Alexis Madara Capstone 2019
Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary
1
2. Where I started
5
3. Research
17
4. Personas + Empathy + Journey Maps
33
5. The Landscape
43
6. Insights + Ideation
53
7. Stress Tests + Prototypes
65
8. Final Concept
77
9. Market Size + Risks + Financial Projections
91
Bibliography
101
Appendices
104
Executive Summary Chronic illness affects a large portion of the United States and overwhelms the healthcare system. Many of the chronic illnesses developed later in life are preventable through decreasing risky behavior like diet. High schoolers and middle schoolers are at an age where they still have the ability to nurture preventative actions, such as healthy eating, and have the autonomy to choose their own foods during the time period between classes ending and arriving home. Thus, they are beginning to develop independent habits around food. In New York there are many unhealthy fast food options available to teens and no “health food companies� that specifically target teens.
Concept SNAK DROP is a multi-platform service that offers healthy snacking options to teens in a way that reaches them physically to deliver Snak Paks and digitally with a geolocating app that offers rewards systems, peer to peer interaction, and collab bios and perks.
2
Mission Our mission is to make healthy snacking fun and affordable to teens and integrate healthy eating habits and choices into teens’ lifestyles.
Goals • Engage teens in an authentic manner
• Intervene before teens have other options to choose from for after-school snacks.
• Fit into how teens want to brand themselves.
• Reduce risky behavior that leads to chronic illness like heart disease and diabetes.
• Deliver healthy snacks to teens.
Values Authenticity: Meet teens where they are and make products and alliances that speak to them. Quality: Snacks must be high quality, healthy alternatives. No artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners, no growth hormones or hormone disruptors, no harmful pesticides. Transparency: Consumers should know what they are receiving, price points and plans. Affordability: Plans should be at a range of price points to allow for options. We want to reach a large and diverse customer basis. Fun: We want to project and have fun. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be serious and shouldn’t feel like an obligation. We want healthy eating to just be eating. 4
Where I Started
The problem that launched this company was chronic illness in the US and looking into prevention of chronic illness
Facts that got me fired up:
1 in 2 adults in the US has a chronic illness (CDC) 86% of the US healthcare expenditures go towards people with chronic illness (CDC) 80% of heart disease, stroke and diabetes can be prevented (WHO) “Building a healthier eating style can help you avoid overweight and obesity and reduce your risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.� (USDA) 8
Focus on Teens
Knowing that diet can help prevent chronic illnesses and has a big impact on overall health, I decided to focus on an age group that health food companies overlook and one that is forming independent eating habits : Teens
While I originally questioned which age group would be best to target I knew that around 25% of kids in the US had a chronic condition, and that most of these conditions were respiratory based, not the heart disease or diabetes that they may experience later in life. Thus, there is still time for intervention. On top of this in the US “about 34% of all children and adolescents, aged 2 to 19, eat fast food on a given day” (NPR). Even worse, “More than 80 percent of U.S. teens eat unhealthy diets and many are sedentary, which raises the odds they’ll develop heart disease in adulthood.” (Healthyday)
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Autonomy + Teens + Tech
Teens are in an interesting space, because they are gaining independence. Which can be seen in their phone and social media use:
About 45% of US children ages 10 to 12 have a smartphone with a service plan (CNN) Around 95% of teens age 13-17 have a smartphone (Pew) 39% of teens get a social media account at 11.5 years old (Techcrunch)
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Autonomy + Teens + Travel
After surveying and talking to teens I soon came to understand that New York teens have a small time frame during the day right after school, before they go home, where they have complete autonomy of choice. From research I found that starting around the age of twelve many teens are able to leave school and go home on their own. In the free time middle schoolers and high schoolers have after school, they’re able to develop and establish their own eating habits alongside the influence of their peers.
The New York MTA considers a “responsible youth� to start at the age of 12 (MTA) NYC students are eligible for MetroCards from the OPT starting in 7th grade (OPT) Children age 12 and up are allowed to travel unaccompanied on amtrack (amtrack) 14
From all this information I established a question that I wanted to answer:
How Might We motivate New York middle and high schoolers to make healthier snack choices after school? 16
Research
Time to talk to real people
Stakeholders
While I continued my desk research I began to identify different stakeholders I might need to reach out to or observe throughout the research process. To process this information a little clearer I mapped them out.
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Surveys I sent out surveys to 56 teens to find out about their eating habits at lunch and after school.
I found that teens tend to only care about their health a little, taste is the most important thing to them, they listen to their friends and they either snack alone, or with friends.
Do you normally eat snacks alone or with others?
How much do you care about how healthy your food is?
What do you consider most important when you eat?
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Interviews
I held in depth interviews with 10 teens, 3 parents, a dietitian, and a healthy lifestyle consultant / chef to find out their concerns, what teens like, who they listen to, where they go, and what they hate.
“I’d rather die eating the food I want than live and be forced to eat broccoli as a snack or something” NYC, 13
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What tastes good to teens?
10 out of 51 teen survey participants mentioned non-processed snacks as the most satisfying. 1 out of 10 teens interviewed also mentioned non-processed foods as the most satisfying.
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“My friends. I mean that’s how I found out most of my stuff you know?” NYC, 13
Friendly influences All teens interviewed said their friends would be who they listen to on trying new foods. Some even described their friends encouraging the teen to join them after school by paying for their food the first few times until they were “hooked”. Not only do teens listen to their friends they also desire approval from friends, which further influences the teen’s choices, especially in public.
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Are they stopping on the way home?
All teens interviewed that walked or took public transportation home after school stopped for snacks at least a couple of times a week on their way home.
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What about parents?
Parents seemed to have two main concerns: That their kids were making healthy choices And that their kids were remembering to eat
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Personas + Empathy + Journey Maps
Out of my interviews two main personas developed.
Aiden Smith AGE Between 12-18 OCCUPATION Middle-high school student LOCATION New York, New York
GOALS • Eat food that tastes good. • Have the energy to do homework. • Spend time with friends.
FRUSTRATIONS • • •
Not enough time to finish lunch. Doesn’t like being told what to do/eat. The cost of getting food.
Bio
“I wish people would stop telling me what to eat and just let me eat what I want. It’s annoying.”
Aiden goes to school within walking distance from his home. He is on his school’s track team and on days he doesn’t have track he stops at McDonald’s with his friends after school. He loves to play video games when he gets home from school and eats snacks while he does his homework.
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Addison Jones AGE Between 12-18
GOALS
OCCUPATION Middle-high school student
• • •
LOCATION New York, New York
Eat food that tastes good. Eat somewhat healthier Spend time with friends.
FRUSTRATIONS • • •
Bio
“I feel like a lot of girls now here really have to focus on eating healthy and it’s actually a problem, like maybe that’s why a lot of kids are overweight and stuff like that.”
School lunch is gross. Trying to diet but giving in to sweets and greasy food Cost of food.
Addison stays after school and eats in the cafeteria before dance. When she doesn’t have dance she eats snacks at home and tends to have healthier options there. She struggles between maintaining a “diet” and binging on weekends.
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Moving to Journeys While these two personas differed, some core elements remained the same: they both mainly listen to their friends, are surrounded by tempting unhealthy options, and if they do try to eat healthier, they struggle to do so.
From here I used information from my interviews, observations, and surveys with teens to draft up a Journey Map. A journey map would help me see if looking to intervene after school was the right point in time and where pain points exist.
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Workshop Results I found that the point after school was the right area for me to focus on, but also a challenging area. While parents identified this time as a pain point for them (they were concerned about their children’s health and snack choices), teens didn’t recognize this area as a pain point but as a highlight of their day. Based on talking to and interviewing young adults around their eating habits as teens and how those influenced them today, I knew I would be solving for a future pain point instead of a current one.
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The Landscape
What the area around NYC schools looks like
Where are teens going for snacks before they go home?
“All those food places, they’re so smart for like going outside of schools, cause we’re all hungry after that.” NYC, 13 46
A Case Study In Finland (a country renowned for holistic food education in school and providing free healthy meals at school) the recent inhabitants of fast food near schools has presented a problem. A study in Finland of 23,182 adolescents found that “the presence of fast-food retailers near schools is associated with accumulation of irregular eating habits and a greater overweight population� among adolescent Finnish students from a low socio-economic background. Fast-food retailers were associated with skipping the free meals offered at school to later pay for fast food.
If in a school system that provides free healthy meals to all students, and strongly integrates healthy eating lessons into their curriculum, fast-food restaurants were still winning, I would have my work cut out for me. Seeing this study and knowing that teens are tempted by unhealthy food and are often not yet worried about potential consequences. I mapped out the school areas around me in NYC to see how many unhealthy fast-food restaurants were nearby (think McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, etc.), versus how many healthy fast-food options were available (think Sweetgreens or Digg Inn). I kept in mind that these schools and food options are near major train stations and universities that could add to the presence of these restaurants.
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Landscape This map leaves out the presence of bodegas (which often display candy near the register), pizza joints, ice cream trucks (which I’ve seen outside of different schools around the time classes end), and candy carts (see description of ice cream trucks). So while this map represents a large skew towards unhealthy fast food and snack options in the area, it doesn’t start to show the disproportion of this skew. Yes, bodegas carry healthier options, but according to their owners and my observations those options are often overlooked by teens for junk food.
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The Time Issue
There is a limited amount of time to engage teens before they reach unhealthy options surrounding their schools on their way to the train or home. Digital implementation allows for another opportunity to connect to them when they check their phones before they exit the premises of the school, providing a head start on the intervention process.
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Insights + Ideation
Based on all of my research I mapped out 4 key insights to ideate
The Insights
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Reverse Psychology
I also thought that reverse psychology could come into play here based around some of my desk research. To make healthier options appeal to teens and create habits that would stick, I would have to not label them as “healthy� and work to make them viewed simply as desirable food options.
A University of Texas study found that if teens were taught to think of healthy eating as anti-establishment and rebellious, they were more likely to pick healthy food. (Fast Company) A Stanford study found that giving vegetables indulgent names and descriptions on restaurant menus increased the amount that they were ordered over their “less healthy� counterparts. (Stanford) 58
Ideation
I held three different ideation workshops, having participants brainstorm solutions to my HMW and go into detail about how those solutions might function. I came out with 3 top ideas.
The Ideas
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The Winner
We brand ourselves to match teens aspirational lifestyles: tap into fashion brands, gaming companies, tech companies, and influencers they align with as our partners and give ourselves the hype-beast look and voice they want to show off.
We meet kids on their phones with geolocation and subscriptions and then physically before they have access to other options.
We bring down our overhead by renting instead of owning: renting trucks and carts and consigning snacks.
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Components
Based on all of my research to find out what teens want and how to reach them where they are, I mapped out the “factors� that my business would have to include to appeal to teens.
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Stress Tests + Prototypes
Workshopping ideas and testing assumptions
A Business Model to Test
I developed and tested my Business Model Canvas to stress test my idea.
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Website Testing
I started testing my concept and prices via a website, facebook and instagram account. I tested these both through the internet and in person. For these tests I developed a brand logo, color palette and voice. I achieved overall 89 engagements and 57 link clicks and discoverd that teens and parents need different portals and to be spoken to in a different manner. Partnerships with trusted brands does draw in teens, instagram and apps are the best way to engage teens over websites and facebook.
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Prototype Workshop 1 In my first workshop I tested the subscription plans, snacks, partnerships, and mapped out the first wire frame of the app. I started by having teens write down how they would structure different types of Snak Paks then tasting snacks and putting slips of paper with the snack names into the prototype boxes they’d want them to be in. We then moved onto planning partnerships. I had them put partners of their choice into 6 different categories: clothing/lifestyle brands, tech, gaming, influencers, media, and music. After, they each voted on which partnership they wanted to see the most. Later, we created a low fidelity wire frame prototype of the app on a whiteboard and discussed how the business could function.
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Prototype Workshop 2 My second workshop was held in my classroom. I tested the partnerships, the app, and the service. I started off testing partnerships in the same 6 categories. After this I had participants help draft out wire frames for the different components of the app that I structured based on my last workshop. Lastly,I had participants body storm what using the service might be like from using the app and receiving push notifications to picking up their snacks. One lesson I learned through this workshop was that to engage with a lot of teens I would have to meet them where they are.
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Prototype Workshop 3 My third workshop I held in a class in an after-school program and again tested partnerships, the look of the Snak Paks and the wire frame of the app. I started with a short lesson on design thinking and moved on to testing the look of the Snak Paks with an A/B test. Students chose a brown paper bag. From here I again tested partnerships. Then moved on to test the apps wire frame.
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Final Concept
The app and service
The Two Portals
From my workshops and testing I became aware that the app needed two portals to engage with parents and teens separately as teens don’t want something that their parents or school is forcing on them. Also, teens and parents want to know different facts. While parents want to know what their teens are eating and if it’s healthy, teens want to know what is trending and what rewards they can receive. I have also been very careful not to include any mention of the idea of health into the teens portal.
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The Teen App The main page
The link to the QR
A hamburger bar
shows new
code teens use to
drop down shows
partnerships and
pick up their Snak
teens to their
the closest truck
Pak is also easily
profile, list of pages
to the teen.
accessible through
and social media
the home page.
links.
Allergies are stored and tracked so teens will never receive an ingredient they’ve registered as an allergen.
The profile shows all the main information and has a link to a messaging system with friends.
Teens can view their trading and rewards along with their friends.
Favorite snacks can be saved so teens can remember what they love.
They also choose what Snak Pak they want for the day through the app.
Teens earn “Pak Points� when they order and pick up Snak Paks that can be traded with friends, donated, or used for rewards.
Snacks can be voted on and teens can see which snacks are trending for the day.
Partnership information and links to partner discounts, special events, and soundcloud features are in the collab section.
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The Parent App The hamburger
The main page
bar drop down
shows Snak Paks
contains pages for
left and when the
basic information
teen picks up their
and different set of
paks.
social media links
Parents can see their past order history for their teens account.
from the teens.
Parents can see a version of their teens profile without the messaging and social interactions.
The history shows
Teens “saved
parents when teens
snaks� are
order and when they
also in this
pick up Snak Paks.
section with
They also can see
an option to
rewards and
order them
donated points.
for home.
They can see what the Snak Pak options are for the day.
Parents are able to see the nutritional value of snaks.
Parents can add Snak Paks to their teens account or add a dollar value. There are also monthly auto-pay subscription options. 84
The Service While the service will eventually be trucks that are stationed near schools, it will start as older teens / young adults delivering Snak Paks on skate boards in branded wear to create some hype, then will transition to carts, and make a final transition to the truck once customer base increases. These trucks will be close enough to school that they are easily accessible but hidden enough that they are fun to find. Music playing from featured artists will aid bordom from any wait in line and specialty snapchat and instagram filters will encourage social media interaction. Small rewards like stickers from partner brands or the SNAK DROP brand will occasionally be a surprise in the Snak Paks.
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Competitive Analysis
To see what else is in the field and how I match up I conducted some research and found that there aren’t many, or any, healthy snack companies targeting teens specifically (especially in the time period right after school). Healthy snacks tend to be targeted towards adults or young children and leave a gap in the teenage market.
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Competitive Analysis
The few companies that are subscription services for healthy snacks and sit in a similar arena are lacking in their ability to engage teens, to target them outside of the home and brand themselves as snack services instead of integrated snack and lifestyle brands.
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Market Size + Risks +Financial Projections
Numbers and how to make them work
Market Size We’ve already established that the office of pupil transportation provides around  653,400 students with MetroCards (NY Press). There are many more students who do not receive their MetroCards from the OPT and receive them from parents instead. In Manhattan alone there are 90,536 students in the public school system between 7th and 12th grade (NYC Department of Education). This shows that there is a large market to start with in New York before expanding to other cities.
New York Metropolitan Area 94
Start-Up Costs
Projected Costs = 68306
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P&L Year 1 + Break-Even
Projected Year 1 Net Income= -11, 236
This is with the conservative assumption that I gain 100 customers in the first year.
Break-Even = 4045 Units / Month This boils down to 500 subscribers getting 2 basic Snak Paks per week. Achievable by year 2. 98
Risk Assessment
1 The Teen Challenge
Initially engaging teens will be a challenge, the brand needs to feel authentic and speak to them. This is why having teen ambassadors that can deliver valuable insights and speak directly to peers will be vital. This is also why it’s necessary to partner with brands they already trust and draw inspiration from hype brand models that captivate a loyal consumer base. It is critical to keep the company separate from both school and parent associations as these would make the brand seem as though it’s coming from an authoritative space and will immediately label us as uncool and undesirable. As teens rely heavily on peer reviews, it will be important to get control over negative reviews immediately.
2 The Seasonal Challenge
School breaks will potentially create slow seasons for the business, especially summer breaks. This challenge will illicit a few potential solutions. First, I’ll need to launch the company toward the beginning of the school year to allow for time to build a strong customer base before summer break. Second, I will need to establish a pop-up presence on weekends to create a pop-up culture before summer. On weekends before summer I will also have to introduce “hot-spots.” These will be areas around the city (basketball courts, beaches, parks) that are popular hangout spots for teens and will be designated locations for my truck when there isn’t school. Of course, I will still target summer school and summer camp programs.
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Bibliography
Where I found my facts
Anderson, Monica, and Jingjing Jiang. “Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018 | Pew Research Center.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 19 Sept. 2018, www.pewinternet.org/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/. “Amtrak - Go to Homepage.” Unaccompanied Minors Under Age 16 Traveling Alone | Amtrak, assistive.amtrak.com/h5/assistive/r/www.amtrak.com/planning-booking/tickets-reservations/unaccompanied-minors.html. Aubrey, Allison. “About A Third Of U.S. Kids And Teens Ate Fast Food Today.” NPR, NPR, 17 Sept. 2015, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/09/17/440951329/ about-a-third-of-u-s-kids-and-teens-ate-fast-food-today. Buzzfeed Tasty “@BringMe will show you all the places you need to go.” Instagram, 17 September 2018, www.instagram.com/p/Bn1tSHHiK1_/?hl=en&taken-by=buzzfeedtasty Davis, Nicola. “Teenagers More Likely to Eat Healthily If They Think It Is Rebellious.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 Sept. 2016, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/12/teenagers-healthy-eating-rebellious. Donovan, Jay. “The Average Age for a Child Getting Their First Smartphone Is Now 10.3 Years.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 19 May 2016, techcrunch.com/2016/05/19/the-average-age-for-a-child-getting-their-first-smartphone-is-now-10-3-years/. “Full Fare Eligible by Grade and Distance.” General Education Transportation, www.optnyc.org/ServicesAndEligibility/getransportation.htm#fullfare. Geikhman, Yuliya. “At What Age Can Kids Ride the Subway Alone?” StreetEasy , 5 Sept. 2018, streeteasy.com/blog/kids-ride-the-subway-alone/. “Healthy Schools.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 Sept. 2018, www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/chronicconditions.html. Howard, Jacqueline. “When Kids Get First Cell Phone around the World.” CNN, Cable News Network, 11 Dec. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/12/11/health/cell-phones-for-kids-parenting-without-borders-explainer-intl/index.html.
Martinovich, Milenko. “Decadent-Sounding Labeling May Lead People to Eat More Vegetables.” Lack of Brain Protein Causes Sleeping Disorder Narcolepsy in Humans: 9/2000, 13 June 2017, news.stanford.edu/2017/06/12/decadent-sounding-labeling-may-lead-people-eat-vegetables/. “National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 Aug. 2018, www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/costs/index.htm. “National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 July 2018, www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/prevent/index.htm. Neinstein, Lawrence S. Western Journal of Medicine, Copyright 2001 BMJ Publishing Group, Nov. 2001, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071594/. New York Department of Education. Demographic Snapshot. https://infohub.nyced.org/reports-and-policies/citywide-information-and-data/information-and-data-overview. “Overview - Preventing Chronic Diseases: a Vital Investment.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 21 Dec. 2015, www.who.int/chp/chronic_disease_report/part1/en/index11.html. Sorrel, Charlie. “Teens Will Eat Healthy Food If They Think They’re Being Rebellious.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 19 Oct. 2016, www.fastcompany.com/3063706/teens-will-eat-healthy-food-if-they-think-theyre-being-rebellious. Thompson, Madeleine. “Student Wants Unlimited MetroCards.” Manhattan, New York, NY | News, 13 Sept. 2016, www.nypress.com/local-news/20160913/student-wants-unlimited-metrocards. Virtanen M, Kivimäki H, Ervasti J, et al. Fast-food outlets and grocery stores near school and adolescents’ eating habits and overweight in Finland. Eur J Public Health 2015; 25:650. “What Is MyPlate?” Choose MyPlate, 19 July 2018, www.choosemyplate.gov/MyPlate.
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Appendices
A glimpse of the behind the scenes work
Surveys
108
More Maps
Time-line
110
Website Testing
Feedback Log
112
Alexis Madara Capstone 2019