Industrial Design BA Graduation project by Naya Choi Thesis advisors Ranee Lee & Job Rutgers
This book is written and designed by Naya Choi in reflection of her eight months journey in Industrial Design BA thesis at OCAD U located in Toronto, ON. Š 2019 Naya Choi All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written permission of the author. naye826@gmail.com www.cultureinbetween.com
Thank You. A special thanks to the thesis advisors Job Rutgers and Ranee Lee, for their support and encouragement. OCAD U Health & Wellness Centre for collaboration opportunity sponsoring my workshops, especially Alex McLaren, Peer Support Facilitator for a huge guidance to provide a safe space for students to engage in my workshops. To all my friends, family members and Tobias Frederiksen for both moral support and valuable feedbacks. To all of the cultural inbetweeners who further volunteered to take part and/or share their individual stories; your role has been vital in creating a meaningful outcome and I am grateful for your willingness and honesty in sharing personal stories with me.
DISCOVERY
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DISCOVERY
That’s me when I was 14!
Often being the ‘only asian kid’ in the group.
Growing up in a small town as a minority with first-generation immigrant parents comes with a complex emotional journey of being stuck in between cultures. Feeling as though you belong in both cultures. Feeling left out. And sometimes, alone. With limited resources of small and medium size towns in mind, how can an empathic design approach change their story? 5
DISCOVERY
Personal story from the designer
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DISCOVERY
I am Korean-Canadian. I was born and raised in Seoul, Korea until my parents decided to immigrate to a small town in British Columbia called Vernon when I was 14 years old. I am now in my mid-twenties and have spent almost the same amount of my life in both cultures. My journey of being KoreanCanadian has been a constant battle of choosing between two cultures, two countries and two identities. I poured my heart into this project because the feeling of being stuck in between cultures is something that I deeply relate to. Let me tell you about my story and how I turned it into my thesis project, ‘Culture Inbetween’. I always had a hard time finding friends that I could have deep connections with. I was fortunate to be part of an international program the first few years where it was relatively easier to make friends from all over the world. Unlike with local Canadian students, in ESL classroom, we were all going through the same things: learning English, Canadian culture and the new environment. However, those friendship always had an end date as they were often staying for only one or two years. That
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DISCOVERY
was probably the first time where I felt stuck between cultures. Among all my friends that I felt connected with, I was the only one left behind in Canada. Throughout my teenage years, I felt more and more that I wanted to be part of the ‘white people community’. I was sick of surrounding myself with friends that were only in Canada temporarily. When I started to fully emerge myself into being a Canadian, there was no more room for the culture of my root. Often, I found myself resenting the Korean culture since it was the deciding factor that separated me from my friends. The memories I have from this period consist a lot of me trying to almost erase my Korean roots - I took pride when my friends called me “white-washed”. But no matter how hard I tried to be Canadian, I knew that I could never be fully like them. This had caused lots of trouble with my parents as well. Although, my parents were considered more open-minded in a spectrum of conservativeness, they still had expectations as first-generation immigrant parents towards their children. They made sure to raise me in a Korean home and try to keep my Korean roots intake despite the Western culture I was emerged in outside the house walls. Thinking back, I am very thankful to have given the opportunity to embrace both sides of my cultural upbringings. But the teenage me of course could not accept that coming from my parents.
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DISCOVERY
When I graduated high school, I had nothing that held me back in my small town. I didn’t have a strong sense of belonging in Vernon which made it easier for me to move on to the next city. In fact, it encouraged me. Six years later, I am now finishing my bachelor’s degree in Toronto, one of the most diverse cities in the world where almost half of the residents were born in another country. A city full of events, communities, entertainment and diverse people. This made be wonder, what does Toronto has that Vernon does not and how could I change that? And there is the glimpse of my story. The story that gravitated me into this thesis project. The story that lead me spending this whole year in search of ‘cultural inbetweeners’ and taught me that I am not alone in living the ‘inbetween cultures”. Countless of hours spent on honest conversations, phone-calls, surveys, etc. helped me gather real stories from more than twenty different ethnicities and they are the true back bone of my thesis project. All the emotional connections and heartfelt encouragements supporting my process guided me through the hardship of designing towards something truly meaningful and empathic. If you are reading this and you are also a cultural inbetweener, I hope this speaks to you the same way it spoke to me. If you are reading this and you are not a cultural inbetweener, I hope you are willing to learn our stories. My project might not be the solution to see any immediate changes, but I believe it is part of a bigger move towards a truly multi-cultural society without racial segregation.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents 01
02
03
10
DEFINE Introduction Project Background Opportunity Mapping Important Trends Thesis Statement
P.12
RESEARCH Survey and Analysis Field Trips User Personas
P.26
ITERATE 3 Design Concepts
P.44
TABLE OF CONTENTS
04
05
06
CREATE Partnership Visual Identity Workshop #1 Workshop #2
P.56
FINALIZE Thinking of Scale
P.74
DOUBLE DOWN The Handbook The Conversation Cards The Space The Website Thank you
P.80
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DEFINE
I feel like I’m never quite enough one or the other. For Russians- I am too American, for Americans I’m too Russian. - Russian Canadian, 30
I’m called a fob by one group of people and whitewashed by another. - Korean Canadian, 20
Just to make sure I continued fitting in at school, I would eat ‘white food’ on my own so I know what they are talking about when they say ‘roast beef with mashed potatoes’. - Cantonese Canadian, 30
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DEFINE
01. DEFINE
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DEFINE
Introduction Cultural Inbetweener. This is a term you will hear constantly while reading my thesis journey book. I have been using this term inspired directly from my own experience as a 1.5 Korean-Canadian. 1.5 generation Canadians are individuals who immigrated to Canada before or during their early teens. Unlike their first-generation parents or Canadian born siblings, their identity is split. They are Canadian in many ways, sometimes in most, but not entirely.
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DEFINE
It means you’re as ‘stuck in-between’ cultures – you’re neither here nor there [1] There is a growing number of younger generation with multicultural background, yet there is no common structure that addresses the complexity of their cultural confusion. This is especially evident in small to medium populated cities/towns as there are less visible minorities as such in my personal story. In this thesis project, I investigate people’s personal stories and experiences of Cultural Inbetweeners, towards creating a holistic system for them to embrace their own stories and create a sense of belonging within their ‘Inbetween Culture’. Living in the era of globalization, it is important that we continuously look for ways to bridge our racial differences, rather than letting it segregate us. My project focuses on individual’s storytelling through their unique cultural background.
[1] https://thetab.com/ us/2016/07/11/what-its-like-generation-29952
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DEFINE
FACTS
project background
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1M 1 IN 2 70%
immigrants will make Canada their home in the next 3 years. [2] Canadian children will be foreign-born or have at least one foreign-born parent by 2036 [3] immigrant population in Canada are in Toronto, MontrĂŠal and Vancouver.
DEFINE
Canada prides itself on being a multicultural society. Is this really true when 70% of all immigrant population are in the three largest cities in Canada? Immigrants in small/medium populated centres often choose to move out to the largest cities after their citizenship process is over while these towns struggle with decreasing population. Why? Because they couldn’t build a strong sense of belonging. What if their unique stories of being in between cultures can help them find the sense of belonging?
[2] https://www.cicnews.com/2019/01/canadas-goal-of-1million-new-permanent-residents-turning-heads-worldwide-0111743.html#gs.806q7n [3] https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ as-sa/98-200-x/2016015/98-200-x2016015-eng.cfm 17
DEFINE
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DEFINE
STAKEHOLDER RESEARCH It is also evident that the government of Canada is reinforcing various initiatives to encourage immigrant populations to settle in small and medium size towns. These communities need younger generation to provide new leadership, consumers to help sustain the viability of the community, people to create businesses, pay tax and to help generate wealth in the community. And attracting and retaining newcomers living in small to medium town of Canada can make a big step forward to solve the problems caused by urbanization.
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opportunity mapping
P
DEFINE
EO
“stuck inculture
IRCC missing persona in immigrants programs
loc
20
E
Following map shows the overview of my thinking process diving into this topic. Through the preliminary research of the trends, existing platforms and technology, I was able to define the sweet spots where my design opportunity can be found.
SS
government of Canada
DEFINE
O
E L P
long distance
busy life
-between�
parents/ children gap
C
skype
immigrants Social Innovation Social Enterprise
cal library
conversational tools tech. tools to express emotions/feelings
HNOLOGY
TCK (third culture kids) first generation 1.5/2 generation
TEC
discomfort of being in the intersection
cultural/ generational gap
memories, anecdotes & testimonials
sharing of memories/ stories
Whisper anonymous
tools to help generational gap
Vent
t YMCA
Meetup International
City of Toronto: building a diverse city
private vs public
a community sharing same interest
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BU S I
Multiculturalism
53% of Global Consumers believes that their choices and actions can make a difference in the world.
The number of people residing outside of their country of origin will grow by 1.3% annually through 2030, adding an additional 23.5 million persons.
Growing desires to positively impact communities and people.
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Increasing ethnic diversity across countries leading to heightened interest in international
State of Play
Experience More
Global consumer spend on gaming will grow to $180 billion by 2021, an annual growth rate of 10% from 2017 and 2021.
Consumer expenditure on services will rise from US$21.9 trillion in 2016 to US$43.6 trillion in 2030.
Brands that offer rich, playful experiences are more likely to engage with users than those hammering one-way comms.
Prioritizing experiences over things, consumers are seeking out authentic and personalized experiences.
CONNE CONSU
SS
Ethical Living
EO
E
important trends
P
DEFINE
DEFINE
O
E L P ETHICAL LIVING
MULTICULTURALISM
TEC
GENERATIONAL GAP
EXPERIENCE MORE
HNOLOGY
ECTED UMERS
STATE OF PLAY
“Megatrend Analysis: Putting The Consumer At The Heart Of Business”. Go.Euromonitor. Com, 2017, http://go.euromonitor.com/white-paper-2017-megatrend-analysis. html. Accessed 26 Sept 2018. 23
BU S I
DEFINE
Thesis statement Here is the thesis statement that I initially set up at the beginning of the semester in September:
How might we build a shared space where the “cultural in-betweeners” can freely express their stories and be understood and be supported by like-minded others?
While sharing the same end goal, the statement changed to more specific towards the final product/services that I could achieve within the time-frame.
How might a small/medium town of Canada create a safe space where ‘cultural inbetweeners’ can be acknowledged and understood through their unique stories and find a sense of belonging?
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DEFINE
While this thesis statement is a complex and emotional topic, it was important to for me to constantly be in conversation with the end users as well as the other actors in a system before jumping into making any assumptions. I was able to achieve this through analyzing insights from surveys, interviews, phone calls, field trips, and more. My research is heavily based on people’s real stories of living in between cultures and turning them into a meaningful design.
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RESEARCH
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RESEARCH
02 . RESEARCH
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RESEARCH
Survey and analysis
In order to narrow down my potential user group, I explored the world of online survey as a start. This was a great approach to get opinions from many people outside of my own networks; several iterations of Google survey was held on various of Facebook groups. USING VISUAL INVITATION Making effective use of visuals and video was a great method to quickly grab people’s attention online. A short stop motion video allowed me to reach out to wider audience through social media. I created series of sketches, printed and hand crafted visual tools to communicate the concept of ‘living in between cultures’.
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RESEARCH
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RESEARCH
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KEY FINDINGS Countless of meaningful responses were gathered through the primary survey. To make sense of this large data, I created a visual timeline of ‘cultural inbetweener’ using all quote from the participants’ responses. A constant theme that had occurred throughout almost every responses was having the three main stages: the stage of vulnerability, the stage of cultural assimilation and the stage of having the super power. For a vulnerable individual to embrace their cultural identity and turning them into their super power, the very key factor was to have a sense of belonging and a community. Evidently, this quickly became one of the main objectives that my project carried out. 31
RESEARCH
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RESEARCH
SMALL TOWN VS BIG CITY After iterations of online surveys, phone and in-person interviews, I was able to identify the opportunity gap and potential design space. Most of the responses, if not all, had mentioned moving out to a big city in order to find their community. That being said, the question arose as to how could a small and medium size towns create a space for cultural inbetweeners and create a sense of belonging? Having my current study-base in downtown Toronto, I first held an online survey asking the local Canadians’ thoughts on newcomers distributed through the small and medium towns’ social media groups. However in order to fully understand the holistic system, I knew that field trips to the small size towns would be crucial. I visited Penetanguishene, Midland, Parry Sound as three case-study towns with different population numbers, population density, immigrant population, unemployment rate, senior population, resources, etc.
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RESEARCH
Field trips
Before the field trips to the small and medium towns of Ontario, I created the list of key places, names of people and questions to asks in order to ensure the most holistic vision of the project. This includes having different questions for local YMCA, making phone calls in prior with a town’s decision makers, researching any resources that are towards immigrant population.
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RESEARCH
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RESEARCH
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RESEARCH
While being in conversations with real people in the environment where my thesis lives, I was able to gather first-person’s perspective on this complex issue. Key findings and learnings I gathered from the field trips are: • My design will live in “small towns” with already existing immigrant populations. • There is an apparent disconnection between ethnic community and local Canadian culture. • Sense of belonging and community building can start as small as from learning each other’s story. • In order to create a sustainable design for small town, I must consider exploring the existing human and physical resources they had currently and bringing them into play new role.
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RESEARCH
User Personas
Once I had collected data from observation, interviews, field trip and surveys, I was able to recreate several personas involved in my desired service/system. The narratives are built upon the real stories of people that I have spoken to in my previous research. By articulating their goals, behaviors, pain points, etc., I was able to identify an opportunity gap between stakeholders in ways that they can fulfill each other’s needs.
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RESEARCH
mature cultural inbetweener
People
“ Asiya Rahija 23 years old University student Armstrong, BC Born in Turkey Canadian Citizen
Growing up, I never understood why I couldn’t live like them even though we had both grown up in the same culture. I want to help them embrace both halves of their cultural upbringing, as it’s a pretty great opportunity to get the best parts of both!
”
GOALS & MOTIVATION
BEHAVIORS
• Meeting open-minded multi-cultural friends • Helping others with her unique experience • Sharing her own cultural background as a form of healing practice
• Always want to find entertainment in small town • Wants to be involved in community events • Thinking of moving out of her small town
PAIN POINTS
VALUES & FEARS
• Not having many friends that understand her cultural upbringing in small town • Bored of small town living • Having a hard time finding a community that she can deeply relate to
• Fears that she is too stuck in small town and wants to learn more about other culture
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RESEARCH
immature cultural inbetweener
Aiya Fukusa 16 years old High school student Kingston, Nova Scotia Born in Japan Sponsored family member
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People
“
Recently my Canadian boyfriend told me I couldn’t come to his cottage weekend because of his grandma. He told me she doesn’t like Asian people. I cried all night and tried talking to my friends, all they say is that I should break up with him. I still love him and it was not his fault. It would solve everything if I could be white just like everyone else.
”
GOALS & MOTIVATION
BEHAVIORS
• Wanting to find someone that will listen to her story deeply, and supports her in finding the life she want • Not sure what her goals and motivation is in life, just know that she likes cats and dogs
• Wanting to be Caucasian Canadian • Part of an online community called Subtle Asian Traits and likes their memes • Very active on social media like Instagram and Facebook with her friends
PAIN POINTS
VALUES & FEARS
• None of her Caucasian friends fully understand her painful experience • Not having anyone to talk to and feeling alone
• Scared to talk to mom about her boyfriend • Doesn’t want mom to find out about her personal life
RESEARCH
first generation immigrant
“ Joanne Nam 51 years old Restaurant Owner Midland, Ontario Born in Korea Canadian Citizen
People The biggest reason we decided to immigrate two years ago was my children’s future, but now I own a restaurant and am very busy every day. No time to think, just survival. I worry about my children’s future, but I’m not to sure where to ask for advice. I don’t know how things work in Canada very well, I wish someone could help me find out.
”
GOALS & MOTIVATION
BEHAVIORS
• Children’s future • Finding out what’s best for her daughter’s university choices
• Always ask her daughter about school • Wants to learn more about how things work in Canada • Tries going to the library whenever she gets some time off
PAIN POINTS
VALUES & FEARS
• No time to learn about Canadian culture • Daughter not wanting to talk to her openly • Constant arguments with her first daughter over smallest things like not speaking Korean at home
• Scared of her children Canadian-ized too fast • Always very curious of what her children has been up to
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RESEARCH
local Canadian
People
“ Mike Cowan 62 years old Retired local Woodstock, NB Born in Woodstock Canadian Citizen
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Do I know any immigrants? I always see a group of Greek men sitting at the local cafe. I never speak to them. If they needed anything, I guess I could help them but I have no idea how. Also, as long as they’re not here for our tax money and contribute to our community, I’m totally find with them.
VALUES & FEARS
BEHAVIORS
• Immigrants stealing tax money that he has been paying for his whole life
• Aware of a group of immigrants at a local cafe that he often goes to • Separating immigrant population from his own life
PAIN POINTS • Having no chance to meet the immigrant population
”
RESEARCH
At this point of design research, it was evident that I needed to create a space where all personas could share their experiences and help each other. In what form? – was a question that needed an answer.
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IDEATE
03. IDEATE
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IDEATE
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IDEATE
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IDEATE
3 design concepts
Once the problem space and design opportunity gaps were defined, three initial concepts were selected for further exploration. Each concepts were focused on connecting different actors through various methods of storytelling and to ensure everyone has value for more sustainable solution. The key to this phase was to keep an open mind to potential design outcome and to learn as much from them moving forward. I deliberately choose three very different directions to explore and learn from.
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IDEATE
concept one : culture booth
C U LT U R E BOOTH
A pop-up space in the small town’s open event environments such as farmer’s market or winter market where newcomers can share their unique culture and stories to local Canadianslearn from.
SYSTEM MAP
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IDEATE
FEEDBACK To have feedback on this concept from the logistical point of view, I wrote a project proposal and spoke with Faith Shergold, Community Engagement Coordinator at Midland Public Library. Here are some quotes from her: “The part of the challenge for us is to find our the real needs of the programs. Because of the limited population of the newcomers, there aren’t enough demand. I like that the program involves the local citizens’ cultural learning.” I also spoke with Sadra Lee, Local Immigration Partnership at County of Simcoe, to see the municipality’s perspective. She says, “They don’t necessarily have the resources to adopt to one more thing.”
VALUE MAP
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IDEATE
concept two :
get to know me
through my food A conversational toolkit that invites local Canadians and newcomers to get to know each other through their ethnic food making and storytelling. Question Cards are designed to help them get to know each other’s stories.
Q U E ST I O N C A R D S
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N A M E TA G S
ST O R Y B O X + R E C I P E
IDEATE
VALUE MAP
FEEDBACK This concept was tested with a small group of my friends as I shared a recipe to a Korean dish called Tteokbokki. Feedback was generally very positive especially on the combination of food, culture, community and storytelling. “I feel like I got to know you guys better. I feel closer” “It will be really important to make sure people participating come in with an open mindset.” When I spoke to citizens of small towns about this concept one said, “We already have cooking class in our small community, so this won’t be too hard to implement.” 51
IDEATE
concept three :
culture inbetween An online platform that connects the ‘cultural inbetweeners’ and their common interests. With its unique mentor concept, the platform engages them with local community/citizens through co-volunteering, meet-ups and public events. It is designed to help them find their sense of belonging in small towns through their unique stories.
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IDEATE
FEEDBACK “I really like the approachable looks of the logo. I think it is the most important because the young cultural inbetweeners have to want to be part of it. Whenever I try to suggest something for my son, he will never do it unless he wants to himself.” “Our local gallery has a space called “community gallery”. It needs to be reserved for groups in advance. I can totally see your project being in collaboration with our gallery.” “I can see this platform being very useful for my ESL class. I am often in search of good resources for my students outside of class environment.”
VALUE MAP
other mentors
culture
inbetween
• Sense of belonging in a small town community
the mentor ‘cultural inbetweeners’
local Canadians
• Positive image of newcomers through local contribution
• Parenting Advice • Role-model figure for their children • Children’s career advice
parents of ‘cultural inbetweeners’
municipality
• Economic boost by attracting and retaining immigrants
Outside
• Sense of community • Entertainment • Friends
• Volunteers • Community involvement
Inside
the mentee ‘cultural inbetweeners’
• Someone to relate to • Someone that tells them how to navigate and be more proud of their unique cultural story
community center/ local organization
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IDEATE
SUMMARY OF LEARNINGS Overall, the process of developing and testing of three different concepts was very helpful to gather feedback and insights. They worked greatly as the stepping stones towards my final concept. It also allowed me to develop a clear written objectives which can be seen on the right. Moving on to the next design phase, I gathered the key insights and created a defined design objectives to keep the focus on. Instead of choosing one over the other concept, I decided to bring in the sweet spots of all three concepts for the final design idea. Hybrid form of Concept two and three was chosen to move forwards in the next design phase. Moreover, the suggestions from organizations when testing concept one clearly showed that I needed a strong connection and benefit for local space.
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IDEATE
must Community
Small Town
Must create an environment that connects the ‘cultural inbetweeners’ and help them find a sense of belonging
Must be able to sustain in small/medium populated centres with limited human and physical resources
could Approachable
Relevancy
Could be approachable visually and physically for young ‘cultural inbetweeners’ to make them want to be part of a community with strangers
Could be able to effectively match the ‘cultural inbetweeners’ with same interests, location, etc.
should Empower
Bridge
Should provide a service that helps them understand the power in their unique stories
Should bridge the current separation and isolation of ethnic communities with local Canadian citizen
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04. CREATE
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CREATE
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partnership
Alex McLaren, Peer Support Facilitator OCAD U Health & Wellness Centre
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CREATE
Once I found out the clear design direction, it became clear that my project was heading towards the whelm of social innovation. I was addressing complex issues at its roots for positive change working towards with changes in all level. The project was also dealing with potentially a vulnerable population of individuals in the diaspora. It is because of this reason that I decided to partner up with the Health and Wellness Centre at OCAD U camps (HWC). As I approached them, they also showed great interest in partnering up with my project to provide the safe space for the students. Alex McLaren, Peer Support Facilitator at HWC, provided her expertise knowledge on creating a safe and appropriate environment for student audience. Thankfully, they were also able to provide a budget and space for my project moving forward and helped me with outreach to the relevant audience through in-person referral, social media and more. This partnership might be the point where my project really kicked off as now I had real audience and real partner to interact with. With HWC, we co-created series of workshops targeted towards student cultural inbetweeners.
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WHY SUSHI? When talking about potentially a very sensitive topic as cultural identity, the space might feel too heavy and serious. Since the objectives that I set up in earlier phase states that my design should provide a service that helps them understand the power in their unique stories, I wanted to emphasize that they don’t feel isolated. In fact, the workshops needed to be a space where noncultural inbetweeners also would love to be part of. Grabbing busy students’ attention is not easy, especially for non-career related workshops like my design project. This is why I decided to hold a sushi workshop, sharing my skill set as a former sushi chef and encourage them to have cultural conversation. My own ‘cultural inbetweener’ narrative played a big role in this workshop as I shared a personal immigrant story through my parents’ Japanese Restaurant in a small town in British Columbia.
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CREATE & RESEARCH DEFINE
visual identity
Invitations sent to participants for the workshop was an important starting point. The invitations had to be crafted towards the right audience and to spark their curiosity while anticipating. All choices made in starting from my product’s name, colour, font and language was created consciously while thinking about strategies to engage participants in the project. Posters were printed and taped around campus as well as an active social media account that act as a central hub where students could find more information about the project. The Culture Inbetween logo was chosen to reflect its friendly and safe space and all the conversation that take place within. The rectangular shape surrounding the word, culture resembles a speaking bubble as all participants will be engaged in cultural conversations. As the introduction page shows (page 14), the concept of living in between cultures has been in the core of my project and it only made sense to reflect that directly as the title. 62
CREATE
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cultural
inbetweeners
cultural
DEFINE & RESEARCH
inbetweeners
INBETWEENERS
cultural
cultural
cultural
Inbetweeners
inbetweeners
inbetweeners
cultural
cultural
cultural
inbetweeners
inbetweeners
inbetweeners
culture
culture
culture
inbetween
inbetween
inbetween
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cultural
CREATE
bright soft colors
pastel tone
empowering
exciting
community
easy
inclusive
diversity
multicultural conversational
transparent
international Sensitive connecting
trustworthy educational
round corners
approachable
organic 65
CREATE
workshop #1 When jumping into my first workshop, I was most nervous about not having enough people showing up. As a facilitator, I had very little to no expectation of how the event will proceed. As a result, there was a lack of preparation as to how many people that Culture Inbetween Workshop can accommodate. More than 30 people participated while the workshop remained open to dropin as well.
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HOW WAS IT STRUCTURED? When the workshop started, I opened up with an honest tone by sharing my own personal narrative as a cultural inbetweener. The participants played a warm-up game and cut vegetables while having cultural conversations through Conversation Cards. Each question on the cards were deliberately designed to nudge the participants to have conversations around culture. After a demo by the facilitator, myself, participants were encouraged to make a ‘cultural inbetweener sushi’ reflected on their conversation as a group. As a closure, each group shared their creation and what they have gained through the workshop.
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feedback WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST? “Loved the tone, the atmosphere, the energy and the people.” “The opportunity to brainstorm our cultural identity. Even if they’re not similar to me in being culturally in-between, we were all listening to one another.” “I enjoyed hearing different people’s stories and realizing how much we have that is the same.” WHAT DID YOU GAIN FROM THE WORKSHOP? “Knowledge: about sushi making & culture.” “Insight into different people’s perceptions of culture, identity and food.” WHAT DID NOT WORK? “I would love you (Naya) to hear what we are saying, our stories. You should do this many more times in smaller groups - not sure, just want you to hear us!” “It was too chaotic because of the amount of people keep on entering even after the workshop really got started.” “Rotating groups would be nice. I would have liked to speak to other people outside of my group.” “More sushi making, more conversation, less people!”
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workshop #2
WHAT WENT DIFFERENTLY? With the feedback gathered from the first workshop, the second workshop was kept more private with only 12 people that had confirmed in prior to the workshop. A facilitator, myself, opened up the workshop with more genuine storytelling style without any formal presentation, unlike the first workshop. Skill sharing was focused on only one type of sushi. There was a room for changing in group to allow the participants to share more stories. At the end, all participants were sit in circle for a cup of tea as a time for reflection. Lots of participants shared their very personal and intimate stories and showed a very high focus and interest in learning each other’s cultural stories.
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The result of the workshop was beyond what I had imagined. The positive feedback I have received was rewarding, heart warming and exactly the feeling that I had envisioned the project to have.
“...the Culture Inbetween group at OCAD University has really helped me find a community for my hyphenated identity. I’ve met so many amazing folx the past few days, more than I’ve met in a few years living here in Toronto.” “...Being seen, acknowledged, supported and understood is something I haven’t felt in awhile.” “safe, open, welcoming, sweet, warm, empathy, stories.” “As a Canadian with European descent, I never thought of the concept of cultural inbetweener. Today I gained insights on some of the challenges that they go through. ” “...it was a bit uncomfortable to hear micro-aggressions but in a great way. I felt encouraged to share my own experience.”
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05. F I N A L I ZE
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thinking of scale
HOW CAN THIS WORKSHOP TAKE PLACE ELSE WHERE? The feedbacks from participants were heart warming, real and moving. Health and Wellness centre also was very happy with the turnout and the positive environment the workshop had provided for students living in between cultures. Now the question is, how can the workshop take place outside of OCAD U environment by someone else other than Naya (myself)? In order for a safe workshop environment to be created, you need a trained facilitator, a safe space and the participants. As a facilitator of the past CI Workshop, I have learned that a meaningful space does not come without plan. This is ultimately where the concept of Handbook came from.
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On the left is what I used to plan the first CI Workshop. When thinking about constructing a handbook that helps the future facilitators, the steps and notes came directly from my own workshop structure. On the right is some samples of handbook making process testing out the color, size, fonts, visual icons, etc. involved. As I wanted the facilitators to want to hold on to the Handbook, the visual had to be pleasant. Something that you would want to hold on to.
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WHAT IS CULTURE INBETWEEN? Culture Inbetween is a social enterprise model that helps small to medium size towns create a safe space for ‘cultural inbetweeners’. We provide a service that connects local businesses or organizations with a guided facilitator and create workshops for the community to share their unique cultural stories while learning new skills. WHAT IS CI WORKSHOP? Culture Inbetween’s Workshop takes on a new angle on creating a safe space for cultural inbetweeners to share their stories while learning new skills taught by a cultural inbetweener facilitator. It is also a space for local Canadians to learn and be inspired by the stories that are not often told or heard. The workshop takes about 3 hours on a step-by-step basis. The intent is to help your community share their stories and for everyone to be acknowledged & understood through their unique experiences.
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The Handbook Culture Inbetween’s Handbook is designed to guide the future facilitators to understand what it takes to create a fun, safe, and meaningful space for a Culture Inbetween workshop. They will learn how to take on the role as a facilitator to engage your local community and have conversations around experiences of living in between cultures. The workshop is divided into ten steps and each step are explained as to what the facilitator will ‘do’, ‘achieve’ and ‘remember’. This is to insure that they are aware of their very important role each steps moving forward to provide a safe space for the participants.
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Yellow pages that appears throughout the book provides the future facilitator a space to write helpful information that can be used through out the workshop. This includes checklist to see the qualities of being the facilitator, planning of the workshop beforehand, and toolkit that prepares them to share their own cultural stories. The Handbook at the end, can be quiet literally a guide that you can have in your hands throughout the facilitation of a workshop.
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The Conversation Cards The conversation cards are designed to spark meaningful cultural conversations between participants. Each question on the Cards is intentionally formulated to have participants to discuss what culture means to them.
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The Space The space of the workshop is provided in partnership with local businesses. Whether it be your local coffee shop, flower shop or a restaurant, you can see their involvement via the sticker provided by Culture Inbetween. This ensures the comfortable and safe workshop space closer to the heart of your small town more in touch with the local community.
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The Website The website is where the project ties as a whole. It is for our potential partner to see the value in being in partnership with Culture Inbetween. It is also a space where the visitors will see the impact of the organization.
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THANK YOU
Thank you
for reading !
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THANK YOU
Naya is a designer with a social agenda. An idealistic vision for a more sustainable and healthy future motivates her to address complex societal issues with a holistic view. She is on a mission to constantly learn from the people to uncover latent needs that are worthy of design intervention.
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