
05 Sep Design Thinking with IDEO
Design thinking with IDEO and healthy eating
Recently the IMAGINE Team completed ‘Foundations in Design Thinking & Innovation’ courses led by IDEO. We wanted to practice the core concepts of design thinking and human-centred design for innovation.
As part of the course, we worked on a range of different problems, starting from empathising and progressing through to ideating and prototyping.
The project I worked on was “how to inspire households to adopt healthier eating habits”. This uncovered some interesting insights that were too good to not share!
Help others to help yourself
We all know the ol’ classic quote “A problem shared is a problem halved”. We discovered that this relates nicely to helping yourself and other household members to eat well.
Getting stuck into eating well and reducing those indulgent treats and takeaways is much easier to do when you’re doing it with someone else. We initially assumed it was mainly because you had someone else who is making a sacrifice with you and keeping you honest.
However, after observing and interviewing a range of households, we discovered that much of the motivation came from wanting the other person to succeed. One respondent summed it up nicely:
“I want to support her on her journey, so I make sure I am cooking super healthy meals that she’ll love and then I end up eating better too…her health is my motivation, it is easier than doing it just for myself.”
Rather than focusing on eating healthy for yourself, you’re focusing on eating healthy for someone else. This seems to be a powerful mindset that motivates people to stay on track with their goals.
The course has refreshed our design thinking knowledge and given us a newfound love for ideating and prototyping! If you are needing support with connecting with your consumers, want help to get fresh ideas, or guidance in prototyping, we’re here and ready to help!
P.S. Watch out for something new from the IMAGINE Team…we’ve been designing up a storm and have something exciting to share with you all soon!