SERVICE DESIGN THINKING
FOOT PRINTS PROJECT
JUNE TO AUGUST 2013 - AIESEC HYDERABAD - INDIA
Improving the creative competencies of the students in a
school in India, through innovative methods with the aim
that children develop autonomous problem solving skills.
Context: The traditional educational system in India
promotes a teaching practice based on “by heart” way of
learning. Children don’t develop enough soft or hard
skills and schools barely encourage their creativity or
their ability to solve problems.
Process:
We encouraged kids to choose a local community issue
to work on and develop a 3 week project plan to resolve
it.
• First phase was to research and understand their
issue, develop their awareness and sense of
empathy, and become observers. They were then
able to identify several solutions.
• In the ideating and prototyping stage, different ideas
were created and tested with their neighbours and
family. Students learned what worked and what didn’t
work for their users.
• The final ideas were presented at the end of the
project.
My role as a design project facilitator included:
• Use of techniques such as games, working team,
teaching hard and soft skills, and design thinking.
• Creating projects to solve local community problems
from the perspective of pupils.
• Generating and performing cross-cultural activities.
• Facilitating a process of design thinking and service
design.
What were the project results?
• Developing in children creativity and problem solving
skills, performing as thinkers, decision makers and
doers.
• Building the global mindset of the pupils. Acquiring
new skills, getting out of their “comfort zones” and
incorporting these into their own values.
1. Kids presenting
first idea-prototype. 2
and 3. One of the
groups discussing
and developing an
insights map after the
research.
1
2
3