Summer of Design 2014: Applying Design Thinking to Local Problems

IMPORTANT NOTE: DT:DC’s Summer of Design is a series of events that will run from mid-June through mid-September. Locations/ dates for specific events will be released to participants as they are finalized in the coming weeks.

Are you ready for something different?

Do you want to change and impact the community right here in DC? Join us this summer and apply design thinking to real-world, local problems!

The Summer of Design offers participants a facilitated, team-based design thinking experience for local impact. DT:DC’s Summer of Design is a series of events where DT:DC members use design thinking to address real problems faced by organizations in our local community.

This team-based design competition includes introductory workshops and a multi-week design challenge. After the workshops, each team works independently and structures its own approach to researching, prototyping and designing their solution. The core activity of the Summer of Design is the design challenge.

The Summer of Design will consist of seven events. Details will be added here as they are confirmed:

Empathy Workshop: We'll take a deep dive into user research and empathy-building, the first step of the design thinking process, in this workshop. We'll also ask you for your preferences to help us form teams for the challenge phase of SOD. Tuesday, July 22, 7:00-9:00 (6:30 networking); George Mason University Arlington Campus Room 466 in Founders Hall, (the MPR room)

Challenge Kick-Off Happy Hour: Plan to be at this event to hear the announcement of the challenges and partner organizations. We'll gather over drinks and snacks to learn more about these local organizations' challenges and their pitches for you to help them solve them. Thursday, July 31; Fado Irish Pub & Restaurant - 808 7th Street, NW Washington, DC 20024, 6pm - 9pm, Chinatown Metro

Partner Organization Empathy Event: Each partner organization will host the teams working on their challenge, along with users and stakeholders in the challenge. You'll have the chance to interview these people to understand their backgrounds and roles in the challenge problem. Tentatively the week of August 11th

Synthesis & Reframing Workshop: Rebecca Horton will lead a workshop teaching methods for synthesizing primary research data and reframing problem statements based on research insights. Bring your findings with you to work as you learn! Monday, August 25th

Co-Creation & Testing: Partner organizations will host teams once again to receive feedback from stakeholders on prototypes and work together to make improvements to them. Tentatively the week of September 8th

Design Fair: Solutions will be showcased and our work will be celebrated with the broader DT:DC community at a "science fair"-style event. Tentatively the week of September 22nd

Communications:
The vast majority of information about the Summer of Design will be communicated via a google group for SOD participants. Exact event locations, dates, and times will be posted there. Group communications, such as introductions, challenge information, and teaming discussions will also occur on that site. When you sign up for SOD you will receive an invite for the google group. Make sure to accept it!

Fee and Refunds:
The cost for the Summer of Design covers workshop materials, event space, and other costs associated with operating the summer of design for three months. Refunds are available until 2 weeks before the Empathy Workshop. After that, there will be no refunds.

The Wait List Process:
The Meetup.com Wait List function works on a first come first served basis. This means that when a seat opens up, the people on the Wait List will all get an email notifying them that a space has become available. The first person to login to Meetup and claim the seat will get the space. When spaces become available, they usually get claimed within 1-5 minutes so you must act quickly.