Design thinking provides a solution based approach to solving problems. My fellows program put this approach to the test when we were tasked with creating a retail concept for College Park, MD, home to our school… The University of Maryland. Here’s how we did it—
As a student here, I felt like we had an advantage compared to older aged developers as my team has all lived here for a couple years and have our groundings. With more students coming in every year to the University, we needed a solution that would satisfy not only our wants now but for generations to come.
As a transfer student from The University of Alabama, I noticed the unique differences in food options compared to College Park. In Alabama there were food trucks everywhere and students would often meet up in local coffee shops that resembled a home and combined comfort with southern charm. There was something about reading in a family branded coffee shop that made me feel like a local.
We streamlined off this idea and came up with a version including the same qualities combining relaxation with the core family values. Our menu was accumulated of sips and sweets and we aimed the environment to be “chill”; We named it Homegrown.
We created a master plan, consisting of polls and experiments to see if other people felt the same need. Turns out, we were right. We put the plan to action full force making logos, personas, sample media posts, store designs and promotional strategies.
During class, we presented the final plan. It was a hit and many of the judges liked the idea of bringing a new vibe in the form of a local bakery to College Park.
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