IMPROOV

“Finding Equality”

DESIGN THINKING + STRATEGY + RESEARCH

ROLE

Solo Project: Lead Researcher, Strategist, Designer, Design Manager.

OBJECTIVE

Women have been and are continued to be discriminated in many ways that are distinct from men (Turner and Maschi, pg 151). This project was aimed at finding equality for females in the workplace by developing a solution for females to feel empowered in the corporate world and generally sexist industries such as technology. It is the hope that by examining workplace cultures and identities that they may be created to support and empower women through opportunities such as equal pay, more presence in higher positions, more speaking time in meetings and other areas of the workplace.

This study hopes to change the notion that gender equality is largely a struggle that is lead by women for women and aims to include men in the call for change.

SOLUTION

The difficulty of changing pre-existing social identifiers within an organization remains difficult; especially when your are involved within the HR or management of that organization. Through the development of IMPROOV, a consultancy for the disenfranchised, we will help you turn your ideas into action by developing a business plan where you include more diverse hires and minorities in leadership positions with equal benefits.

PROCESS

This 10 week project began with secondary research on feminism, the women’s movement, organizational culture and identity, as well as empowerment and equality theory to better determine the difficulties faced by the organization and the disempowered individual, team, etc.

From there, I began primary research by conducting interviews and observations. Additionally, I did an industry analysis of existing competitors and complementors. Through research findings, I began prototyping different design solutions. I reframed the original solution to develop IMPROOV through the assessment of the industries involved. I used this information and analyses to create a strategic roadmap for my solution including strategic options, a strategic business canvas and a balance scorecard for my solution.

For the full process book please see here. This document highlights key learnings or insights from the research, deliverables, visualized research and design synthesis.