To the casual observer, the Hive (officially the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Co-Creation) is a fun place on campus where you can make buttons and posters or take sewing or printmaking classes. However, this means that students from a variety of programs and academic classes solve real-world problems, both locally and globally, using the principles of human-centered design, a problem-solving technique that focuses on user needs. It is also an active complex that seeks to
The Hive’s Summer Design Fellowship program is one of many avenues for Claremont College students to apply human-centered design methodologies. The Vietnam Health Design Program is one such summer venture, and last month students and staff in the program saw their work come to fruition through a book launch in Vietnam. It was covered by Vietnamese domestic media.
That book, Herbal recipes to improve healthis a collection of herbal remedies created by women in northern Vietnam and curated by students at Claremont College. In this “collective living history, women share the sustainable health knowledge they inherited from their mothers and grandmothers,” said Shannon Randolph, Director of Global Social Impact at Hive.
Phase 1: Inspiration
The first step in human-centered design involves listening empathetically to understand people’s needs.
Mr. Randolph holds a Ph.D. He holds a PhD in anthropology and traveled to Vietnam in 2017 to help the non-profit Animals Asia investigate people’s attitudes towards the use of bear bile as a treatment for joint pain, inflammation and gallstones. did.
“Bear bile farming raises not only humane treatment issues, but also conservation issues, as bears in the wild are continuously captured. Their numbers are declining dramatically,” Randolph said. “There are also health problems where contaminated bile can cause disease.”
In the summer of 2018, Randolph led a team of Lauramont University students (Laura Mont. Trang returned to Vietnam with 19 years).
The team worked closely with Animals Asia and hired local Vietnamese research assistants to work with Claremont students. Together they collected data, conducted surveys and interviews, and made observations.
“This program taught me the ability to understand different values,” says Chan. “How much time does it take to think deeply about the myriad factors that drive human behavior? How much constant conscious effort does it take to minimize one’s own biases and see the world through the eyes of others?” It taught me how much effort is required.”
Phase 2: Idea generation
This step in human-centered design involves brainstorming ideas and building easily adjustable prototypes based on the information you’ve gathered.
The research team decided to focus on elderly village women. This is because, as heads of the household, they have caring responsibilities and often influence the health choices of their families. From there, the researchers observed that women were more likely to share knowledge among their colleagues. “Informal knowledge is invaluable,” Randolph says.
As a result of their research, they decided to publish an herbal recipe book and host a women’s health circle where women could informally interact with each other and share knowledge. The goals of these two initiatives include connecting women as health experts and encouraging the use of traditional herbs as an alternative to animal part medicines.
The herbs used in the recipe can be easily found in many home gardens. The solution is “community-driven,” “sustainable,” and “can be integrated into everyday life,” Chan said.
Phase 3: Implementation
The Hive team has collected dozens of recipes that Vietnamese women wanted to share with each other. They went through an organic process of collaborating with women and integrating recipes. They then took those recipes to the Vietnamese Traditional Medicine Association, who worked with them to ensure efficacy and safety.
“It was a multi-step process,” Randolph said, adding that photographing the plant medicine and designing the book took months.
The book’s release was delayed for several years due to COVID-19 restrictions, but an event was finally held in October, attended by six Vietnamese media outlets, as well as representatives from UNICEF and the German Agency for International Cooperation.
Mr. Randolph attended the presentation to represent the contributions of Claremont students.
“It was great to return to Vietnam for the first time in four years to celebrate the work of so many students who made this book the culmination of this book, and to enhance the knowledge of Vietnamese women in the field of sustainable healthcare,” said Randolph. says.
