rachel tarulli

challenge

This project is centered around five ordinary words; safety, commute, digital, inclusive, and non-human. These words were used to experiment and explore both human behavior and memory in order to evolve the ordinary into the extraordinary through synthesizing our findings into an innovative service.

Solution

Black Box is a service that provide workers a private and safe space in the workspaces to release their emotional pressure. With a emotional responsive AI implanted, workers can have a non-human channel vent their emotion or problems without any confidential concerns. With releasing emotional stress, workers can then provide their company a boost in productivity.

the original five words and user assumptions

We started off with the words; digital, commute, inclusive, safety, and non-human and immediately tried connecting the dots between them. We went out and asked 9 participants what services comes to mind when they hear these 5 words together. The responses were ordinary and not innovative like Uber and autonomous cars.

In turn, we decided to ask participants word associations when they hear each word to get a deeper meaning.

reframe

Participants kept giving us ordinary words back. We felt we weren’t getting anywhere so we decided to reframe. Taking the opposite of the original 5 words will allow us to have a different point of view and take this process in a different direction.

With the opposite words, we created a short sentence. We tested users memory by telling them the narrative and asking to repeat it 24 hours later.

data analysis

We analyzed our data and found out what words were used most, but also words that were random and caught our attention.

The most eye-catching words for our team were: off-grid, negative emotions, and work.

workshop

In order to connect the three areas of interest back to the original five words, we designed an abstract thinking workshop to see what narratives participants come up with when given the same words. Each group voted for their favorite narrative.

The winning narrative was: “Train workers to be emotionless at work”.

interviews

We tested this narrative by asking participants what comes to their mind when they hear this phrase. There responses centered around emotions in the workplace such as; disengagement and stress.

Responses:

• Disengagement in the workplace

• The methods managers and Human Resources use to deal with disengaged workers

• Emotional labor in the workspace

• The connection between emotional labor and productivity

Now we had our insights about the narrative, we asked users how they deal with stress in the workplace and who they vent their problems. We were finally finding nights on how to create an innovative service from the original challenge.

secondary research

We wanted to research some statistics regarding the workplace and stress. To our surprise the statistics were shocking.

Opportunity

Our solution needed to focus on giving workers somewhere to vent their emotions while they were at work. By doing this it will allow them to become more productive, and have less things weighing on their mind.

Overall this design approach is very interesting. The challenge was to turn five ordinary words; commute, digital, non-human, inclusive, and safety, into something extraordinary. From challenging these 5 words, we have tested user’s memories and gotten to the bottom of what is on their mind. We found out what words stand out to users and how they relate their feelings to them. This approach allowed us insights into a very particular matter of stress in the workplace.

black box

A private, soundproof space to relieve your stress in the workplace. Enter the booth and the responsive AI will listen to whatever you have to get off your chest.

how it works for workers

Scan your work ID to get into the booth. The AI will give you personalized attention and will remember your previous visits do you won’t have to repeat yourself.

scenario

The responsive AI will immediately begin to talk to you as soon as you enter the booth. It is there to listen to you vent your problems, so they don’t consume your whole workday.

Service offering

What makes Black Box so great is that it provides benefits for the company’s workers by giving them an outlet to relieve stress, by doing this the company itself will have an increase in productivity which will translate into revenue down the line.

company’s who are looking to increase productivity

Black Box provides companies various choices of subscription plans. A specialist will work with the company and figure out the most suitable plan due to their workspace and special needs. All the boost will be installed by professional technician.

How it works for companies

We provide your company the box, AI technology, and the instillation. But not only that, we also provide monthly analytics to help you improve the company workplace environment. These analytics will show you which department uses Black Box more an how frequently.

Why Black box?

What makes this service so enticing to companies is that not only will it increase worker productivity, but they can actually make more of a profit through data buyers. Whatever the workers say to the AI is confidential, but basic statistics such as age and occupation can be sold to data buyers who will use the information for research regarding the workplace.

Value flow

With Black Box, each stakeholder is receiving value with this service. The company is increasing their profits, their workers are more productive, and the data buyers are receiving valuable data for research.

THANK YOU!

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MY CONTRIBUTIONS

Conducted primary and secondary research, service tools, insight development, and service development.

TEAM

Tucker Witter, Siddhant Patel, Yvonne Chen, Rachel Tarulli, Andrew Zanoni

TIMEFRAME 

10 Weeks