Design Venture

Design Venture

HOW WE HELD A 24 HOUR DESIGN CHALLENGE

by Haindavi Ghanta, Vinay Manukonda, Madan Mohan Chunduri, Venkata Subbarao Mupparaju, Jyothirmai Reddybathuni, and Jayanth Upthala University Innovation Fellows Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology

Our UIF team at Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology in Namburu, India, hosted the Design Venture, a 24-hour design challenge where students were exposed to intense design thinking workshops for 24 hours straight. It was the region’s first of its kind. The theme was human centric design thinking where people’s perspectives are given more importance in all steps of approaching a solution to their respective problem. We provided a one-of-a-kind opportunity for attendees to meet and learn with other Fellows and instructors in person. By fusing the most effective contemporary techniques, including design thinking and various other strategic techniques, the event presented a systematic approach to continuous design and delivery that allowed participants to concentrate on the right things at the right time. Prior to the event, our team had gathered to talk about some issues and potential fixes for them, as we always do. We usually sit for a couple of hours or so, but there came a thought — what if we work on a problem for 24 hours straight? This thought was followed by several questions: Can we ask other students to sit along with us and work on a problem? Will students come forward to work without even sleeping? Will we be able to help all the students continuously for 24 hours? And so forth. Through the discussion, the idea for the design venture was born. We aimed to provide all of the participants the most cutting-edge creative expertise so they could take on all of the endeavors with the skills they had gained over this 24-hour period and act as changemakers on campus. The event started with the phrase “Find your inspiration,” asking each attendee to write down something that has inspired them and why. It’s true that some of the responses are great and have everyone here in awe. Then, to assist them comprehend the value of learning and why it is necessary for someone to continue learning, we had a session on the “purpose of learning.”

“WE DON’T JUST LIVE, WE INNOVATE LIFE”

Problems are opportunities for innovators. So following a great discussion of what innovation is and how it should be done, the crucial stage of the journey “choosing an idea as a team” came next. The first step in innovating or creating something is to select an idea. After defining the notion of an idea, we let the teams select an idea that they want to work on. The ideas generated by each team were excellent. We told every team to write down their target audience after selecting their idea, since we intended to follow the human-centric design approach, which enabled them to effectively offer exceptional results. Then was the moment for each team to pool their resources and use design thinking to come up with a workable solution. Every stage was well thought out with enticing real-life examples, and different ways for implementing that step within the allotted time were also discussed. Additionally, we supplied a toolkit for recording the work completed at each phase, and a person was assigned to each team to assist them if anyone got stuck in the process. In the ideate phase, several ideas were jotted down. By the end of the competition, each team had produced a prototype. Each team created a plan for putting its concept into practice in the real world, which was then presented to the panel of judges for consideration. The judges’ ideas helped the teams come up with a more workable approach.

Participants of the Design Venture challenge gather to celebrate the event. Photos courtesy of the authors.

“DO ANYTHING WITH JOY“

The enjoyable aspect of the event was strokes. A variety of strokes were used to improve the participants’ relationships, get them to know one another, relieve tension, and warm up discussions as needed so they could connect with one another without feeling awkward. The most engaging exercise was having students recount a song’s lyrics while dancing to it in the manner they want. The music below was utilized for this.

Peel Banana Peel Peel Banana…..

Chop Potato Chop Chop Potato ….. Toast Chicken Toast Toast Chicken …..

We have already hosted two Design Ventures, the first of which was for students at our school March 31-April 1, 2022, and the second of which was for students from other universities April 28-29, 2022. For each of our design venture events, a sizable number of students joined up. The participants were from various universities, and we have had great feedback from them, the management, and other faculty members who have seen everything. A few former Fellows from our institution worked with us throughout the whole preparation process and even helped deliver some of the sessions. Being a change agent entails a significant amount of responsibility. We make every effort to provide the community with the best possible service. Before presenting it to the attendees, we watched, learned from, and tried out a number of new techniques. This strengthened us and gave us the courage to work on similar problems in order to come up with solutions that would be useful to both the attendees and us. Most significantly, the answers to all the questions raised during our discussions have been addressed. The issues that the teams tackled and the conclusions they came to were excellent. Both the attendees and we had a wonderful time.

In the future, we intend to have such workshops two or three times an academic year, adding a lot more materials to assist participants in finding the best answers to any issues they may be facing.