Innovation research and design of building materials to enter a new market
March - September 2022Overview
A residential daylighting panel manufacturer wanted a new product that would allow them to enter and own 20% of the commercial market.
My role
Lead design researcher on a four person multi-disciplinary team.
My role was to drive design and development decision making from problem definition, opportunity discovery, and concept evaluation and validation.
The challenge
Define and validate a new concept and develop it to a fidelity ready to enter the clients new product development process.
Twist: the client team had strong assumptions about the commercial market formed from experience in the residential market. They struggled to align on which needs to prioritize.
Building with daylighting panels
Immersion kick-off workshop
What I did
Facilitated team alignment by co-designing and facilitating collaborative workshops
Drove design and development activities by planning and conducting 45+ in-depth interviews and in-field observations with three key stakeholder groups to generate insights and test ten concepts
Earned the trust of clients to guide them through a new front-end process by inviting them to join me on research trips and engaging them with listening and conversation
In-field discovery research with installers
In-office discovey research
In-office concept evaluation
Virtual value proposition workshop
Virtual concept validation
In-office concept validation
Presenting to client team and C-suite gatekeepers
Final presentation to client team and C-suite gatekeepers
The outcome
C-suite gatekeepers approved the new product concept for next phases of development
Mapped key stakeholder involvement in the commercial market to help our client make decisions and prioritize opportunities and challenges related to delivering the product
Collaborated with the design strategist to frame innovation opportunities beyond the product
