Innovation Nation

Wondering what your homework may include in Your Idea as Innovative Solution? Wonder no longer!

Exercise - Students are directed to choose one of the three following research methods to observe Starbucks users:

Choice #1 (Narration) - Ask one user to describe aloud what they are thinking during a complete visit to Starbucks. Then submit a description of the most notable observations.
Choice #2 (Still-Photo Survey) - Capture a series of pictures of specific objects, activities, etc. during a complete visit to Starbucks. Then submit these with descriptive titles and/or captions.
Choice #3 (Surveys & Questionnaires) - Ask at least 3 Starbucks users a series of targeted questions in order to ascertain particular characteristics and perceptions of users. Then submit a summary of the most notable findings.

The primary goal of the exercise is to help students develop good observation skills, and most importantly, empathy for people's differences.

When this course was offered last, I sat in the night this assignment was reviewed. It was way more illuminating than you may expect! The photo documentation and presentation was also engaging. It led to a great conversation about branding and personas.

This class taught by Scott Hindell, who just today learned that the architecture firm, Bestor Architecture, who designed the Pitfire Pizza Culver City location is one of the three final nominees for the 2011 James Beard Foundation Design and Graphics Awards award for Outstanding Restaurant Design.

Scott was hired to study and redesign Pitfire's business model which would inform their next location and edits to their existing stores. This work on the value strategy and its target market led them to the Culver City location, then Barbara Bestor to design it, since she specializes in neo-bohemian designs (where most primary targets of the concept are under), and it also informed her design challenge for the build out. It continues to be their best performing location.

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