Portfolio Vol 3: Frameworks by Mai Kobori

frameworks

Mai Kobori, IIDA, LEED AP

Portfolio Vol 3. 2012 - 2024

Design Researcher :: Strategist :: Service Designer:: Educator

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t r a n s f o r m i n g c o m m u n i t i e s

c o - c r e a t e e x p e r i e n c e s

p r o t o t y p i n g n a r r a t i v e s

p r o t o t y p i n g d i s r u p t i o n s

r e s e a r c h i n g +

s t r a t e g i z i n g

e l e v a t i n g v o i c e s

d e s i g n i n g a f r a m e w o r k

f o s t e r i n g a w o r k i n g c u l t u r e

a c t i v a t i n g w i t h p r o b e s

q u a l i f y i n g + q u a n t i f y i n g

e n g a g i n g

s h a r i n g wi n s + f a i l s

f a c i l i t a t i n g c h a n g e

m a p p i n g t h e f u t u r e

c u r a t i n g e n g a g e m e n t s

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transforming communities

HOW CAN WE SCALE A PROGRAM AFTER PILOTING FOR 5 YEARS? HOW MIGHT THE CHANGE AGENTS TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES THAT ARE DEALING WITH ISSUES OF FOOD JUSTICE?

+ BLANK PLATE

Blank Plate is a Creative Culinary Program that uses the power of design with hands-on activities to inspire teens to transform their relationship to food, making new connections to their community and local resources. The project aims to change the pessimistic narrative of a neighborhood/community through the strength of local teen stewardship. It is designed to coordinate with existing food and education initiatives in order to cultivate a food-centric community in places that are facing challenges pertaining to food justice. The pilot program @ The Point has been running for the last 7 years and are about to embark on their 8th year. In our 8th year, Blank Plate @ The Point has transitioned its leadership within the community, with participation doubling from its first year and consistently at maximum capacity.

+ Insights & impact:

Blank Plate is founded as a systemic intervention into the NYC food system. We translated our methods in human-centered design and design thinking to create a train-the-trainer curriculum for Blank Plate teachers (as well as other audiences).

+ Role: Cofounder, Principal Designer

+ Collaboration: Eulani Labay, Amy Findeiss

+ Method and Approach: Participatory Design Research, Piloting, Amplifying Behaviors, Buttom-up

+ Made possible by:

Blank Plate

The Trainer’s Playbook

prototyping experiences

HOW CAN WE START TO LOOK AT EDUCATIONAL SPACES THAT ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF BOTH STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS TO ADAPT TO THE EDUCATION SHIFTS THAT ARE OCCURRING IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

CLASSROOMS

CO-WORKING SPACES

CASE STUDY

+ RE-IMAGINATION OF LIBRARY SPACE

+ EXPLORING INTERSTITIAL SPACES AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR LEARNING AND CO-WORKING

Commissioned to re-imagine the possibilities of Riverdale Country School’s library and co-working spaces through Design Research. Implemented various environmental prototypes which would help inform further needs and inspire design opportunities. In addition, conducted a participatory design workshop with Administration and Educators to understand and explore possible design opportunities for the library space.

+ Insights:

As we investigated both the library and interstitial spaces, discoveries and insights were revealed. Among them, there were 3 core findings:

- Sense of belonging - The current furniture layouts do not encourage students and faculty to explore the opportunities of activating their personalized learning environment.

- Curriculum Disconnect - There seems to be a disconnect between the learning spaces that are available at RCS and the curriculum that is being offered.

- Ownership - Due to limited space and hierarchy within the organization, issues of ownership of space were prevalent especially amongst faculty–.

In response to these insights, we created various prototype opportunities for engagement with the RCS community.

+ Role: Lead (Principal) Investigator / Design Researcher

+ Research Associates: Howard Chambers, Steven Dale, Bland Hoke

+ Method and Approach: Design Ethnography, Shadowing, Participatory Design Research, Prototyping

prototyping behaviors

HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND THE BEHAVIOR AND NEEDS THAT SUPPORT VARIOUS TYPES OF LEARNING AT RCS?

INSIGHT:

PEOPLE ARE A CREATURE OF HABIT. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN HANGOUT PLACES. STUDENTS OFTEN WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE - UNSUPERVISED.

bookshelves

Re-appropriating existing material

mai kobori I design prototypes I riverdale country school

prototyping collaborations

HOW

MIGHT WE EMPOWER STUDENTS TO ACTIVELY LEARN AND MAKE CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER STUDENTS ON CAMPUS?

+ HIVE MIND - A CREATIVE PLACE MAKING TOOL

After conducting ethnographic research in the library, we saw an opportunity for a product that could potentially help students learn by amplifying their behavior. Hive Mind is a creative place-making tool that empowers students to explore learning in the library beyond its physical realm. The tool also combines elements with instructions and prompts for innovative points of entry into collaborative learning through inter generational interactions.

Insight: As we implemented the prototype with students, we quickly learned that Hive Mind had too many components that we needed to simplify the tool in our next iteration. It was helpful to test the product with both students and teachers as each stakeholder had various different opinions after experiencing the product.

STUDENT FEEDBACK TEACHER FEEDBACK

prototyping narratives

HOW CAN WE GET STUDENTS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT ENGAGING WITH BOOKS?

+ NEW STORY - AN EXQUISITE CORPS STORY ON CAMPUS

Strategy: In an attempt to get students to get excited about physically engaging themselves with library books and reading, we created New Story, a prototype that allowed students to collaboratively tell stories from various books to create a new story. It was a social experiment much like an exquisite corps but through sound. At the end, the story would be revealed to the students.

The actual object was a black lectern looking box that had 3 buttons - play, listen, and record. It was located in an interstitial space to create a sense of discovery for the students when they found the object.

+ Insights:

Active participation - we conducted 2 workshop with students from the Middle school to participate. Each workshop informed iterative tweaks to the prototype.

Passive participation - When we located the prototype on a window sill in one of the hallways and launched it, instead of recording excerpts from book, students started sharing secret messages to each other through the recording device.

prototyping disruptions

Introducing the newest member of the Pocket™ family.

HOW MIGHT WE RE-CONSIDER THE PARAMETERS OF A HEADMASTER’S OFFICE “SPACE”? HOW CAN WE DISRUPT THE NOTION THAT A HEADMASTER’S OFFICE IF NOT ONLY FOR WHEN STUDENTS MISBEHAVE?

SOCIAL EXPERIMENT CASE STUDY

+DOM ON WHEELS - AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MOBILE

Let’s bring him to you.

OFFICE ENGAGEMENT?

As a transdisciplinary approach to exploring new opportunities with space, we transformed the Head Master’s office into a mobile office cart and brought him to the Riverdale Country School community. We utilized a mobile nurse station cart that we borrowed from one of the vendors as an experimental prototype to see if the Headmaster’s engagement with the RCS community could increase.

+ Insights:

In doing so, we learned that there were two distinct engagement behaviors that occurred: voluntary and involuntary. The involuntary was anticipated as we knew that if a head of a school were to approach someone, one would have to engage. However, the involuntary was an unexpected discovery as students and faculty both were curious about why the headmaster was pushing around a cart during lunchtime in the cafeteria.

The mobile object became almost like a mediator and helped create an informal opportunity for conversations. Perhaps it was also the informality of the setting in which casual conversation could flow instead of being in a stagnant office space which is often associated with a space of discipline.

What’s next - a Segway? He might need a helmet!

amplifying behaviors

HOW CAN WE LEARN FROM PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH A MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT USE TECHNOLOGY TO ACCOMPLISH EVERY TASKS?

+ CONFIDENTIAL TECH CLIENT

There are 6million people with MCI today and can be up to 15million in 2060.Because MCI is not a diagnosis, many peole manage their day-to-day on their own and do not seek support. This foundation study looked to understand the needs of those who live with this condition. We also looked to amplify these unique behavior as an oppotunity for accessibility in tech.

+ Insights:

People who live with invisible diseases such as MCI have developoed their own systems of self-management to overcome their memory challenges. Some concept examples include: Less is More, Tricking the Mind, Note to Self, Peace of Mind

+ Role: Senior Design Research Lead

+ In Collaboration with: Diagram Office

+ Method and Approach: Cultural Probes, Video Interviews, In-home Observations

designing a framework

HOW MIGHT WE CULTIVATE A WORKING CULTURE THAT INTRINSICALLY AND EXTRINSICALLY MOTIVATES PROFESSIONALS TO DO THEIR BEST WORK?

+ PULSE FRAMEWORK

PULSE is a professonal development framework that was internally developed by the Strategy & Dicovery team. The goal was to understand the needs and to cultivate a framework that balanced the need to intrinsically and extrinsically motivated people to do their best work.

+ Insights:

The perception of “Annual Reviews” were daunting. It created more fear of job security than it elicited opportunity to grow. Leaders who were reviewing / mentoring performance lacked the skill of giving constructive feedback. The current process didn’t seem like a transparent process.

+ Role: Lead Design Investigator & Strategist

+ Collaboration: Liz Burow, Hannah Beveridge

+ Method and Approach: Global Interviews, Lit Reviews, Various Participatory Workshops

PULSE FRAMEWORK

fostering a working culture

HOW MIGHT WE FOSTER A CULTURE OF COLLABORATION, INNOVATION AND PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH PARTICIPATORY DESIGN METHODS?

+ CHARACTER LAB - DESIGNING AN OFFICE CULTURE THROUGH SPACE

Character Lab is a non-profit start-up that bridges the science and research of character development with the daily work of teaching so all children can fulfill their potential. I was commissioned by one of the Board Directors to research and come up with various strategic ways of designing their new office culture through space.

Space + Culture: For the first workshop, I asked the Character Lab team members to send me twenty images that inspired them. I printed them out and had each person share the image during our first workshop session. This was a very open ended task and everyone interpreted “inspiration” differently. We then took the themes and identified patterns that would eventually evoke a How might we… questions.

We identified various themes for the layout: an office as home, work and play, and space as character The final layout took on the concept of an office as home, but we added a character strength to each room. The team agreed that the office should be completely shared, and ownership of any room should not exist. Collaboratively, we identified which space expressed which character strength.

+ Role: Strategic Design Researcher / Design Consultant

+ In Collaboration with: Amy Findeiss (Mural), Character Lab Participants COLLECTING

EMPATHY ZEST

INTELLI-

PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH TOOL-KIT

+ Character Probe Kit

Strategy: Given the space on Park Avenue was only going to be temporary for a year, we focused on the tangible objects that would influence the way people felt in their space, including a 8’ x 27’ transferable mural that captured each team member’s Character Strength through memories and aspirations.

We designed a participatory probe tool-kit made out of felt components in which people were given agency to create their own self-portrait and identify their character strength. This format allowed for participants to feel at ease about sharing their story. The 45min ‘interview’ revealed memories and admiration pertaining to character strength. As we gathered insightful stories, these ‘interviews’ were documented, audio recorded, transcribed, and eventually visualized.

In analyzing the interviews and stories, we looked for recurring patterns to visualize them. Thematic patterns like natural environments, adventure activities, exploring unknown places, meeting important people and mentoring reinforced strong stories and framed the building blocks of the mural. .

activating with probes

HOW MIGHT WE COLLECT PERSONAL STORIES WHICH REVEAL MEMORIES AND ASPIRATIONS

THROUGH CHARACTER STRENGTH? HOW CAN WE VISUALIZE THEM IN A SPATIAL CONTEXT?

Figure 1: Illustrations of all stories transcribed and translated into a visual synthesis. Colors indicate various Character Strength.

Figure 2: Social Intelligence Space where informal collaboration was encouraged.

Figure 3: Empathy Nap Room. 20 min Power naps to enhance productivity.

Figure 4: image of transferable mural installed in Character Lab Lobby also known as the Humor and Gratitude Space.

quantifying + qualifying

HOW CAN WE MAKE SENSE OF QUALITATIVE + QUANTITATIVE DATA TO REVEAL INSIGHTS THAT DRIVE AN INNOVATIVE STRATEGY & A VISION FOR CHANGE?

+ LIFE SCIENCES ORG - MASTERPLAN STRATEGY

Challenges

- Physical separation of department and groups discourages collaboration & productivity

- Outdated space prevented talent attraction and retention

- Lack of workplace standards and consistency make work harder for the employees

Effective Strategy

The process of design research takes on various approaches and methods to optimally discover the most impactful, evidence-based insights that drive innovative ideas. The balance between qualifying data through interview, focus groups, observations, and visioning sessions can be supported and validated through quantifiable data such as benchmarking, data analytic and metrics.

inspiring guidelines

HOW MIGHT BE CREATE GUIDELINES THAT ARE USEFUL TO ORGANIZATIONS BUT ALSO CONTINUE TO INSPIRE + BE INFORMATIVE TO DESIGNERS?

WORKPLACE GUIDELINES vs STANDARDS

Strategy: Guidelines bring together best practices and innovative solutions that provide a basis for the workplace of the future. The content should encourage creativity and promote positive consistency throughout businesses. They enable a big picture foundation for the company’s future vision. Often the guidelines are dynamic and become a living repository that can easily be updated.

Insight: Amongst the various guidelines that I have worked on, the ones that are most success are the ones that:

- Co-created closely with the organization’s Workplace Strategy Team

- Balance the audience’s use to both internal and external stakeholders

- Inspirational and Informative - less prescriptive and standardized

+3 DAY PROJECT EXECUTIVE SUMMIT

The PE Summit took place gathering 39 PEs and REWs employees from 12 different sites from all over the world to focus on the topic of SCALE - Scalability of design, of master planning, and of building community - both within and outside. PEs came together to share stories and tools, and inform how they could be a better support systems. I lead the planning from beginning to end and curated the experience. The process and preparation was co-designed with our stakeholders.

+ Insights:

In implementing the summit, the biggest take away in terms of how to create a better experience / flow was not to have participants discuss their failures on their first days - not even tech people who are known to embrace failures are comfortable talking about their failture to new folks!

sharing wins + fails

HOW MIGHT WE CURATE A 3-DAY EXPERIENCE THAT BRINGS PROJECT EXECUTIVES TO FEEL COMFORTABLE ABOUT SHARING THEIR CHALLENGES & WOES WITH THEIR PEERS?

+ AGILE WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION

Organization are increasingly challenged with scaling consistency through their sites. Especially when these companies are global and have acquired various other companies that do things differently. In order for alignment, the process of implementing these changes need to be meticulously thoughout and strategically launched. When people are engaged to be a part of the change, and transparency is provided throughout the process, the vision can be realized.

facilitating change

INSIGHTS & KEY TAKEAWAYS

AGILE TEAM CONFIGURATIONS

+ MY JOURNEY - FOCUS GROUP SESSION

At the Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, I led a design research project for a confidential project which involved interacting with low income New Yorkers who had experienced hardship in their lives. Precautionary measures and ethical procedures needed to take place. Working closely with experts and collaboratively thinking about the opportunities of engaging with specific participants, we designed a probe engagement activity that took into account benefits of positive psychology and growth mindset to enable participants to map and share their journey of a time where they felt proud of themselves for overcoming something they thought was challenging.

+ Insights:

The curated and safe environment allowed participants to open up and share their most personal stories. Our team was contious about incorporating ice-breakers and snacks to help the participants feel comforable.

mapping the future

HOW MIGHT WE ENABLE PARTICIPANTS TO VISUALLY REALIZED THIER STRENGTHS BY MAPPING OUT THEIR PROUD MOMENT OVERCOMING A CHALLENGE.

#oﬀ-campus

+ PROPS, PROMPTS, and ACTION

With the right prompts, facilitation, and environment, curating engagements can make people think, reflect, and act. This is where design’s ability to foresee the future by prototyping and making can lead to impactful change. Notable projects with engagements: #off-campus event with Parsons and General Assembly (top); Communities of __________ Exhibition at Aronson Gallery on Blank Plate - Re-imagine Our Relationship to Food (right top and bottom); Shareable Conference at Parsons School of Design (right middle).

MIGHT WE CREATE EXPERIENCES THAT EMPOWER PARTICIPANTS TO TAKE ACTION?

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“I can’t handle this any longer— I need to find a place for my kids but I don’t know anyone who can help us.”

“I have been here all day, I am so tired, I am not waiting here for another minute.”

“Trust

“Trust me, I have nowhere else to go”

me, I have nowhere else to go”

Pre Shelter At PATH

To protect her children, Jasmine decides to leave her abusive partner in Brooklyn.

10:00 AM

While her partner is out visiting a friend, Jasmine grabs a few things and leaves with her children.

10:15 AM 12:00 PM 4:00 PM 8:00 PM

A few days earlier, a friend told Jasmine that she would have to go to the Bronx. She uses her phone to find the address for PATH.

The family arrives at PATH and joins a line, waiting to enter through the metal detectors and have their items searched.

At the front desk, a PATH community associate makes sure Jasmine and her children are a family unit by asking for their identification papers. Luckily, she was able to bring them.

The family meets with an HRA caseworker to explore Jasmine’s alternative options. Jasmine firmly insists that shelter is her only choice.

A DHS family worker interviews the family; Jasmine does not disclose domestic abuse. A erwards, she receives a paper with an appointment date—she was not able to produce all required documentation, so she will need to return.

Jasmine goes to the basement of PATH to wait. She receives something to eat and drink from PATH sta .

At 8:00 pm, someone informs Jasmine that she has “conditional placement” at a shelter in the Bronx.

Jasmine is presented with the option of either waiting for transportation to the shelter, or getting a free metrocard. She chooses to travel independently with her two young children, her belongings, and a stroller.

“This is taking so long. My kids have been crying for the last hour”

“Why are they asking me the same things over and over”

“What is this, what is a case manager?”

Conditional Placement

9:00 PM

Jasmine and her family arrive at shelter.

The front desk sta asks Jasmine many of the same questions she has already answered at PATH to confirm the family’s identity.

Jasmine signs a series of forms at the direction of the front desk sta , and also has to watch a 15 minute video about parenting.

10:00 PM

Finally, Jasmine and her children are able to go to their room.

As she leaves shelter the next morning to look for something to eat for her children, Jasmine receives an appointment slip from the front desk, informing her of a meeting with her caseworker the following day.

9:30 AM

Jasmine’s caseworker, Ms. Luisa, knocks on the door to introduce herself and remind Jasmine of their appointment. Because there is no day care, Jasmine brings her children to the appointment.

12:00 PM

At the conditional review meeting, Ms. Luisa collects data for the HMiS Screen and reviews whether all critical documents are in order. She realizes Jasmine’s crib acknowledgement form isn’t filled out.

+ SERVICE DESIGN STUDIO - MAYOR’S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

Extensive interviews with various stakeholders (families, providers, DHS, trauma experts) were conducted to better understand where trauma is created or reinforced in the current service delivery.

+ Insights:

We must acknowledge that everyone experiencing homelessness is experiencing trauma throughout their journey, especially during the transitions.. The Shelter System needs incremental changes in becoming trauma informed.

“How am I going to go back to PATH with all my stu and my children— they get so stressed over there”

Jasmine misses her PATH appointment because she can’t access the necessary documents from her home. (She still has not told any shelter sta about her abusive partner).

At 12:30pm, Ms. Luisa knocks on the door to tell Jasmine that her family has been found ineligible for shelter, because the investigator never received all the documents. Jasmine and her children have to vacate the room by the following morning at 9:00am.

Ms. Luisa tells Jasmine that she can go back to PATH tomorrow to try again, but she needs to pack everything.

+HEALTH MATTERS - FLOW CHART

Health Matters is an educational healthcare initiative designed to motivate peoplel to seek treatment in medical facilities instead of the ER. It promotes patient and provider engagement and provides better pathways to navigate the NYC healthcare system.

rehearsing the future

HOW MIGHT WE DISCOURAGE LOW-INCOME PATIENTS FROM VISITING THE ER AND ESTABLISHING A STRONG TRUSTING RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER?

+ SERVICE DESIGN TOOLS TO BETTER SUPPORT PATIENT-CENTERED PERSPECTIVES

Service is successful when the underlying forces are recognized, observed, and acknowledged. We are then able to improve the quality and the interactions between the service provider and their patients.

+ Insights:

The patient journey map visually reveals the most critical paint and gap in the service delivery where a patient is most likely to to try a new primary care service due to familiarity and trust.

revealing service gaps

HOW MIGHT WE IMPROVE THE ABILITY TO DIAGNOSE WHERE CLIENTS EXPERIENCE PROBLEMS AND IDENTIFY GAPS IN THE SERVICE DELIVERY FOR A FINANCIAL PRODUCT?

+ SMART DESIGN - SERVICE DESIGN & STRATEGY TEAM

Conducted 16 interviews with Business Leads and 41 work sessions with stakeholders directly involved with the service delivery of the CML card.

We created a service blueprint and process maps that visualized the end-to-end CML card client experience.

+ INSIGHTS:

We learned that the CML card meant various terms to di erent people in the service delivery. (Evolving, Scrappy, Manual, etc)

We uncovered 3 main levers that impact the CML card client experience:

Goals - Misaligned goals and initiatives a ect service delivery

Tools - Outgrown tools and process hinder ine ciency

Product - Product gaps create a reactive service approach

Mai Kobori, IIDA, LEED AP

Portfolio Vol 3. 2012 - 2024

Design Researcher :: Strategist :: Sevice Designer :: Educator