Design Thinking

LSN Global: Ripple

There are five levels of human needs as per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Simply Psychology, 2022) for humans to obtain and progress before reaching the highest level of the tier, which is self-realization. The first fundamental of the tier is physiological needs where food, water, clothing, sleep, and shelter are the bare necessities for survival. Many people around the world are devoid of these certain needs due to a variety of reasons, which partly are currently aided by charitable organizations.

Once one’s basic needs are satisfied, the want for order and predictability settles in, which explains the second tier. Finding a place to live long-term with sufficient safety and security provide a path toward recovery and stability – and importantly, an opportunity to build a stable social network within the community and further beyond. One main approach is finding a secure job or start working their way up in a company.

The third tier of the hierarchy and the key point for this innovation in the mentioned article is love and belonging, where one yearns and depends on family and connection. Relationships are forged through various means such as having certain common interests or being in circumstances that bring communities together. The human emotional needs involve a sense of belonging, trust, and the rendering of love and affection.

Ripple understands the two needs mentioned and implements the support network with a backup team dedicated to taking care of those in crisis that inevitably occur, making the user feel less desolate. Another feature of the innovation that should be highlighted other than the system programmed in the device is the portability and discreetness due to its size and design that enhanced the comfort and security level in an already connected world, which are the key necessities users must have.

This article piqued my interest due to how this innovation showing possibility that there are solutions catering to users that are not so tech savvy as to use a phone due to its simpler methods to use the product. Its design utilizes the size, lightweight, and durability that manages the concern of its effectiveness wearing off.

In conjunction, this article took me on a reflective journey where my awareness is raised on certain things to note in my own critical thinking process, taking care of hidden or unforeseen points based on this design and understanding the needs of the user approach.

Interviewing Process (Fifty Things About My Partner)

Given the assignment, we decided to pick a location where it is comfortable for the both of us to interview one another. We chose the studio across the classroom for its nice air-conditioning and spacious setting with a great amount of ambient light settling in. Getting to know another person has sometimes been easy for me as I tend to find certain topics that I might find common between us. It turns out that we came from similar backgrounds before coming into the course, which made us click well instantly. I would say one thing that was challenging is to give more opportunities to prompt the interviewee to share more about herself. Some of the answers were able for me to expand further to the question whereas others were too niche for me to follow up.

However, I had fun getting to know her and at the same time sharing stories with her about our past experiences as well as our interests, especially in traveling and exploring new places but also the love for cute cats and being constant homebodies. Initially, I thought that Anastacia was shy and needed some time for me to allow her to open herself up comfortably, but as time passes on, I realized she was very outspoken and honest with herself, which I appreciate especially when interviewing her. We also tend to have different opinions about certain things from our own standpoints which were never right or wrong. Regardless, listening to one’s conflicting opinions helps me to broaden my understanding and appreciation of the person.

Despite meeting only once and doing the rest of the interview online, I had fun getting to know someone like Anastacia. It was meaningful and this assignment helps us not only to get to know each other but also our working styles so that in the future if we were given the opportunity to work together again, we can easily adapt together as a group.

Identifying Stakeholders

We were tasked in pairs to complete a class exercise whereby we pick an article from LSN: Global and identify the different components of stakeholders based on the model. Learning from the examples we were given, we managed to successfully identify the institutions and services.