Old Projects – Fixing the US Postal Service

This project was for a class called New Product Definition. The idea was supposed to be around creating a new product/service for a given entity. Our team had the challenge of thinking about the USPS. We focussed on the experience of receiving and sending mail and how there is an orthodoxy that our current address must correspond with where we live. We wondered what it would look like if instead of mail being addressed to a specific place, it could be addressed to a code (which would correspond with you, the receiver). The receiver could then decide where they wanted the mail to be delivered. 

In itself, this is a good idea. However, the real opportunity lies in the ability for USPS to package this service with many of their other services (which are woefully unknown). 

Old Project - Observing Users

One of our classes was titled "Observing Users." This class was centered around many of the tenants of user research. I found Walt Dickie's "Seven Rules for Observational Research" to be a short and particularly helpful resource for getting a better handle on doing great research. Two of the best points were that "ordinary is what you are there to observe" and "whatever you saw could have happened differently."

My team and I focussed on observing oil change shops in Chicago. What interested us initially was that oil change shops are known for being less-than-honest because there is an imbalance of knowledge: the mechanic knows everything about your car and how much things cost and the owner of the vehicle knows almost nothing. We wanted to explore these interactions. The following is our final presentation and summarizing poster: