We are now publishing An Illustrated Weekly World of Design on Tuesdays. This week we are looking at examples of design for development.
Kickstart is one of the most successful examples of using design and a solid business model to improve farmers earning capabilities. Kickstart employs a 5 step process for a systematic approach to end poverty.
- Identify Opportunities; what business will be profitable for these people in this place? Selecting the right business model is the most critical factor in determining the likely success of a new business.
- Design Products; what tools will make this possible? We start with a challenge, design a tool that will generate income.
- Establish a Supply Chain; how can we produce these? The greatest invention cannot change the world if it does not get manufactured and distributed.
- Develop the Market; how do we convince someone with little money to make a big investment? We want to get as many people out of poverty as possible.
- Measure and Move Along; is this going as we planned? Once we reach the tipping point, KickStart will make a profit on every sale. We will reinvest these to develop new technologies.
Perhaps more interesting from a design point of view is Kickstart's design criteria.
- Income Generating. Every tool must have a profitable business model attached to it.
- Return on Investment. Anyone who purchases a KickStart tool will be able to fully recoup his or her investment in six months or less.
- Affordability. The tool has to be affordable to the target audience. Since we are designing for some of the world’s poorest people, this means that retail prices have to be less than a few hundred dollars, ideally less than $150.
- Energy-Efficient. All of our tools are human powered so they must be extremely efficient at converting human power to mechanical power.
- Ergonomics and Safety. Our tools must be safe to use for long periods of time without stress or injury.
- Portability. Tools must be small and light enough to carry home from the store by foot, bike or minibus.
- Ease of Installation and Use. All of our products must be easy to set up and use, without additional training or requiring any additional tools (not even a hammer or screwdriver).
- Strength and Durability. We are asking people to make a significant investment and we know that our products will be pushed to their limits, so we design and build to withstand abuse. We then offer a one-year guarantee on all of our products.
- Design for Manufacturing. To be truly effective, a tool has to be produced in large quantities, but in the developing world manufacturing capacity is limited. We design around these limitations.
- Cultural Acceptability. Local culture will not change to adopt a new technology. The technology has to be adapted to the culture.
Ideo was involved in the design of the Money Maker Deep Lift Pump, see some of their other Social Impact projects here.
D.Light is one of the success stories from Stanford's Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability course. D.Light's mission is to 'replace every kerosene lantern in the world with high quality and affordable light and power solutions, thereby providing everyone access to a basic human need: safe and bright light.' Read more about the D.Light story on Sam Goldman's blog.
Another project from Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability is 3 Brick Design, designing affordable cook stoves for the developing world. The project blog describes the design process where the team has developed and is testing prototypes.
Great design can come from anywhere; Mrs Mujonjo from Uganda made a mobile phone charger using 5 D size batteries and the charging cable. Via Afrigadget.
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