Building a design democracy: How you can help design a better Philippines

If you were a tourist in Manila, do you think you'd have an enjoyable time?

 

Armed with Post-It notes, sharpies, and a whole lot of optimism, Designing.PH trained 45 individuals how to think - and do - like designers, to come up with solutions to improve the Manila tourist experience, through the design thinking process.

 

Designing.PH's Design Thinking Bootcamp: From IDEO to Manila

 

Last August 24 to 25, 2013, Designing.PH conducted 'Play & Innovate,' a two-day Design Thinking Bootcamp to teach design thinking, and how it could be used as a tool to come up with innovative, human-centered solutions in their own fields.

 

It was held in partnership with MINT College, 3M Post-Its, and Plus63 Design Co., and sponsored by the Office of Senator TG Guingona III, Kickstart, co.lab, Kape Maria, Absolute Water, and Social Enterprise Alliance.

 

Arriane Serafico and Julia Sevilla, the two co-founders of the movement Designing.PH, shared, "We are very passionate about design thinking, and we've applied it to various aspects of our lives. We have had the privilege of attending workshops on this topic in different countries. So now, we want other Filipinos to also have that incredible experience of learning from some of the best experts in the region."

 

And that they did. The bootcamp's lead facilitators included: John Rehm, the office founder of IDEO Singapore, and currently an innovation and design strategy consultant in Japan, Kal Joffres, director of Tandemic, a social innovation company based in Malaysia, Stephanie Choo and Jan Lim from OX:D Experience Design Studio of ONG&ONG Singapore.

 

The first order of design thinking: Leave your assumptions at the door

 

If you answered "Heck no/yes" to the first question we posed at the beginning of this article - then you might want to dial back, because you're starting on the wrong foot.

 

"Design thinking starts by understanding someone, and how they live their life," Joffres explained. The bootcamp participants did an empathy exercise by going out and interviewing different kinds of people around the city. Some interviewees included expats, airport employees, tourists, and even Department of Tourism staff members.

 

But turning those insights into opportunities is one of the trickier parts of the process.

 

"What opportunities do these insights reveal? Maybe there's something we didn't realize that people really want or need - but they've never been able to tell us," Joffres said.

 

This step is something that many teams and organizations bypass - they go straight into brainstorming for solutions based on preconceived assumptions of how they think people feel or think about certain things. Human-centeredness, one of the basic tenets of design thinking, makes sure that solutions answer actual needs.

 

Design Doing: Prototyping for businesses, organizations, and government

 

Prototyping is another fundamental step in design thinking, and it actually involves more doing than just thinking. In this phase, it's less talking, and more building.

 

"Discussing an idea will not make it come to life," said Rehm. "Prototyping is about building to think, and doing it quickly." Instead of aiming for perfect on the first try, this stage is about building fast, getting people to test it early on, and seeing how they react to it, so that you can refine quickly.

 

Although the workshop’s main goal was to teach the process, it did not hinder the participants from coming up with incredible prototypes. There were apps, innovative tour services, and even in-airport user experiences. Some of these include: Last Minute Manila, a tour service that waives tourists’ rebooking fee if they extend their stay in Manila and avail of their package, and Localeyes, an app that connects tourists to locals for a customized and personal city experience.

 

"Prototyping can potentially save a lot of money for businesses and organizations, and especially the government," explained Serafico, a purveyor of design for good governance. "After three years of working in and with the government, I've seen a lot of programs and projects which probably sounded good in the planning room or on paper, and so they spend months and millions on it -- but when they finally put it out to the public, they find that people don't actually use it."

 

Creating quick prototypes allows you to test and sharpen ideas without investing a lot of time and money up front, and gives you more room to iterate as needed.

 

Join the Designing.PH movement and help design a better Philippines

 

"This August bootcamp is just scratching the surface. The Philippines has so much opportunities, and we want to see more people use design to unlock these potentials. We're thrilled by the amazing response that we got from all the participants, and our international guests!" said Sevilla.

 

The Play & Innovate bootcamp, in true design thinking fashion, is just one of the first prototypes for Designing.PH. And there's definitely more where that came from.

 

Serafico and Sevilla shared, "We believe in design as a noun, but even more so, designing as a verb. For us, design is movement - and Designing.PH is a movement.

 

Designing a better Philippines is not just the job of two people, nor is it a job just for ‘professional’ designers: we want you to design it with us."

 

To join the movement and receive updates, you may subscribe to their mailing list on http://designing.ph/ and like them on Facebook: http://facebook.com/Designing.PH.

Designing.PH is also open to exploring collaborations with companies and organizations who are looking to grow and innovate using design thinking. You may reach them at hello@designing.ph.