Central Saint Martin’s partnered with the Kentish Town City Farm, London’s first city farm, to evaluate the farm’s user experience and design solutions that will help them have an even bigger, more positive, impact on their community.
Research was entirely based on public engagement. My group and I engaged the community through volunteering, visiting other farms, attending community markets and other events, and running open design workshops at the farm. We worked to design interactive group activities that helped learn and validate our insights. It encouraged people to step outside of their normal ways of thinking and become problem solvers.
Our extensive and diverse research gave us a plethora of data to process. We used different methods to sift through and gain insights and discover key themes. Through this feedback process with farm staff we discovered four key themes of the farm’s goals. We first looked for common keywords which helped us compile a list of key themes that are important to the farm. Finally we created a map of stakeholders using the various sticky notes of “actors” from each group. We then gathered together and spent time listing every insight found on sticky notes and began categorizing them into similar areas. We eventually found nine different key areas that people had been making suggestions for. We then grouped similar areas to form four areas which would become our 4 briefs.
Our four briefs we discovered were as follows:
CONNECT: Find ways of supporting volunteering on the farm.
EXPLORE: Find a way to improve the overall experience of farm visitors.
GROW: Find a way to make the gardens more welcoming and accessible to visitors.
INSIDE OUT: Find more ways of interacting with the community.
CONNECT:
We created mock ups for their website and social media in order to show them what their brand could look like and the benefits a digital presence would bring.
EXPERIENCE:
We created a new brand and style for the farm. We then created maps and signs that would help make the farm more engaging and interactive and match the new brand.
GROW:
We designed stackable planters to save space and avoid the polluted soil below. They also acted as adaptable furniture throughout the farm. These boxes were designed to be made from minimal material, skill, and tools to keep costs down. We also designed a scheme for the boxes to be rented out to community members as well as notebooks for box owners and child visitors.
INSIDE OUT:
We created a mobile cart that could be used at the farm for various events or be wheeled to nearby schools, business, and markets to educate and promote the farm in the community. Each concept can be used at the farm or in the community, turning the farm inside out.
