for textiles to use in crafts or  product creation, taking advantage of the extra time that quarantine has given to them.    And last but not least, we found that although the community in general does not have the  internet, they do have mobile phones in which we can share with them videos teaching them  what customers want to see in new textile designs, what colors and forms, that would help  the craftsman/woman to improve their products and meet customer demands.    Approach    Thanks to the fact that with mind mapping tool is more easy to understand information, we  found that customers were using textiles made by the community in their own personal  projects, and that was a thing that we didn’t think about, since we only  thought they were  using it as an ornamental textile to put in their desk or as a kitchen tablecloth. So, with that in  mind we focused on the creation of a business concept that wows people and helps them  have something to do during quarantine to entertain themselves.    First, we created an online page and social media for the project to show to people the  community, what they create and how beautiful it is. Then we asked the clients that had  bought the textiles before for videos in which they can explain how they use the textiles  to  create their own products, and thus motivate more people to buy them.    So that is how we created an impactful project for both sides, the artisans and the  customers, using the mind mapping tool and design thinking process.


Challenge As a student of sustainable design , I had the opportunity to meet the indigenous Mixtecan community from Oaxaca , Mexico that are living in Nuevo León , a city in the north of the country . They had the problem that their incomes were decreasing during the quarantine period of the Covid-19 pandemic , so they could n't afford basic necessities like buying food . Therefore , I presented the problem in the class of social projects for sustainability , and my team and I used the design thinking process to find a solution to it quickly since the community needed to solve the challenge in order to increase their income to survive . Selection The tool that we thought would be the most useful was mind mapping , since we can order information with sticky notes , and move them if it 's necessary . Mind mapping also helps a lot to find patterns of information and translate them into insights that can be more understandable by people that need to visualize it easily . On the other hand , we used the mind mapping to show in a more illustrative way the insights that we gained to the community and to encourage themselves to analyze if the information made sense to them . Application First of all , we started to understand the current situation of the community . We ask them information about what they did before the pandemic , what were their sources of income and how much money did they receive for that . All the information obtained from the interviews were translated to key words and written in sticky notes , to put them as the “ What is ” scenery in our mind map . Later all of it was analyzed and we found that the community was dedicated to the sale of handicrafts made with handwoven textiles . Thanks to this information , more questions were asked about how they sold these crafts , if they have contact with their customers , etc . With this we designed a map of the channels used to sell and who were the clients as well as their respective phone numbers . With this customers were contacted and asked why they bought these handicrafts , and why they stopped buying them , what characteristics of these products are the ones that attracted them the most and what they would like to see the artisans do to buy more handicrafts to them . Insights The mind mapping tool helped us to find very important information . The clients prefered the textiles made by the community because of its high quality and accessible price . In addition to the fact that their textiles have a wide application both for clothing , tablecloths , accessories , special gift wrapping , and more applications that clients were giving to the community 's artisanal textile . Another insight found was that clients prefer to buy the handicrafts on an online platform due to the pandemic , since they can not go outside of their homes because of the lockdown but they still buy stuff to give away to their loved ones . We also found that the customers would be willing to pay for textiles to use in crafts or product creation , taking advantage of the extra time that quarantine has given to them . And last but not least , we found that although the community in general does not have the internet , they do have mobile phones in which we can share with them videos teaching them what customers want to see in new textile designs , what colors and forms , that would help the craftsman / woman to improve their products and meet customer demands . Approach Thanks to the fact that with mind mapping tool is more easy to understand information , we found that customers were using textiles made by the community in their own personal projects , and that was a thing that we did n’t think about , since we only thought they were using it as an ornamental textile to put in their desk or as a kitchen tablecloth . So , with that in mind we focused on the creation of a business concept that wows people and helps them have something to do during quarantine to entertain themselves . First , we created an online page and social media for the project to show to people the community , what they create and how beautiful it is . Then we asked the clients that had bought the textiles before for videos in which they can explain how they use the textiles to create their own products , and thus motivate more people to buy them . So that is how we created an impactful project for both sides , the artisans and the customers , using the mind mapping tool and design thinking process .