You must:

What will I do for this assignment? Dream up a new, cool, never-before-done concept to promote something using the tops of light poles on campus.
What will I learn? The Design Thinking process for problem-solving. (Process explained below)
Who is the client: You must generate a compelling concept that will promote a program in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.
Which program? You may choose any legitimate area of study our college offers (ie: game design, filmmaking, journalism, advertising, communication, PR, etc.).
Who is the target audience for this promotion: High school students of all genders, races and ethnicities visiting campus who have not yet decided where they’d like to go to college.
Where must this promotion appear: On the light poles around campus.
How do I do this assignment? Complete each of the four sections outlined below that will step you through each phase of the Design Thinking process.
What are the required constraints for this assignment?

You must promote a program in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.
Your promotion will be limited to the upper half of the light poles where you see banners.
Your promotion must be a new idea for using the space. It must go beyond the boring, predictable banner one usually sees on these poles. Your goal with this space is to design something that will get visiting high school students to 1) notice the promotion and 2) be persuaded to look into the program being displayed.
Dream big, but be realistic about the cost. Expect to spend no more than $250 per pole.
Whatever you come up with must be currently doable in today’s world. No inventions required… 🙂

Design thinking is a revolutionary method for changing the way businesses and other organizations approach and solve problems. This process is extremely popular for solving all sorts of complex problems because it ensures solutions will likely work for the target audience.

For example, in the old days before design thinking was invented (by a company called IDEO), automotive engineers and car designers often relied on their personal intuition and knowledge to decide what their consumers wanted in a vehicle. Now, Design Thinking is being used to understand the end user’s (ie: the consumer) needs right from the start. So, Empathy is the first step in the design thinking methodology.

This 2018 article is about Ford Motor Company’s use of design thinking: “CEO Jim Hackett is bringing his “design thinking” innovation and management approach to the task of remaking the 100-plus-year-old company.” The article at this link clearly details each phase of the “Design Thinking Process.”

Paraphrased from the article: “Design thinking is a step-by-step methodology for solving problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by understanding the human needs (see animated video below) involved, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways. by creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing. Understanding these five stages of Design Thinking will empower anyone to apply the Design Thinking methods in order to solve complex problems that occur around us — in our companies, in our countries, and even on the scale of our planet”.

As discussed in detail in class, these are the four phases of the process you will work through:

1 Empathize – Understand the target users and their needs/interests
2 Define – Synthesize your observations (use knowledge to frame a problem you’d like to solve, )
3 Ideate – Brainstorm, think of ideas, lots of them
4 Prototype – You will actually build a 3D model of your solution. This aids evaluation and critique of your idea.
(5 – Note, you will not be doing this phase: Test – Will it work? Redefine, fix, make better)