VISUALIZATION TO TRANSFORM LIVES

Diana Alfonso – Engineer/Researcher

Colombia

Challenge

I work in a huge research program in my country, Colombia, regarding the development of  renewable energy to be used in the country by 2030. The program is divided in ten different  projects, I collaborate as a researcher in one of the projects that is related to the costumer  challenges within the adoption of these new technologies we are researching. We as  researchers, tend to be very quantitative so we first started with a marketplace research and  used only tools that were entirely related to the data we had and, because our team is mostly  compounded with engineers, they were oddly satisfied with the results of this first outlook of  the market. Yet, here is the challenge: The technologies that are being developed are (because  many scientific reasons) being designed to be used in country’s poorest zones, tending also to  transform lives and environments, so in the first marketplace research we did, we found that the  new technologies were indeed going to help this poor regions (quantitatively). But, there’s a  deeper challenge we didn’t notice: we didn’t really know our costumer, we didn’t gave a deep  thought about the fact that we were going to disrupt many communities way of living that have  had almost none contact with technology at all, and that they weren’t going be able to use it or  even understand it once they were installing it. So, we needed to study our market and costumer  in a deeper way, but this time using a different approach.

Selection

This time, the objective was to get to know our customers and help them get an insight on what  is coming in their communities. We chose to use visualization, not as a tool to represent what we  wanted the community to do with the technology but rather to explain to them and see how  they imagined and reflected in the things we wanted to do. Since I learnt about it, I have always  thought that visualization is a very powerful tool mostly in a co-creation processes because both  the company and the client must have the same visualization of the product so they can both  achieve their goals and satisfy their needs. But I think in this case, co-creation is not about a  product but instead about building an image together. We get to know our customer, how they  see themselves in these coming changes and everything that comes along, and they get to  understand the technologies and the way they are going to change their lives.

Application

We set up an interdisciplinary team to decide which communities we were going to visit and how  we were going to do it. We decided to make a social workshop. At first, there was interaction  between social workers and the community and then the engineers prepared an intervention  when they explained very easily the concept of energy and all the changes the government was  going to start bringing to these zones. At this point, we proceeded with the greater part of the  workshop with was direct work with the community, we gave material so they could express

creatively how they see themselves and how they thought this was going to change their lives.  The participation varied from children to older people and the acceptation was very positive.  Visualization was very helpful in both sides, we as engineers learned a lot about all the  communities we visited and researched our marketplace in a way we were not used. This stage  took us about three months to visit and work with communities and then other months getting  deeper into the results and constructing something very positive about our new market  research.

Insight

We gained a lot of insights. Most importantly, we discovered that people in the communities see  this project very positively, first because they feel back up from the government and also  because through renewable energies we are going to be able to give them some dignity, starting  by something as basic as drinkable water. Also, we learned a lot about the things we needed to  help them adapt into this new life.

I cannot really write about our research results because they are in a publication process. Yet, I  really want to say that Design Thinking tools and approach in general is the most valuable thing  I have learned in the last few years, because our mindset is always about data and as engineers  changing our fixed mindset to a learning mindset brings so much new information and so many  ways to understand the context of our work.

Approach

I would not really change anything from our approach and if we were to repeat this activity, I  would use the same tools because the findings were amazing. You could say that qualitative and  mixed research has always existed, and it is true, however you can access to a much deeper and  innovative insights by using design thinking tools.


VISUALIZATION TO TRANSFORM LIVES Diana Alfonso – Engineer / Researcher Colombia Challenge I work in a huge research program in my country , Colombia , regarding the development of renewable energy to be used in the country by 2030 . The program is divided in ten different projects , I collaborate as a researcher in one of the projects that is related to the costumer challenges within the adoption of these new technologies we are researching . We as researchers , tend to be very quantitative so we first started with a marketplace research and used only tools that were entirely related to the data we had and , because our team is mostly compounded with engineers , they were oddly satisfied with the results of this first outlook of the market . Yet , here is the challenge : The technologies that are being developed are ( because many scientific reasons ) being designed to be used in country ’s poorest zones , tending also to transform lives and environments , so in the first marketplace research we did , we found that the new technologies were indeed going to help this poor regions ( quantitatively ) . But , there ’s a deeper challenge we did n’t notice : we did n’t really know our costumer , we did n’t gave a deep thought about the fact that we were going to disrupt many communities way of living that have had almost none contact with technology at all , and that they were n’t going be able to use it or even understand it once they were installing it . So , we needed to study our market and costumer in a deeper way , but this time using a different approach . Selection This time , the objective was to get to know our customers and help them get an insight on what is coming in their communities . We chose to use visualization , not as a tool to represent what we wanted the community to do with the technology but rather to explain to them and see how they imagined and reflected in the things we wanted to do . Since I learnt about it , I have always thought that visualization is a very powerful tool mostly in a co - creation processes because both the company and the client must have the same visualization of the product so they can both achieve their goals and satisfy their needs . But I think in this case , co - creation is not about a product but instead about building an image together . We get to know our customer , how they see themselves in these coming changes and everything that comes along , and they get to understand the technologies and the way they are going to change their lives . Application We set up an interdisciplinary team to decide which communities we were going to visit and how we were going to do it . We decided to make a social workshop . At first , there was interaction between social workers and the community and then the engineers prepared an intervention when they explained very easily the concept of energy and all the changes the government was going to start bringing to these zones . At this point , we proceeded with the greater part of the workshop with was direct work with the community , we gave material so they could express creatively how they see themselves and how they thought this was going to change their lives . The participation varied from children to older people and the acceptation was very positive . Visualization was very helpful in both sides , we as engineers learned a lot about all the communities we visited and researched our marketplace in a way we were not used . This stage took us about three months to visit and work with communities and then other months getting deeper into the results and constructing something very positive about our new market research . Insight We gained a lot of insights . Most importantly , we discovered that people in the communities see this project very positively , first because they feel back up from the government and also because through renewable energies we are going to be able to give them some dignity , starting by something as basic as drinkable water . Also , we learned a lot about the things we needed to help them adapt into this new life . I can not really write about our research results because they are in a publication process . Yet , I really want to say that Design Thinking tools and approach in general is the most valuable thing I have learned in the last few years , because our mindset is always about data and as engineers changing our fixed mindset to a learning mindset brings so much new information and so many ways to understand the context of our work . Approach I would not really change anything from our approach and if we were to repeat this activity , I would use the same tools because the findings were amazing . You could say that qualitative and mixed research has always existed , and it is true , however you can access to a much deeper and innovative insights by using design thinking tools .