
Multidisciplinary | Fall 2017 | 10 weeks
SCAD students collaborated with Pyxera Global to assist in research and development of innovative concepts for the Center for Citizen Diplomacy's communication strategy utilizing technology to advance their campaign.
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Project Brief
The project goal was to create new experiences and tools that affirm the indispensable value of purposeful global engagement through person-to-person interactions resulting in a greater understanding between people and cultures.
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What is Citizen Diplomacy?
The Center for Citizen Diplomacy defines Citizen Diplomacy as the concept that every global citizen has the right, even the responsibility, to engage across cultures and create shared understanding through meaningful person-to-person interactions. It is recognized as a powerful force in building and sustaining a secure, economically sound, and socially interconnected world.
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Primary and Secondary Research
For primary research, we were divided into three in order to conduct three different research methods: Human Interaction Survey, in-depth interviews and cultural probes.
We ran two cultural probes at the weekly Forsyth Farmers Market to gain a broader understanding of people's views on the idea of citizen diplomacy.
We also scheduled two field trips to Carter Center and Common Grounds Savannah at The Foundery Coffee Pub. We could hear different aspects of citizen diplomacy from the experts.
For secondary research, my group researched into six topics that are related to our design challenge. We read articles, statistics and news to gain data and to build a basis for further research. Another team looked into case studies of similar campaigns and social experiments.
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Analysis
After completing our secondary and primary research, we analyzed over 2,000 data points through affitinization methods. In the end, six key insights emerged from our research. The six key insights identified were the problem areas that we posed challlenges for our design problem.
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Key Insights
Positive human interaction thrives in a safe space.
Education and exposure about the value of diversity lays the foundation for citizen diplomacy.
The technoscape and mediascape influence citizens' views on their country and themselves.
Our modern political climate escalates social avoidance, but people are still willing to engage with others.
Experiences, whether good or bad, create an opportunity and incentive for people to get to know each other.
Effective partnerships are based on mutual respect and empathy.
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How Might We questions
The key insights were reframed into design opportunities and became three "How Might We" questions to guide our ideation process. The questions are:
1. How might we create more safe spaces?
2. How might we open our minds to others?
3. How might we educate people on the value of differences?
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Design Principles
The last step before ideation phase was to decide on design principles to ensure that our campaign addresses the most important issues at hand. These design principles are:
1. "Try it on" (Put yourself in other people's shoes.)
2. Keep it positive.
3. Person-to-person interaction
4. Practice Empathy
5. Be apolitical
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Ideation
Keeping in mind the guidance we set above, we initially generated 60 ideas, which later we selected and combined to 9 concepts that we believed best addressed the project deliverables.
We gave a mid-point presentation to the staff members of Pyxera Global and had a collaborative feedback. Through the process, our design solutions were narrowed down to three for further development.
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Final Solutions
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