Aug. 27, 2009 · The Design for America Summer Fellows Program kicked off this month.  Design for America is a newly formed student initiative at Northwestern organized to use human centered design to tackle local community challenges.  Design for America was started by Segal's newest design professor, Dr. Liz Gerber, and a dozen enthusiastic students from the McCormick School of Engineering and Weinberg who realized there was an opportunity to positively influence and work with their community, solving real challenges using design thinking.

The Summer Fellows Program is comprised of three teams that partner with local community establishments on a project and and will work with their partners through mid September.   The group is comprised of students across different majors, from McCormick to Weinberg.  The students have set up a working studio space in the Ford Engineering Design Building.  Each day, Katy Mess, the DfA design strategist, hosts a meeting where the students brief their teammates on their progress from the last day and plan their next steps.  They meet on a weekly basis with Segal Professors, Dr. Liz Gerber, and Dr. Bruce Ankenman, as well as professional designers from the community who coach and mentor the teams through the six week intensive project.

Each group follows the user-centered design process.  Students are addressing their projects head-on; they observe their clients (and client customers whenever possible) and meet regularly among themselves to share observations and insight.  One team partnered with Evanston Hospital to address hand hygiene compliance among hospital staff.  The Hand Hygiene team includes Katherine Porter, a Weinberg psychology major, and three other McCormick undergraduates: Hannah Chung, Mert Iseri, Yuri Malina.  Chung, Iseri and Malina worked together before in the Diabetes Mine Competition.

For the past couple weeks, the Hand Hygiene team has observed the hospital environment, shadowed nurses, and even attended a new employee orientation to learn more about hand hygiene behavior at the hospital.  This week, the group arranged a design review, or “ideation session” with 12 Evanston Hospital health care providers.  The group engaged in a lively discussion with the hospital staff, presenting their observations and proposed solutions. 

One radical solution the fellows proposed was to add a temporary stain or dye to soap so that patients could associate stained hands with cleanliness.  When DfA fellow Mert Iseri proposed this solution, one hospital staff member asked: “Does anything like that even exist on the market today?”  Iseri leaned across the table and proclaimed: “There’s no reason why not!”  This exuberant proclamation drew laughter out of the entire group.  Iseri also duct-taped a bottle of soap to his waist to demonstrate another proposed solution, as seen here in the top picture. 

Group member Hannah Chung believes the review was a success.  “I think we delivered our fresh new set of insights well with the compelling, humorous pictures that kept the energy in the room strong,” says Hannah.  “Because the health care providers are the experts in their medical fields, having a professional knowledge and their insights helped us to work in the next level.” 

Design for America enlists efforts of individuals across campus and the community who are passionate about design and social impact.