Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.

Century City is a recently developed business park hub in Cape Town, South Africa, located  approximately 13km away from the City Bowl central business district (CBD). Century City continues to  grow every year, with big corporations moving from the densifying CBD to a more open space where  they can expand and build more modern green buildings. Century City also hosts a range of other  businesses: a large shopping mall, a theme park, a very new conference centre (construction completed  in 2007), hotels, some residential units, schools, a big church, and some small restaurants and bars.

Cape Town’s public transport has historic problems and is not seen as integrative due to various political  (and other) constraints such as national ownership of the highway and metrorail service, and municipal  ownership of the new bus rapid transports system (MyCiti Bus) as well as private ownership of informal  taxi services uses minibus taxis, other taxi services such as Uber and metred taxis, as well as private  ownership of the Century City development area.

Century City is largely designed for people using private motor vehicles or the MyCiti Bus. It is not  pedestrian friendly, and there are numerous risks posed to the pedestrians as well as general  unpleasantries such as cold and wet winter walks through unsheltered routes.  However, many people  who work in Century City cannot afford to own their own cars and have to travel by bus, train and taxi.

Our challenge was to identify the problems associated with being a pedestrian in Century City and  provide some possible solutions to the private developer to make the space safer and better for  commuters.

Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g. what it is and why you  selected it for your challenge - including any appropriate video lecture references)

As the business park area is privately owned, the developer prioritises businesses that are commercially  viable. It listens to the voices of the companies where it sees an opportunity for profit. The people using  the public transport systems (as opposed to private vehicles) however usually have the ‘smaller voices’  and occupy the service positions in many of these companies (e.g. cleaner, cook, administrative  services).

Story telling was therefore chosen as the tool to investigate these problems as it can build empathy for  the user, and has the potential to connect with the developer. In order to gather enough information to  build a story to tell, we used complementary design tools such as interviewing, observing, and journey  mapping (also considered as visualisation). These tools resulted in a story that not only helped us  understand the problem better, it also provided a cause.

The final product included a well-researched timeline of a number of commuters with different  backgrounds, and illustrated that with a few new designs to direct the flow of pedestrians, the area could  attract more people to the business park.

Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g. what you did and  how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively)

To prepare for the practical aspect of our challenge, we identified key points where we would get diverse  groups of commuters using public transport. In pairs, a group of 18 people went out to these areas and  spent 45 minutes observing the area. We then spent another 45 minutes interviewing commuters,  asking open-ended questions about their journey. Once this short time had been spent trying to  understand the commuters common problems, each pair selected a persona - someone typical that we  had encountered on our excursion. Personas assume the attributes of the groups they represent from  their social, demographic and cultural characteristics, to their wants and needs, and habits etc.

We proceeded to use journey mapping to unpack these lives and imagine the actions of a typical ‘day  in the life of.’

Journey mapping is a useful tool to illustrate a sequence of events and created a powerful message  with multiple moments of reflection. It requires the following steps to be taken:

1. Identify the timeline over which the journey will be mapped (e.g. a day in the life of)

2. Mark the steps over the journey (e.g. leave the house, get to train station, take train….)

3. Identify the activities associated with those steps (2) (e.g. walking, buying ticket...)

4. Describe the thoughts/ feelings associated with each of the activities

5. Identify the interactions that the user may have (e.g. the pavement, road traffic, the ticket sales

person…)

6. Associate the interactions and activities with a feeling of good or bad, or a pain and gain map.

By breaking down the journey into steps, actions and feelings towards those touch points, it is possible  to understand the user’s frustrations and exact points where you can improve the journey. This gives  points where problems can be solved.

Using these steps enabled us to choose five personas to build further into a written story. With the  research that we had done, we were able to compose a well thought out piece on each persona.

Insight: describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g.  how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about deign thinking more broadly)

The combined efforts of observation, interviewing and journey mapping contributed to creating a story  that could be shared with the developer of the business park. The stories of five iconic people who  struggle with their daily commute demonstrated that something needs to change. Because they were  representative of people we have daily associations with, it made the problem relatable.

Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time = applying the same tool you selected or  a different one – and the reasons why

Journey mapping was a useful tool to build empathy for the user of a system and would therefore use  it again. However, as this exercise was primarily a training exercise, the obvious way to improve the  process would be to spend more time observing and interviewing people to get a better diversity of  users to understand. Furthermore, a key process in sharing the story more effectively would’ve been to  invite the developer to join us through the design process.


Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . Century City is a recently developed business park hub in Cape Town , South Africa , located approximately 13 km away from the City Bowl central business district ( CBD ) . Century City continues to grow every year , with big corporations moving from the densifying CBD to a more open space where they can expand and build more modern green buildings . Century City also hosts a range of other businesses : a large shopping mall , a theme park , a very new conference centre ( construction completed in 2007 ) , hotels , some residential units , schools , a big church , and some small restaurants and bars . Cape Town ’s public transport has historic problems and is not seen as integrative due to various political ( and other ) constraints such as national ownership of the highway and metrorail service , and municipal ownership of the new bus rapid transports system ( MyCiti Bus ) as well as private ownership of informal taxi services uses minibus taxis , other taxi services such as Uber and metred taxis , as well as private ownership of the Century City development area . Century City is largely designed for people using private motor vehicles or the MyCiti Bus . It is not pedestrian friendly , and there are numerous risks posed to the pedestrians as well as general unpleasantries such as cold and wet winter walks through unsheltered routes . However , many people who work in Century City can not afford to own their own cars and have to travel by bus , train and taxi . Our challenge was to identify the problems associated with being a pedestrian in Century City and provide some possible solutions to the private developer to make the space safer and better for commuters . Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. what it is and why you selected it for your challenge - including any appropriate video lecture references ) As the business park area is privately owned , the developer prioritises businesses that are commercially viable . It listens to the voices of the companies where it sees an opportunity for profit . The people using the public transport systems ( as opposed to private vehicles ) however usually have the ‘ smaller voices ’ and occupy the service positions in many of these companies ( e.g. cleaner , cook , administrative services ) . Story telling was therefore chosen as the tool to investigate these problems as it can build empathy for the user , and has the potential to connect with the developer . In order to gather enough information to build a story to tell , we used complementary design tools such as interviewing , observing , and journey mapping ( also considered as visualisation ) . These tools resulted in a story that not only helped us understand the problem better , it also provided a cause . The final product included a well - researched timeline of a number of commuters with different backgrounds , and illustrated that with a few new designs to direct the flow of pedestrians , the area could attract more people to the business park . Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. what you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) To prepare for the practical aspect of our challenge , we identified key points where we would get diverse groups of commuters using public transport . In pairs , a group of 18 people went out to these areas and spent 45 minutes observing the area . We then spent another 45 minutes interviewing commuters , asking open - ended questions about their journey . Once this short time had been spent trying to understand the commuters common problems , each pair selected a persona - someone typical that we had encountered on our excursion . Personas assume the attributes of the groups they represent from their social , demographic and cultural characteristics , to their wants and needs , and habits etc . We proceeded to use journey mapping to unpack these lives and imagine the actions of a typical ‘ day in the life of . ’ Journey mapping is a useful tool to illustrate a sequence of events and created a powerful message with multiple moments of reflection . It requires the following steps to be taken : 1 . Identify the timeline over which the journey will be mapped ( e.g. a day in the life of ) 2 . Mark the steps over the journey ( e.g. leave the house , get to train station , take train … . ) 3 . Identify the activities associated with those steps ( 2 ) ( e.g. walking , buying ticket ... ) 4 . Describe the thoughts/ feelings associated with each of the activities 5 . Identify the interactions that the user may have ( e.g. the pavement , road traffic , the ticket sales person … ) 6 . Associate the interactions and activities with a feeling of good or bad , or a pain and gain map . By breaking down the journey into steps , actions and feelings towards those touch points , it is possible to understand the user ’s frustrations and exact points where you can improve the journey . This gives points where problems can be solved . Using these steps enabled us to choose five personas to build further into a written story . With the research that we had done , we were able to compose a well thought out piece on each persona . Insight : describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about deign thinking more broadly ) The combined efforts of observation , interviewing and journey mapping contributed to creating a story that could be shared with the developer of the business park . The stories of five iconic people who struggle with their daily commute demonstrated that something needs to change . Because they were representative of people we have daily associations with , it made the problem relatable . Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time = applying the same tool you selected or a different one – and the reasons why Journey mapping was a useful tool to build empathy for the user of a system and would therefore use it again . However , as this exercise was primarily a training exercise , the obvious way to improve the process would be to spend more time observing and interviewing people to get a better diversity of users to understand . Furthermore , a key process in sharing the story more effectively would ’ve been to invite the developer to join us through the design process .