CSR program for Homepolish

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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MS Strategic design and management Managing team creative projects and teams PGDM5210 SECTION E Professor rhea Alexander Semester one

OLIVIA HNATYSHIN

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VANYA MITTAL

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JAMES TORRENCE

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express appreciation to our professor Rhea Alexander for continuing to push us to reach deeper understanding of design thinking and to our classmates for their continued support and assistance.

Design thinking does not have a clear cut path to achieving a solution and it is necessary to have a strong team and support system as the project takes new and unexpected turns. Our classmates asked us difficult questions, made us questions our basic assumptions, and challenged us to better understand our organization and problem so that we could achieve better results.

We would also like to thank each other for continued team support. During this project we each had personal and professional issues with which we had to work through alongside our project. Without each other’s continued support we would not have been able to come out together what we think is a well thought out and organized final product that contains each of our DNA.

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Contents CORE DOCUMENTS

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TEAM

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VISION

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MISSION

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CORE VALUES

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PHILOSOPHY

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MANIFESTO

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$5 CHALLENGE

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PROJECT CHALLENGE

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OUR PROCESS

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PHASE I

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POTENTIAL PARTNERS

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PROJECT CALENDAR

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ABOUT HOMEPOLISH

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INITIAL MEETING

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MANAGEMENT INTERVIEW

39

DESIGNER INTERVIEW

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

7 COMPARATIVE RESEARCH

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CSR RESEARCH

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PHASE II

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CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP

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DESIGNER JOURNEY MAP

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STAKEHOLDER MAP

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CHARITY RESEARCH

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MIND MAPPING

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VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS

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DRIVING INSIGHTS

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PHASE III - IDEATE

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BRAINSTORMING PHASE IV - EXPERIMENT

66 70

ASSUMPTION TESTING

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PROTOTYPE Phase i

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PROTOTYPE PHASE II

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PHASE V - DISTILL

FINAL PRODUCT PHASES I-III APPENDIX BIBLIOGRAPHY

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COURSE INTRODUCTION

This course engages students in hands-on project management techniques worthy of new socio-economic conditions, constraints, and controversies. Students will define and practice techniques for fashioning order out of chaos, especially in the design management field with fewer rules, greater flow of information, and environmental dynamics, but with a mandate for rapid innovation, resiliency and gracefulness in frequent failure situations. They will develop their abilities to inspire and influence their interpersonal and leadership competencies.

They will practice choice-making based on reductive and incomplete information, leveraging their rich experiential knowledge base, and identify how to productively function in organic, sometimes dysfunctional non-hierarchies. They will demonstrate highperformance team leadership via required field work and qualitative, quantitative research as well as collaborative methods.

�

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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VANYA MITTAL

Design Visualizer & Strategist

OLIVIA HNATYSHIN

INTERIOR DESIGNER, TELEVISION PRODUCER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR

JAMES TORRENCE

CPT, U.S. ARMY

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CHEERLEADER INC. IS A PROFESSIONALLY AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE CONSULTING FIRM SPECIALIZING IN EMPOWERING SMALL BUSINESSES AND PROMOTING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH MULTI-PLATFORM BRAND STRATEGIES.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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Our mission is to seamlessly help ingrain corporate social responsibility programs into the foundation of existing businesses.

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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“

A team is a collection of people with individual skills that, when

working together, can accomplish something they could never have imagined as individuals.

JAMES TORRENCE

I love working and collaborating with Other team members. it’s really inspiring to move from one idea to the next, building

on each others’ initial brainstorms. a tool I can’t live without?

White boards!

”

OLIVIA HNATYSHIN

Working with other points of views, especially from different places around the world is truly inspiring. The combination of

insights and ideas gained through strategizing with a team is

invaluable to the creative process.

VANYA MITTAL

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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We decode creativity and curiosity to create CSR programs to benefit the community and small businesses while maintaining our organic diversity.

What defines that diversity? Think of us as a dynamic trifecta comprised of unique expertise in creative development and leadership roles.

3 countries, 3 perspectives, 3 times the manpower to create innovative and effective solutions.

We are curious.

We are full of humor and spirited fun.

We ask questions - a lot of them.

We focus on opportunities not barriers.

We believe in commitments and follow through.

We are the round pegs in the square holes.

We are a team. And one that will cheer yours on.

We are Cheerleader Inc.

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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WAKE UP WALL STREET

If you had $5 dollars in seed funding and only 2 hours to make it happen, what would you do to make the most money?

By CHEERLEADER INC. P h o t o g rapher V A N Y A M I TT A L S t y lis t O L I V I A H N A TY S H I N

B

ased on the $5 Challenge put forth by Professor Tina Seelig at Stanford University, Cheerleader Inc. was put to the test with our first icebreaker sprint. That is to venture out in New York City with $5 and 2 hours to make as much money as we could. We set out on a warm, September morning with $3.50 worth of coffee from Amazon, $2 in plastic cups, $.50 in filters and our hopes high. The driving force behind our brilliant idea to sell iced coffee on Wall St. was a mix of a social media strategy plus a donation based revenue stream, guaranteeing patrons’ cash to the 9/11 fund. The social media strategy included branded hashtags like #instanthero and #wakeupwallstreet. As a social media experiment, we found it was a surprising success with multiple retweets and interest from other do-gooders in different American cities, however our earnings left much to be desired. After 2 hours we earned $21.50 and ran out of coffee in approximately 100 minutes. However, what we did gain was invaluable information of our strengths and weaknesses as a team as well as individuals. With three very different personalities and backgrounds, both culturally and professionally, it was the perfect change to get to know each other. We learned that all three of us needed a bit more work on our sales pitches, that we could be a little more vocal with each other, but that we also had a mutual respect for one another and the desire to be a team player. Both of these universal qualities have proven to carry us through our CSR campaign with little issues as a collective “firm.”

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THE CHALLENGE D e f inin g t he t as k

CREATE A CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAM FOR AN EXISTING NEW YORK CITY BASED BRAND.

Our class was presented with the option of developing either a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program for an existing organization or conducting an urban ecology project and addressing a pressing issue in New York City. CSR is a plan in which an organization selflessly supports a cause whether it be benefitting the environment, local community, charity, or other cause that is not intended to increase sales.

“ CSR is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered stakeholders.

“

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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OUR PROCESS THE CRE ATIVE THOUGHT PROCESS

EXAMINE

1

UNDERSTAND

IDEATE

EXPERIMENT

DISTILL

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In order to effectively leverage the lessons learned in design thinking we decided to break up our projects into the following five phases: examine, understand, ideate, experiment, and distill. During the examine phase we wanted to search for potential partners, choose our partner and conduct an initial interview with management, and we wanted to conduct research as to what constitutes a CSR and what other similar companies are doing with regard to CSR. In the “understand” phase we wanted to get a true feel for how key players in the Home Polish Business model interact with, see, and feel about the brand. In this phase we created customer and designer journey maps, interviewed designers and management, created a stakeholder map, created a mind map, created a value chain & ecosystem, and derived key insights from all of our research and products. The “understand” phase leads to the “ideate” phase which consisted of us brainstorming and generating potential solutions based off our key insights.

Following “ideate” we moved into the experiment phase which consisted of us assumption testing and eventually coming up with one idea to prototype. Once we found our one idea to prototype we spent three weeks with different iterations of our final solution which we presented to the class, took their ideas and improvements, and then presented again to verify our final prototype. The “distill” phase resulted in all the lessons learned from prototyping and to create a final solution which is included in this presentation and white paper.

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EXAMINE

“

During the examine phase we

wanted to search for potential partners, choose our partner and conduct an initial interview with management, and we wanted to conduct research as to what constitutes a CSR and what other similar companies are doing in regard to their own CSR programs.

”

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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POTENTIAL PARTNERS We initially identified over 15 companies with whom we wanted to work on integrating a CSR into their business. After multiple emails and phone calls three companies ended up being interested working with us on CSR: Hella Bitters, King’s County Distillery, and Home Polish. Going into the interviews we were looking for an organization that had key values similar to ours, was highly motivated to make a difference through supporting a cause, and was willing to work with and co-create a solution that would morph and take shape over time. We develop a series of questions and prepared with each other before going to our first interview so that, after we completed all of the interviews, we could make a decision on whom we would work with for our class project.

Hella Bitters is a startup company whose production warehouse is located in Queens, New York and who sells their product (bitters) in a number of retail stores. They are gradually growing their business and working through normal challenges associated with expansion. As they expand their company they want to associate themselves with a cause because giving back to the community is very important to them.

King’s County Distillery is located in Brooklyn, New York and sells whiskey all over the United States. They give classes on distilling whiskey to the local community and are looking to strengthen their brand. They did not understand CSR and thus were not a good fit for us because they were looking to expand their profits through some of the research that they thought we would provide.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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Home Polish is an interior design company with headquarters New York City. They are currently operating in 15 states with 300+ interior designers. They are rapidly expanding and believe that quality education is a hallmark upon which the brand is built. Home Polish management and CEO sat down with us at our first interview and were very interested in developing a CSR campaign and championing education as part of their brand.

We ended up choosing Home Polish over the other two brands because we had their management’s support, they are centrally located in NYC, and they are a major name brand from whom we wanted to study, explore, and hopefully improve. We didn’t realize at the time that we did not clearly define CSR in that meeting which would cause miscommunications during future meetings between us and management.

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PROJECT CALENDAR Below is the calendar we put together to tackle our 15 week CSR project with Home Polish. We broke the project down into five phases and had a concurrent Google Calendar on which we detailed the work we did, which team member did the work, and the result/ accomplishment of the work.

PHASE I EXAMINE

PHASE II UNDERSTAND

WEEK 1

WEEK 5-6

Project Planning

Gathering Insights

Kick-off Meeting with the client

Analyze Research Determine trends and frame problem

WEEK 2 Signing up - Service Experience Research on Home Polish Interview Designers Understanding Customer & Designer Journey

WEEK 3-4

Identify Opportunities for CSR integration into Home Polish

WEEK 7 Strategy Development Client meeting Develop finalized ideas following Home Polish Briefing

Primary Research Homepolish reviews Research on Charities Conducting Interviews CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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The project calendar is a key component for any project, especially one involving design thinking. We had to find a way to organize the chaos in a project where we conduct research, distill, conduct more research,

distill even more, and then prototype, and then distill again.

This calendar served as the foundation from which our succinctness and organization came from.

PHASE III IDEATE

PHASE IV EXPERIMENT

PHASE III DISTILL

WEEK 8-9

WEEK 10-11

WEEK 13

Client Meeting

Assumption Testing

Developing ideas for Rapid Prototyping

Prototype in the market

Final Prototype with all lessons learned

Workshop Development

Create Final CSR Solution

Construct mock website re-design to show CSR integration

Client Meeting

Develop proposed Customer Journey Map

WEEK 12 Revisions to the Prototype Research Planning & Coordination

Organizing the chaos is key to design thinking and this calendar pushed us to do just that. “

WEEK 14-15 Concept development for rolling out the CSR Developing Presentation Solution Presentation

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The

founders Noa Santos

CEO & Cofounder “Growing up in Hawaii, Noa Santos was the aesthetics obsessed kid that saved images from Better Homes & Gardens magazine. After studying architecture and business at Stanford University, he quickly struck out on his own to launch a design practice catered to a savvier clientele.”

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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ABOUT

DESIGN meets TECH Will Nathan

Chairman & Cofounder “With a B.S. in Mathematical Economics and $1BN+ in Digital Media Mergers & Acquisitions under his belt, Will made his mark on the finance world before switching gears to become a coder for Buzzfeed.com in NYC. After failing to find a designer through the normal channels, Will was introduced to Noa and the rest is history.”

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VALUE

proposition

Above: The user interface of Homepolish’s home page is where customers can learn about the company and log in to book their designers. Designers can also learn about Home Polish as a potential employer.

Homepolish creates the opportunity for anyone to enjoy what used to be what was considered a luxury service.

They achive this by engaging consumers through their e-commerce platform, providing constant communication with their head office via the “Queen Bee” service, and then links them with the appropriate level of designer (junior or senior). What makes this different from traditional interior design services is that they are priced by the hour ($50 for junior designers, $80 for senior designers) and that you buy packages of hours in advance. The designer does not have to deal with any internal pricing or communications, as the head office deals with all oc the customer service issues.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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ABOUT

TARGET

employees

Homepolish is unique to up and coming designers looking to break into the Interior Design world because they offer you continuous clientelle regardless of your demographics or experience.

Plus, they make photography of the designed spaces a big priority, enabling designers of all levels to obtain publicity through their magazine as well as external sources.

IN THe

press Homepolish has been championed by a slew of reputable press outlets including profiles by Forbes, Time, InStyle, racked and named best of New York by New York magazine. With an established following, the design start up is already earning alot of credibility with the design community as well and creating a large, expansive consumer base.

Above: Homepolish’s Press pages featured on their website, presenting users with rave reviews from celebrities and news outlets.

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“ Homepolish: The Startup Turning the Interior Design Industry Upside Down. ~ Forbes “ CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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INITIAL MEETING FIRST INTERVIEW WITH HOMEPOLISH

Our initial meeting with Home Polish was very interesting and was an interaction from which we learned valuable lessons. The CEO of the company along with the Director of Client Services met with our team to discuss our project and how we can best work together to create a CSR. We learned that Home Polish was very interested in developing a CSR centered around education to include Home Polish teaching classes to local designers on entrepreneurship.

At this point we were very excited because Home Polish has a large network of designers, strong customer base, and has an interest in education. We also found out that Home Polish is self-funded meaning they do not have any money for donations or activities outside their operations. We left the initial meeting with a lot of hope but, as a team, there were some things we did not do well and from which we learned a number of lessons.

The major lesson we learned from our initial meeting was that we didn’t truly understand CSR and Home Polish wasn’t very flexible outside of their conception of CSR. We didn’t understand how to pitch the concept of a CSR and co-creation and Home Polish did not understand design thinking methodology or our intent (we were talking past one another). They thought we were free labor to further their existing ideas and they were willing to provide us resources, but we didn’t realize at the time that they were not willing to co-create.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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MANAGEMENT INTERVIEW During the interviews with management, we focused on delving deeper in the examination process by trying to find even more insights than what we had learned during our initial meeting. We realized that Home Polish has expanded faster than its processes so it is still trying to catch up. We asked the Client Services Director over 75 questions for over an hour and we took away a lot of findings which helped our research. We found out that Home Polish does not have a company hierarchy chart, does not have core values, vision statement, or a stated mission, that the management thinks that the customer journey starts when they meet the designer for their initial consult as opposed to when they are on the website, and that management was uncomfortable with students asking so many questions. Our findings from the interview with management were a major part in the driving insights that led to our CSR proposition for Home Polish.

+

-

POSITIVES

NEGATIVES

Positives included: established, large designer

Negatives

and consumer network as well as a desire to

confusion around CSR programs, timing

create an internal education program.

issues and lack of funds for contribution.

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included: a skepticism and

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DESIGNER INTERVIEWS GAINING INSIGHTS

The designer interviews were very enlightening and led to some of our best insights during this project. We asked 15 Home Polish designers over 100 questions ranging from how the company operates to how they relate to their customers. From the designers we learned that some designers meet with their first customer before receiving their introductory brief to Home Polish, that designers are passionate about giving back to the community and want to leverage

their time and expertise to do something positive, designers do not like when their customers throw away perfectly good furniture, and that they did not know Home Polish’ core values or mission statement. We also learned that there is not a professional code of conduct or any email etiquette so designers each interact clients in whatever manner they deem appropriate. These findings helped lead to insights that were critical to finding a sustainable CSR for Home Polish.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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INTERVIEW INSIGHTS | HOMEPOLISH CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAM PROPOSAL |

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COMPARATIVE RESEARCH T H E C O M P E T I TO R S

Laurel and Wolfe have certified professional interior designers (not decorators like above) and also offer a completely online experience at a flat rate. The pricing schemes are much more expensive than Home Polish or Havenly and they offer classic, premium, and commercial packages with the cheapest package being $299 per room and the most expensive package being $899 a room. The key thing to take away from them is that they have certified designers as opposed to decorators which means you are paying a premium for quality.

Havenly is a direct competitor to Home Polish and offer professional interior decorators in an all-online business model. They offer prices by room as opposed to by designer and offer individual room packages or multi-room packages. They also offer furniture discounts depending on how much a client spends. The key thing to understand with Havenly is that they do not offer any in-person assistance which is a major difference with Home Polish.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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Above: Interior designed by Laurel & Wolf

Above: Interior designed by Havenly

Above: Kabuni application for iPhone6

Kabuni is a home designer organization that serves as a collaborative forum for designers and promotes social responsibility. Kabuni brings home designers and furniture produces to people looking for that type of expertise or product through its application and website. Kabuni is a competitor to Home Polish in that they are both competing to create a community of designers to do more than just make homes better. Kabuni wants to limit homelessness and make the world a better place.

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COMPARATIVE CSR RESEARCH L E A R N I N G F R O M OT H E R S

Researching competitors in the marketplace is not the be all end all of design thinking, but a necessary step to understand what others are doing to make themselves successful. When it comes to CSR there is no such thing as competition because it is a program that comes from a pure place so it makes sense to see what similar organizations are able to accomplish. We focused our efforts on two companies, HOK and Kabuni both of whom are interior design firms that have outstanding CSR programs.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

45 “Better Homes For Everyone Foundation makes it easy to connect your company to local charitable organizations engaged in the fight to end homelessness. Our technology platform and community outreach ensure that you can quickly and easily place social giving into the heart of your business.

Any company or group who wishes to create meaningful change in local communities is invited to join us.

Better Homes For Everyone Foundation was founded by Neil Patel, E. Brian Johnson and Peter Mackay in Vancouver as part of an effort to build social responsibility into the DNA of their technology company. P. Amil Reddy became Executive Director of the Foundation in 2014.” (www.betterhomesforeveryone.com)

“HOK IMPACT is our firm wide strategic approach to corporate social responsibility. Our triple bottom line approach – focusing on economic, ecological and social sustainability – aims for a promising future for the communities we serve around the world.

We seek to promote architecture as a social work, using design to support and empower communities.

By organizing our IMPACT into three distinct categories – professional services, charitable donations and volunteerism – we are raising the profile of the design profession and, we hope, making a difference.” (www.hok.com)

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CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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“ We found that when we were uncomfortable is when we did some of our best research and put together our best products. “

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UNDERSTAND

“

In the “understand” phase we wanted to get a true feel for how key players in the Home Polish Business model interact with, see, and feel about the brand. In this phase we created customer and designer journey maps, interviewed designers and management, created a stakeholder map, created a mind map, created a value chain & ecosystem, and derived key insights from all of our research and products.

”

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP EMPATHIZING THE PATH

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

51 In order to better understand the customer journey for Home Polish a member of our team signed up for an account and hired a designer for an initial consult. We each step of the process along with associated emotions. During the customer journey we recognized that the initial signup experience does give the customer any insight into the core values of Home Polish which is an area where we think there is opportunity.

Our team also recognized that there was no mention of expectations with regard to response time from a designer which left a lot of angst on the part of the customer who did not know when the designer would respond to emails. Following the customer journey map we realized that there are a number of areas in which Home Polish has opportunity to improve/optimize their customer experience.

Consideration

Awareness

Opportunity for more education

+

Purchase

Post Purchase

Easy

Simple

Comfortable

Felt Secured

Impressed

Satisfied

Excitement

Clear

Prompt

Comfortable

Happy

Sympathetic

Intuitive

Satisfied

Great Model

Confident

SatisďŹ ed

Well-understood

Created HomePolish Account

Complete Questionnaire & Fill in Card details

Received mail from HP

Details by Middle person Queen Bee

Designer arrives on time for the meeting

Opportunity for CSR interaction

Positive Experience

i

0

Neutral Experience

-

Negative Experience

Purchased next session.

Designer was responsive & helpful

Opportunity for better U/X

Opportunity for better User experience

Taking Style Quiz

5$ Off for taking the Quiz

Used Unknown terms

Late response

by Designer

Uncomfortable

Happy

Confusing

Surprised

Confounding

Disappointed

Perplexing

Frustrated

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Prompt follow-up but emails received from 4 different people Disorganized

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DESIGNER JOURNEY MAP A DAY IN THE LIFE

Designer journey maps were constructed based off of interviews with 15 Home Polish designers occurring at different stages of our initial research. One of the major things that stood out to our team was that designers could begin working with clients before receiving a proper in-brief from Home Polish. A proper in-brief, in some form, would go a long way to inculcate designers with the Home Polish core values, mission, and culture before meeting with the customer.

We also think there is opportunity in the journey map to inform the designers coming to work for Home Polish about Corporate Social Responsibility before meeting a client.

Weaving CSR into the designer journey will ensure that it is an important part of the company and will thus be important to the designer as he/she works for Home Polish.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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Consideration

2nd Meeting

1st Meeting Comfortable

+

Enthusiastic

Excitement

Excited

Convinced

Happy

Nervousness

Satisfied

Comfortable

Delighted

Receives email for potential Client

Understanding clients needs & Suggesting

Prepares the list of recommendations

Prepares for the follow-up meeting

Informing client about the CSR

A positive start with HOMEPOLISH Positive Experience

0

Neutral Experience

-

Negative Experience

i

Opportunity to better engage designers

More prep before designers go on consults

Should be first to reply

Works directly with Client Happy

Started job without initial In-brief from HP

Frustation

Surprised

Tiring

Amazed

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opportunity to move “Designer101” to “consideration”, introduce CSR then

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STAKEHOLDER MAP The Stakeholder map is a visual representation of all those involved with Home Polish. The major insights we gained from this brief are that, if Home Polish is to

integrate a CSR then it will have to receive buy-in and input from Home Polish Designers, Home Polish customers, and charities with whom it wants to partner.

“ Designers could begin receiving a proper in-brief from Home Polish. “

EXTERNAL

INTERNAL

Charities

Customers Founders Designers

Project Contractors

z Students Employees

Management

2 CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

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CHARITY RESEARCH In order to understand ways in which to implement a CSR it was first necessary to look into charitable organizations and how they currently partner with small businesses. We researched 10 different charities (local and national) to get insight into their programs, offerings, operations, and partnership opportunities with businesses.

1. Housing Works

4. Saint’s Place

Provide pick up of most furniture items. raise money for homeless women, men and children that are HIV positive. They are available in 13 locations across New York.

Our goal is to provide the refugees arriving in Rochester with a furnished, functional home.

2. The Salvation Army

5. Volunteers of America of Western New York

All donations of clothing, furniture and other resalable items are handled through The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Centers. Donations received help provide services for substance abuse treatment and recovery programs.

3. GOODWILL Donations keep unwanted goods out of landfills. Bring new or gently used items to a Goodwill store, DonationXpress.

The furniture donation is available only on selected areas.

Accept furniture donations to sell in their retail stores throughout upstate New York. One of the main functions of this organization is providing meals and shelter to the homeless.

6. The Catholic Charities Housing Office The Catholic Charities Housing Office accepts furniture donations based on immediate need within their family apartments program.

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MIND-MAPPING The Mind Map was developed after completion of journey maps, interviews with customers, designers, and management and the stakeholder map. The Mind Map helped us to put together the ideas that customers want to donate to charity and that designers want to facilitate and help clients get rid of their furniture. These were both insights derived from different products but the Mind Map gave us a visualization that tied everything together.

Marketing

Getting rid of Old Furniture

Expand Business Attract Design Students

Give back to

Educate about Entrepreneurship

Limited Helping

Customers

Workshop & Seminar

Limited Resources

Founders

Designer Time

Brand Awareness Self Funded

Sustainability Re-design Part of campaign with

Events

Involvement

Designers

Help clients DONATE

Students

Exposure & Networking

New Work

Building Portfolio

Donations

Money

Charity Design

2

Guidance & Support

Helping a

Events Time

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Physical Assets

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VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS The Value Chain analysis was a very important document we developed because it showed us that the foundation upon which Home Polish is built is the designer and not the customer.

This value chain led us to realize that Home Polish exists

to provide an avenue for interior designers to interact with clients and thus caters its organization to designers. We realized after the value chain that understanding designers beliefs and ideas would be key to implementing a CSR at Home Polish.

Talent Recruitment

Talent Development

Grass Roots Advertising

Metrics for Quality Designer

Professional Development

Social Media

Interview Rubric

SelfDevelopment opportunities

Digital Magazine

Method for finding designers

Collaborative Forums

Word of Mouth

Value proposition to designers

Leadership Opportunities

Determining junior or senior designer

Transition from junior designer to senior designer

“ Home Polish is a designer-centric organization that caters towards its designers. “

Distribution

Service

End User

Data Storage/ Maintenance

Website Design/ Maintenance

Access to Website

Website is distribution avenue

Consumerdriven website design updates

Looking for an interior designer

Virtual or in person options

Hears about HP through social media or word of mouth

Multiple options available to user

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Signs up via website and requests an initial consult

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DRIVING INSIGHTS The driving insights are the key components upon which the foundation of our CSR solution will be built. These ideas were derived from all of our research and products and capture the essence of the problem we are trying to solve and the ideas that will help us develop a solution.

These insights help us effectively brainstorm.

1. DESIGNER CENTRIC ORGANIZATION

4. SELF FUNDED

The Value Chain led us to conclude that the key to Home Polish success is its designers and how it works/handles them.

Two separate Interviews with management brought up the fact that they are self-funded and can only afford to spend designers time on any CSR program developed.

2. MISSION CORE DOCUMENTS

5. DESIGNERS WANT TO GIVE BACK

Our interviews with management and designers helped us understand that Home Polish does not have a mission statement, core values, and that it does not have a proper in-brief to introduce designers to its organization.

Interviews with 15 designers on multiple occasions revealed that designers feel very passionately about finding ways to give back to charity, causes important to them, or the local community.

3. CUSTOMERS INTERESTED IN DONATING FURNITURE

6. GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS

Interviews with designers brought up the fact that a majority of the customers with whom they have worked are interested in donating their old furniture.

Interviews, and reviews of Home Polish yielded the fact that Home Polish designers and customers have great working relationships.

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“ We chose Homepolish because we wanted to work with an organization that could give back to the designer community, one Parsons has a great relationship with already. “

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IDEATE

“

The “understand” phase leads to the “ideate” phase which consisted of us brainstorming and generating potential solutions based off our key insights. As a team, we created different scenarios based on what was feasible, including milk and bread, consulting and shoot for the fences ideas. Each brainstorming session came with a lot of questioning “What if?”...

”

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BRAINSTORMING During brainstorming we took our six key insights (along with the rest of our data), listed our constraints, and began to generate ideas that incorporated insights and met the standard of corporate social responsibility. Our brainstorming resulted in 10 distinct ideas that we then narrowed down to three ideas based on realistic completion time.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

IDEA III

IDEA II

IDEA I

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Have Designers donate a flat percentage of their fees to a cause of their choice: We developed this ideas based off the enthusiasm designers had with regard to supporting a cause and helping give back to the community.

Our vision was that each designer could have a biography on the site with his/her favorite cause/charity which he/she would donate a small portion of consultation fees to each time he/she was hired.

Home Polish Partners With a Charity to Conduct a Design Challenge: This idea consisted of Home Polish finding a charity that shared its core values to conduct a design challenge in which Home Polish would provide the designers and the charitable donation would advertise and provide a challenge that would either donate proceeds or build/design something helpful for the community.

Three Phased Approach: This idea consisted of a Home Polish introductory brief, followed by Home Polish getting a truck to transport equipment, and finally Home Polish developing an upcycle platform shared amongst designers. This idea best encapsulated the driving insights.

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“ In a world where all too many people shell out for expensive decorators, the guys at Homepolish are effectively flipping the design industry on its head... all without breaking the bank. ~ Instyle “

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EXPERIMENT

“

Following “ideate” we moved into the experiment phase which consisted of us assumption testing and eventually coming up with one idea to prototype.

Once we found our one idea to prototype we spent three weeks with different iterations of our final solution which we presented to the class, took their ideas and improvements, and then presented again to verify our final prototype.

”

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ASSUMPTION TESTING In order to turn our three ideas into brainstorming into one idea which to prototype we had to list all assumptions associated with each idea. In this picture we were discussing each assumption from all of our proposed ideas and how we should test it in order to either validate or invalidate it.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

73 In order to narrow down our three ideas into one we needed to test our assumptions. Over a two week time period we used time together and in class to test every assumption we could think of in our three different solutions generated from brain-storming.

We realized that the clear-cut solution from which we could expand a CSR campaign would be geared towards educating both designers and customers and providing an avenue through which customers could donate their furniture. This

“ Assumption testing helped us to refine our ideas and develop more accurate prototypes. “

was made clear through our driving insights where limited funds and designer time were two important factors.

The other solutions did not hold up during assumption-testing because they were too expensive, not realistic, too idealistic, not line with what the company wanted, and other issues that we addressed.

Assumption testing was a great tool to leverage before prototyping because it helped us better refine our solution which led to better and more accurate prototypes.

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PROTOTYPING PHASE I

After we decided upon the idea from which to build our solution we entered into two phases of prototyping. During the first phase of prototyping we took classmates through the first two phases of our idea which consist of an in-brief from Home Polish to designers (we call it Designer 101), an initial mock-up of an updated Home Polish Website incorporating CSR, and a design of the type of trucks Home Polish could use in the second phase of our plan in which they would transport furniture to charities themselves. The first stage of protoyping yielded a number of results that helped us refine our work for the second phase. We learned that people in the class preferred a Webinar format for the Designer 101 as opposed to the standard briefing we put together. People also thought that the Designer 101 should include a “Designer Toolkit” which detailed things that designers should bring with them to a consult. The mock-up of the website generated a number of ideas the biggest one being that it had too many words and could potentially paint a stronger picture of Home Polish encouraging and participating in CSR through better images.

Above: During prototyping, we created a rewritten Designer

Above: Prototyping also included creating a first iteration

101 document with the proposed CSR program outlined. In its’

of the CSR program’s logo: “Design and Good Deeds.”

initial stages, it was a dense white paper version of the now redesigned document.

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Above: First iteration of the new “tab” of Homepolish.com : Design Good Deeds.

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PROTOTYPING PHASE II

Following the lessons learned from phase I, we took all of our lessons learned and decided to focus on prototyping the webinar version of Designer 101 for the second phase of prototyping. We sat each individual in the class down and had them play the role of designer as we acted the part of Home Polish conducting their introductory briefing. The general consensus was that the brief was a great start and included key components that designers need to know, but that they would also like a physical version of the brief and along with some other physical tools in the mail to get a better hands-on understanding of the organization and what it expects from its designers. This led us to prototype outside of class on better ways (along with the webinar) to inculcate designers into Home Polish. We used this information to develop a letter from the CEO introducing designers to Home Polish, a copy of the Designer 101 Brief, a laminated copy of the Designer essentials, along with some basic designer tools. The lessons learned from both phases of prototyping were essential in refining and improving our solution and has absolutely made our product better and more effective.

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Above and left: First iteration of Designer 101 virtual webinar.

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“ Homepolish is shaking up the world of interior design by offering home and office decorating services at strikingly reasonable prices. ~ Racked “

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DISTILL

“

The “distill” phase is a summation of insights and lessons learned from the previous four phases, including prototyping. We then moved on from initial iterations to a proposal of a final product. The final solution is based on a three phase proposed implementation for Homepolish’s CSR program, beginning with a new take on the Designer 101 core document and existing website.

”

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IMPLEMENT PHASE I : WEBSITE

In the final phase, we decided to scale a 3 phased implementation plan that we would like to propose as a solution to our initial challenge. The first phase takes into account the insights we had gathered in our previous phases, focusing on a redesign of Homepolish’s current website by capturing their awareness of surrounding charities as well as an initiative to give back to the surrounding community. Based in New York City as a starting location, designers will be required to share CSR information with their roster of clients, encouraging them to upcycle, recycle or donate any existing furniture that may end up in a landfill in the design process.

With numerous opportunities to engage with surrounding partners, we feel this is a realistic starting point for Homepolish’s CSR. Within phase one of our implementation, we prove mock ups for the CSR website as well as new core documents to be shared with designers in the on boarding process when they are hired on as a new designer.

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IMPLEMENT PHASE I : REDESIGNED CORE DOCUMENTS W I T H I N G R A I N E D C S R P R OG R A M

17th December 2015 Homepolish, Inc. 48 W 25th Street 3N New York, NY 10010 Dear Isabel Escobar, CONGRATULATIONS! You are officially a Homepolish designer.

I wanted to personally thank you for joining our team and look forward to all of the great things you will do in this company.

In this packet is a physical copy of the Home Polish introductory brief which serves as the foundation upon which our company operates. I ask that you pay special attention to our core values, corporate social responsibility, and our designer toolkit as you read through all of the attached information. I look forward to congratulating you in person.

Welcome to the team!

Sincerely,

NOA SANTOS C.E.O and Cofounder

info@homepolish.com 917-722-8370

Above: Homepolish’s new Congratulatory letter to new designers including mention of CSR program in on boarding package.

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Above: Homepolish’s new “Designer 101” kit, providing tools for initial consultations as well as a new core document providing information on code of conduct, relationships, organization information and CSR program mentality.

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IMPLEMENT PHA SE II : DONATION TRUCKS

Our next phase of the proposed solution would be Phase II, donation trucks. Building upon the relationships with charities over time, we propose that Homepolish allocates some funds to their own pick up trucks, intended to move unwanted furniture to listed charities from Phase I. Homepolish can keep track of the deliveries with their inhouse delivery operations (a part of the organization that already exists), as well as create an opportunity for convenience when their clients want to rid themselves of old, unused or unwanted furniture during the design process.

Above: Prototype of Homepolish’s new donation pick up service.

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Hi Isabel!

What are you looking for?

PHASE III : APP DEVELOPMENT

In a final, “shoot for the fences,� idea, we propose Phase III: an internal app that helps designers working with Homepolish clients trade, buy or donate unwanted furniture. The idea is that designers and clients alike can log on, post their unwanted goods and wait for other projects to respond, in hopes of upcycling their used pieces. This Phase would be an alternative to donating furniture, gives clients a chance to save money by buying or trading used pieces as well as completing the original mandate of eliminating waste during the design process.

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“ Imagine an interior design company that doesn’t need a gut renovation project to make it worth their while.

Enter Homepolish—where small to large design dreams can become a reality. ~ Harpers Bazaar “

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Appendix PROJECT OPPORTUNITY

PROJECT SCOPE

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

91 DESIGN BRIEF

STORY BOARD

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PERSONAS

92

PERSONAS

CUSTOMER

In order to better understand customers and key stakeholders in our project we created a set of Personas focused mainly on the interior design client and a Home Polish Designers. Personas are archetypes built of research we did of potential users and we included both- M designers o v e s r e g u l a r l y fand o r w o r kcustomers - N e w to th e c ity because we found that Home Polish - H a s s o m e fu r n itu r e b u t w a n ts to m a k e is a designer-centric i t f e e l m o r e l i k e “ h o m organization e” - In tim id a te d b y th e id e a o f in te r io r d e s ig n that -also has customers.

L im ite d fu n d s b u t n e e d s h e lp

PERSONAS

CUSTOMER

-

a r k C ity

CUSTOMER

Jim m y 2 9 , N e w Y o r k C ity

G rego ry 2 5 , N e w Y o r k C ity

“ Personas afforded the group a deeper understanding as to the typical user and what he/she represents, acts, and thinks.

V ir n a 3 0 , N e w Y o r k C ity

MANAGEMENT

-

H o m e P o lis h e x e c u tiv e H a s a f a s t g r o w“i n g b u s i n e s s P r o u d o f c o m p a n y ’s o r i g i n s O p e n to s u g g e s tio n s E a g e r to h e lp s u r r o u n d in g c o m m u n ity S h o r t o n tim e a n d r e s o u r c e s

Budget

V ir n a 3 0 , N e w Y o r k C ity

Je r r ik a 2 0 , N e w Y o r k C ity

We put together a budget with a flat billing rate of $100 an hour to capture what the project would actually cost us if we were to do it to completion. We broke the spreadsheet down into our five

- M o v e s r e g u la r ly fo r w o r k - N e w to th e c ity - H a s s o m e fu r n itu r e b u t w a n ts to m a k e it fe e l m o r e lik e “ h o m e ” -- JI un nt i imo ri dI na tt ee dr i ob ry Dt h ees ii gd ne ea r o f i n t e r i o r d e s i g n -- GL ri me wi t eu dp fi un n Dd .sC b. , u s tc nh eo eo dl si nh Ne l .Yp . C .

-- LI no to ekr ien sgt ef do r i na kfl ne xo iwb il ne gj owb a i yn s ht ios gfi i ev led - Cb ua rc rk e tno t lhy i sa cc oo mn smu lut an ni tty a t a d e s i g n fi r m

DESIGNER

25, N

MANAGEMENT

Jim m y 2 9 , N e w Y o r k C ity

In te r e s te d in k n o w in g w a y s to g iv e b a c k to h is c o m m u n ity

y r k C ity

PERSONAS

- M o v e s r e g u la r ly fo r w o r k - N e w to th e c ity - H a s s o m e fu r n itu r e b u t w a n ts to m a k e it fe e l m o r e lik e “ h o m e ” - In tim id a te d b y th e id e a o f in te r io r d e s ig n - L im ite d fu n d s b u t n e e d s h e lp - In te r e s te d in k n o w in g w a y s to g iv e b a c k to h is c o m m u n ity

-

E a g e r a n d w illin g t o p le a s e c lie n t s IHn ot em r e sPt oe dl i si hn es xu es ct au itni va eb i l i t y WH a sn ta s f ta os tw g or ro kw f ion rg a b cu os mi n pe as ns y t h a t iPs r so ou cd i aol fl yc ro ems p oa n sy i’ bs l oe r i g i n s O p e n to s u g g e s tio n s E a g e r to h e lp s u r r o u n d in g c o m m u n ity S h o r t o n tim e a n d r e s o u r c e s

---

H o m e P o lis h e x e c u tiv e H a s a fa s t g r o w in g b u s in e s s P r o u d o f c o m p a n y ’s o r i g i n s O p e n to s u g g e s tio n s IE na tge er ri ot ro Dh ee sl pi g sn u sr tr uo du en nd ti na gt Pc ao rms omn us n i t y ES ha go er tr ot on l tei amr en a n d r e s o u r c e s

25, N

MANAGEMENT STUDENT

- Id e a lis t ic m ille n n ia l - L o o k in g t o b u ild u p h e r r e s u m e - W a n ts to g e t in v o lv e d w ith h e r d e s ig n c o m m u n ity - L o o k in g fo r o p p o r tu n itie s fo r e x p o s u r e a n d n e tw o r k in g w ith in th e in d u s tr y

phases and highlighted the key actions conducted during each phase.

We briefed our budget to Fahrenheit 212, a local design firm, to get feedback and practice with regard to planning and briefing a budget.

20, N

“ Creating a budget forced the team to re-examine the project timeline to make sure all of the phases were allocated the correct amount of time.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

“

20, N

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PHASE I: EXAMINE

PHASE II : UNDERSTAND Week 5-6 Gathering Insights Analyze Research Determine trends and frame problem Identify Opportunities for CSR integration into Home Polish Week 7 Strategy Development Client meeting Develop finalized ideas following Home Polish Briefing PHASE III - IDEATE Week 8-9 Client Meeting Developing ideas for Rapid Prototyping Construct mock website re-design to show CSR integration Develop proposed customer journey map PHASE IV : EXPERIMENT Week 10-11 Assumption Testing Prototype in the market Workshop Development Client Meeting Week 12 Revisions to the Prototype Reserch Planning & Coordination PHASE V: DISTILL Week 13 Final Prototype with all lessons learned Create Final CSR Solution Week 14-15 Concept development for rolling out the CSR Developing Presentation Solution Presentation

Total Effort

OLIVIA 100/Hour

VANYA 100/Hour

71 $7,100

24 $2,400

23 $2,300

24 $2,400

10 3

4 1

3 1

3 1

1 7 6 10

1 2 2 4

0 3 2 3

0 2 2 3

9 9 16 0 72 $7,200

3 1 6

3 3 5

3 5 5

24 $2,400

25 $2,500

23 $2,300

8 15 20 6

3 5 6 2

3 6 7 2

2 4 7 2

4 1 3

3 1 3

4 1 3

Total Hours Total Amount

11 3 9 0 27 $2,700

9 $900

9 $900

9 $900

2 4 2 1

2 3 3 1

2 3 2 2

Total Hours Total Amount

6 10 7 4 0 89 $8,900

29 $2,900

30 $3,000

30 $3,000

9 25 8 3

3 8 3 1

3 9 2 1

3 8 3 1

8 9 0 49 $4,900

3 3

2 3

3 3

16 $1,600

17 $1,700

16 $1,600

13 10

5 3

4 4

4 3

12 8 6

4 2 2

4 3 2

4 3 2

Total Hours Total Amount

Week 1 Project Planning Kick-off Meeting with the client Week 2 Signing up - service experience Research on Home Polish Interview Designers Understanding customer & Designer Journey Week 3-4 Primary Research - Homepolish reviews Reseach on Charities Conducting Interviews

JIM 100/Hour

Total Hours Total Amount

Total Hours Total Amount

WORKPLAN TOTAL HOURS RATES $/HOUR COST Phase Breakdown Phase I: Examine (Week 1-4) Phase II: Understand (Week 5-7) Phase III: Ideate (Week 8-9) Phase IV: Experiment (Week 10-12) Phase V: Distill (Week 13-15) ACTUAL COST Quoted To HOME POLISH (55% Margin)

Total Effort

308

JIM

OLIVIA

104 $100 $10,400

VANYA

$30,800

102 $100 $10,200

$7,100 $7,200 $8,900 $8,900 $4,900

$2,400 $2,400 $900 $2,900 1,600

$2,300 $2,500 $900 $3,000 1,700

$2,400 $2,300 $900 $3,000 1,600

$37,000 $57,350

$10,200

$10,400

$10,200

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102 $100 $10,200

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HOME POLISH CODE OF ETHIC Organizational Code of Conduct: Home Polish and its employees must, at all times, comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Home Polish does not condone the activities of employees who achieve results through violation of the law or unethical business dealings. This includes any payments for illegal acts, indirect contributions, rebates, and bribery. Home Polish does not permit any activity that fails to stand the closest possible public scrutiny.

All business conduct should be well above the minimum standards required by law. Accordingly, employees must ensure that their actions cannot be interpreted as being, in any way, in contravention of the laws and regulations governing Home Polish’ operations.

Employees uncertain about the application or interpretation of any legal requirements should refer the matter to their supervisor, who, if necessary, should seek appropriate legal advice.

General Employee Conduct: Home Polish expects its employees to conduct themselves in a businesslike manner. Drinking, gambling, fighting, swearing, and similar unprofessional activities are strictly prohibited while on the job.

Employees must not engage in sexual harassment, or conduct themselves in a way that could be construed as such, for example, by using inappropriate language, keeping or posting inappropriate materials in their work area or while with a client, or accessing inappropriate materials on their computer.

Conflicts of Interest: Home Polish expects that employees will perform their duties conscientiously, honestly, and in accordance with the best interests of Home Polish. Employees must not use their positions or the knowledge gained as a result of their positions for private or personal advantage. Regardless of the circumstances, if employees sense that a course of action they have pursued, or are presently pursuing, or are contemplating pursuing may involve them in a conflict of interest with their employer, they should immediately communicate all the facts to their supervisor.

Outside Activities, Employment, and Directorships: All employees share a serious responsibility for Home Polish’s Corporate Social Responsibility campaign, especially at the community level. Their readiness to help with religious, charitable, educational, and civic activities brings credit to Home Polish and is encouraged. Employees must, however, avoid acquiring any business interest or participating in any other activity outside Home Polish that would, or would appear to: - Create an excessive demand upon their time and attention, thus depriving Home Polish of their best efforts on the job.

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95 - Create a conflict of interest - an obligation, interest, or distraction - that may interfere with the independent exercise of judgment in Home Polish’ best interest.

Relationships With Clients and Suppliers: Home Polish employees should keep a professional relationship with clients at all times. Home Polish could be at risk if an employee crosses the boundaries into friendship or potentially something more with a client. Home Polish requires that when a close personal relationship between an employee and a customer has created, or has the potential to create a conflict in the completion of a Home Polish design that the employee must formally remove himself/herself from the situation and make alternative arrangements for the supervision of the employee’s project.

Employees should avoid investing in or acquiring a financial interest for their own accounts in any business organization that has a contractual relationship with Home Polish, or that provides goods or services, or both, to Home Polish if such investment or interest could influence or create the impression of influencing their decisions in the performance of their duties on behalf of Home Polish Gifts, Entertainment, and Favors: Employees must not accept entertainment, gifts, or personal favors that could, in any way, influence, or appear to influence, business decisions in favor of any person or organization with whom or with which Home Polish has, or is likely to have, business dealings. Similarly, employees must not accept any other preferential treatment under these circumstances because their positions with Home Polish might be inclined to, or be perceived to, place them under obligation to return the preferential treatment.

Organization Funds and Other Assets: Employees who have access to Organization funds in any form must follow the prescribed procedures for recording, handling, and protecting money as detailed in Home Polish’ policies and procedures or other explanatory materials, or both. Home Polish imposes strict standards to prevent fraud and dishonesty. If employees become aware of any evidence of fraud and dishonesty, they should immediately advise their supervisor or seek appropriate legal guidance so that Home Polish can promptly investigate further.

When an employee’s position requires spending Home Polish funds or incurring any reimbursable personal expenses, that individual must use good judgment on Home Polish’ behalf to ensure that good value is received for every expenditure. Organization funds and all other assets of Home Polish are purposed for Home Polish only and not for personal benefit. This includes the personal use of organizational assets, such as computers.

Dealing With Outside People and Organizations: Employees must take care to separate their personal roles from their Home Polish positions when communicating

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96 on matters not involving Home Polish business. Employees must not use Home Polish identification, stationery, supplies, and equipment for personal or political matters.

When communicating publicly on matters that involve Home Polish business, employees must not presume to speak for Home Polish on any topic, unless they are certain that the views they express are those of Home Polish, and it is Home Polish’ desire that such views be publicly disseminated.

When dealing with anyone outside Home Polish, including public officials, employees must take care not to compromise the integrity or damage the reputation of either Home Polish, or any outside individual, business, or government body.

Prompt Communications: In all matters relevant to customers, suppliers, government authorities, the public and others Home Polish, all employees must make every effort to achieve complete, accurate, and timely communications - responding promptly and courteously to all customers, proper requests for information, and to all complaints.

Privacy and Confidentiality: When handling financial and personal information about customers or others with whom Home Polish has dealings, observe the following principles: • Collect, use, and retain only the personal information necessary for Home Polish’ business. Whenever possible, obtain any relevant information directly from the person concerned. Use only reputable and reliable sources to supplement this information.

• Retain information only for as long as necessary or as required by law. Protect the physical security of this information.

• Limit internal access to personal information to those with a legitimate business reason for seeking that information. Use only personal information for the purposes for which it was originally obtained. Obtain the consent of the person concerned before externally disclosing any personal information, unless legal process or contractual obligation provides otherwise.

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HELLA BITTER - DISCOVERY DOCUMENT

Co-Founders: Tobin Ludwig, Jomaree Pinkard, Eduardo Simeon Inspiration and Development: Eduardo was the first to learn about bitters when he worked as a bar back from a bartender, who said that bitters in soda could settle the stomach. Although Tobin was pursuing professional acting, Eduardo worked in digital media, and Jomaree had recently received a MBA from Wharton, they crafted bitters as a hobby. To share the bitters with more friends, they ran a Kickstarter campaign that was remarkably successful. They took the surplus bitters to local restaurants and bars, who showed a real hunger for their product.

The name comes from the slang term ‘hella’ instigated in northern California, Eduardo’s home. What started as a playful pun morphed into a company name that people loved. Hella Bitters also distinguished itself by using real spices and fruits hand processed by the co-founders, rather than the artificial flavors and colors used by other bitters producers.

“We were producing a very niche, obscure product, and of course in American culture, we tend to have sweet teeth.

Bitter is often a dirty word,” says Tobin. “Now we’re seeing that change with people’s newfound love for food, love for things local, and love for chefs. We’ve really focused on providing context and telling the story of bitters.”

Current Products: Hella Bitters, Hella Tonics, Craft Your Own Bitters Kit, Old Fashioned Kit, Five Flavor Bitters Bar Set, Salt and Pepper Set, Demerara Sugar Cubes, Refill Kits, Tonic 3 Bottle Bundle Set Currently Sold At: Crate and Barrel, West Elm, Whole Foods (international retailers) and over 20 local New York specialty stores.

Product Philosophy: Hella Bitters products are all natural, made in small batches and offer you a premium alternative to all that mass-produced stuff out there. Founded in Brooklyn and thriving in NYC, our passion for quality has been there since the beginning and it’s how we went from being a weekend project, to a bitters company in serious pursuit of the delicious.

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98 As we’ve grown we’ve never lost sight of the craftsmanship of our products. It’s a quality we believe belongs behind every bar and in the cabinets of every kitchen. Whether it’s a classic cocktail, a brand new recipe or a do-it-yourself kit, Hella Bitters is there to make your life more delicious.

Target Market: Hella is focused on the home cocktail tinkerer. “We want to make bitters for people who don’t know what bitters are,” says cofounder Tobin Ludwig.

Social Media By The Numbers: Instagram

Twitter

Also have a blog via tumblr and a pinterest following of roughly 250 people.

Press Coverage http://hellabitter.tumblr.com/press Food and Wine, Martha Stewart Living, Men’s Fitness, L.A. Times, Paper Magazine + many more, mainly featured in 2013 and 2014. They were also featured in an ad campaign by American Express #readyforgrowth and openforum.com. They’ve also been featured in Tanqueray print ads, billboards and commercials.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M

99 HELLA BITTERS Simply put, bitters create layers of flavor and structure that just wouldn’t exist without them. They’re like salt and pepper for your drinks. A few dashes add flavor and character to your favorite cocktails, seltzer water and are great additions to your cooking adventures as well.

Historically prescribed for their medicinal properties it wasn’t until early in the 19th century that these potent remedies became a fundamental ingredient in cocktails. Bitters formulas can be highly coveted and are well guarded by their keepers.

Some famous bitter aperitifs are said to have upwards of 130 botanical ingredients ranging from roots to fruits to flowers. Bitters formulas are famous for the quantity and obscurity of ingredients used to render the final product. Hella Bitters is no exception.

CHARITY RESEARCH Following research on Home Polish and competitors we delved into research on charities both local and national and the services they provide. We wanted to accurately capture the charity landscape and find a charity (or charities) that fit the Home Polish values and 12/14/201512/14/2015

Name of Charity

1 Housing Works Thrift Shops

2 The Salvation Army 3 Goodwill

Location Available in 13 locations across New York

could potentially scale efforts as Home Polish continues to expand.

The key traits we were looking at during the research were free pickup of furniture because that is the initial baseline of something that would appeal to a Home Polish customer.

Drop-off loaction Free Pick-up

7 The Big Brother Big Sisters 8 Nazareth Housing 9 The JunkLuggers

Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire

519 E 11th St, New York, NY 10009 271 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10003

“

Website

Description

http://www.housingworks.org/do Provide pick up of most furniture items. raise money for homeless women, men and children that are HIV positive. nate/free-furniture-pickup/

Free Pick-up Pick-up depends on the location

http://www.cchoalbany.org

Pick up available Free pick up of furniture in Manhattan is from Canal Street north to 95th Street only

http://www.bbbsfoundation.org

Pick up available

https://www.junkluggers.com/

Volunteers of America of Western

4 New York

46 SOUTH MAIN STREET, PITTSFORD NY 14534 CATHOLIC CHARITIES HOUSING OFFICE, 41 N MAIN AVE, ALBANY, 6 The Catholic Charities Housing Office NY, 12203

The key is to find a charity that can not only scale as Home Polish continues to expand, but that shares Home Polish’s core values

All donations of clothing, furniture and other resalable items are handled http://www.satruck.org#sthash.c through The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Centers. Donations received to9wfMg.dpuf help provide services for substance abuse treatment and recovery programs. donations keep unwanted goods out of landfills. Bring new or gently used items to a Goodwill store, DonationXpress Accept furniture donations to sell in their retail stores throughout upstate New York. One of the main functions of this organization is providing meals and shelter to the homeless.

Our goal is to provide the refugees arriving in Rochester with a furnished, http://www.saintsplace.org/ functional home.

Availableat multiple locations in Pick-up available New York Furniture donation available only Pick-up available on selected areas

5 Saint's Place

Timing 10:00AM and 4:00PM

“

http://www.nazarethhousingnyc. org/

Accept furniture donations based on immediate need within family apartments program.

Eaither recycle or donate what they take, so you can rest easy knowing that they are doing everything they can to keep your furniture out of the landfill.

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INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED WITH DESIGNERS Q: What are the core values of Home Polish?

A: No consensus among 13 designers but they said that they were briefed the core values during Home Polish 101 Q: Would you be interested in a corporate social responsibility program A: Absolutely we would. As designers we love to give back and if there were avenues where we could find a way to give back to the community through designing, charity, or sponsoring an event we would be very interested.

Q: If there were a way for a designer to link his/her customers up with charities or give them information on places they can donate would you be interested?

A: That sounds like a great idea and definitely something in which we would be interested Q: Were you given an in-brief before meeting with your first customer?

A: We all receive Home Polish 101 from Verna but sometimes it happens after we have already consulted with our first client.

Q: Do you all receive professional development?

A: There are quarterly workshops but no time dedicated directly to professional development Q: Is there a standard checklist for you to bring to a job?

A: No, just things all designers should know.

Q: Does Home polish have a professional code of conduct?

A: They do not – of the 13 designers in the room some said they befriended their clients and others said they thought that was in appropriate.

Q: How does Home Polish differentiate between junior and senior designers?

A: We do not know…I guess it is dependent on each designer’s situation Q: Does Home Polish currently give back to any charities or work with any causes?

A: Not that we are aware of Q: Is there any company email etiquette?

A: There is not email etiquette but management puts together examples and formats of different types of letters and products we need.

Q: How does it work if you get a client that is difficult to deal with?

A: We try and work with the client within the realm of what’s possible and if it reaches a point where the relationship between designer and client cannot be fixed then we either change the designer or we end our relationship with the customer.

Q: Is it difficult as a new employee to respond to an email requesting a designer knowing that it is sent to multiple designers and that the first one that responds gets the job?

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101 A: It is very stressful for the designer and that is how it works Q: What do you care about?

A: We care about making our customers happy and improving lives through design Q: Does everyone have a design background A: No they do not Q: IF CSR were to be implemented into Home Polish 101 is that something to which you would be receptive?

A: That seems like it would work depending on how it is integrated Q: Do you enjoy working for Home Polish?

A: We love working for Home Polish. We don’t have to discuss finances with customers, they help us build our portfolios, and they encourage change through design Q: What types of ideas do you have for giving back to the community?

A: Maybe we could sponsor like a 5K for veterans, or work with a charity or design something for the homeless Q: Have you ever tried to use Home Polish from a customer point of view i.e. signing up and going through the steps to meet a designer?

A: No – the website is constantly changing and our account wouldn’t allow us to sign up and act as a customer.

WITH MANAGEMENT Q: Is Home Polish 101 supposed to be given to designers before they conduct their first meeting with a customer?

A: It is supposed to be, but that doesn’t always happen.

Q: What are your core values for your organization?

A: We don’t have written core values but we have a philosophy of Be the Solution, Dream Smart, Keep it Fun Q: How does Home Polish currently give back to the community?

A: In each of our cities we hold monthly workshops geared towards educating designers in the community Q: Would you like to give back more?

A: We would – we would like to find a way to educate designers and create a network of designers. We would like to create a forum with topics ranging from entrepreneurship to design.

Q: Would you be interested in partnering with any charities?

A: We are a self-funded organization so we would rather donate our designers’ time as opposed to spending any of our funds.

Q: Would you be interested in helping customers donate their old furniture to charity?

A: That is something we would have to discuss with another department because it is outside my purview.

Q: Do you have an ethic or professional code of conduct?

A: We do not

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102 Q: Do you have an organizational hierarchy A: We do not – maybe you can help with that.

Q: I would like you to talk me through the journey from your perspective on the customer’s experience.

A: The customer experience starts with their initial consult with their designer. From there they develop a relationship and decide whether or not to book a designer and continue on with their plan and project.

Q: Does Home Polish have a mission or vision statement?

A: We do not but we think that Great Design Changes Lives.

Q: In how many states is Home Polish operating?

A: 15 States Q: Have you done any work with charity before?

A: I think we helped design a homeless shelter in California but I will have to look and get back to you.

A: No – the website is constantly changing and our account wouldn’t allow us to sign up and act as a customer.

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INDIVIDUAL WORDCLOUD James Torrence James is as Captain in the U.S. Army and is a graduate of West Point. He has deployed twice to Afghanistan. He earned two Master’s Degrees since joining the military and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He has a PSM1 certification (Professional Scrum Master) and has been in charge of over 100 personnel spanning multiple countries.

Olivia Hnatyshin Olivia lauren hnatyshin is a designer, creative director and television producer based out of Toronto, Canada. With a bachelor in interior design, she began a career working behind the scenes, producing, writing and styling for various international talk shows. After hours, you can find her at the park with puppy, hunter.

Vanya Mittal Vanya is a professional designer with experience leading and contributing to international projects and publications. She launched her own design studio and also help create and contribute to “The Hanger Tales”- a blog on all things fashion. She wish to become an entrepreneur of business and a navigator of the unknown.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 15 Home Polish Interior Designers in discussion with the authors, October 2015.

Christopher Leung (Intermediate Designer at II X IV) in discussion with the authors, October 2015 Gregory Pena (Home Polish Designer) in discussion with the authors, October 2015 Marianna Ng (HOK Intermediate Interior Designer) in discussion with the authors, October 2015 Sarah Linn Schnare (Intermediate Designer at IBI Group) in discussion with the authors, October 2015 Vanessa Kwan (Residential Interior Designer) in discussion with the authors, October 2015 Virna Johnson (Home Polish Director Client Services) in discussion with the authors, September 2015.

Virna Johnson (Home Polish Director Client Services) in discussion with the authors, October 2015.

Virna Johnson (Home Polish Director Client Services), e-mail messages to authors, September 23-October 20, 2015.

“Home Page.” Home Polish. Home Polish, 2015. Web: https://www.homepolish.com/ 14 Dec. 2015.

“The Service.” Home Polish. Home Polish, 2015. Web: https://www.homepolish.com/service 14 Dec. 2015.

“The Magazine.” Home Polish. Home Polish, 2015. Web: https://www.homepolish.com/mag 14 Dec. 2015.

“Book a Designer.” Home Polish. Home Polish, 2015. Web: https://www.homepolish.com/start 14 Dec. 2015.

“About.” Home Polish. Home Polish, 2015. Web: https://www.homepolish.com/about 14 Dec. 2015.

“Cities.” Home Polish. Home Polish, 2015. Web: https://www.homepolish.com/cities 14 Dec. 2015.

“Style Quiz.” Home Polish. Home Polish, 2015. Web: https://www.homepolish.com/quiz 14 Dec. 2015.

“HOK Social Responsibility.” HOK. HOK, 2015. Web: http://www.hok.com/about/social-responsibility/ 14 Dec. 2015.

“Kabuni Social Responsibility.” Kabuni. Kabuni, 2015. Web: https://kabuni.com/social_responsibility 14 Dec. 2015.

“Havenly Home Page.” Havenly. Havenly, 2015. Web: https://www.havenly.com 14 Dec. 2014.

“Laurel and Wolf Home Page.” Laurel and Wolf. Laurel and Wolf, 2015. Web: http://design.laurelandwolf.com Dec. 2014.

“Donate.” Housing Works. Housing Works. Web: http://www.housingworks.org/donate/ 14 Dec. 2015 “The Salvation Army International.” The Salvation Army International. 2015. Web: https://satruck.org 14 Dec. 2015 “About Us.” Saints Place. Saints Place 2015. http://www.saintsplace.org 14 Dec. 2015 “Home.” Nazareth Housing Inc. 2012. http://www.nazarethhousingnyc.org 14 Dec. 2015 “Home.” The Big Brother Big Sisters. BBBS Foundation 2008. http://www.bbbsfoundation.org 14 Dec. 2015 “About us.” Catholic Charities Housing Office. http://www.cchoalbany.org 14 Dec. 2015 “What we take.” The Junkluggers. The Junkluggers 2015. https://www.junkluggers.com/what-we-take/ 14 Dec. 2015 Liedttka, Jeanne & Ogilvie, Tim. Designing for Growth: a design thinking toolkit for managers. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.

Liedtka, Jeanne, Ogilvie, Tim, & Brozenske, Rachel. The Designing for Growth Field Book: a step-by-step project guide. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.

CHEERLEADER INC. | PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL OF DESIGN | MS. SD&M