quicksand's process and credentials
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User-Centered Design & Innovation in Emerging Markets
Quicksand | August 2015
Quicksand is a design thinking and innovation consultancy based in India. We work in emerging markets helping partners navigate the complex reality of turning ideas into action.
Our strength is in human-centered design - a powerful method to translate consumer insights into high-impact solutions. Our multi-disciplinary team strikes the right balance between creativity, analytical rigor and deep consumer understanding.
Our work spans a variety of sectors
Consumer Technologies Google, Facebook , Nokia, Samsung
Consumer Goods Unilever, Coca-Cola
Financial Services IDFC, GIZ, The World Bank
Water & Sanitation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Education & Livelihoods Cisco, International Youth Foundation, One World South Asia
Cultural Industry British Council, Dutch DFA, Goethe Institut
Our clients are global
Europe Nokia, Nesta, British Council, GIZ
United States Google, The World Bank Group, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IDEO
Asia-Pacific Unilever, Samsung, Design Singapore
India Reliance, Coca-Cola, Wipro, IDFC
Our reach is global
As Quicksand We have executed projects across varied cultural and locational contexts.
As part of global networks We are a leading partner in Reach, which is a global network of design researchers and thinkers.
Countries where Quicksand has executed projects
Countries where Quicksand has existing partners
DRAFT
We work with global corporations to envisage new business opportunities
UNILEVER Disruptive innovations for low income consumers
We work with international development partners to drive social impact through innovation and design.
BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION Tackling the urban sanitation crisis
We explore and incubate a future with no boundaries.
UNBOX (www.unboxfestival.com) Incubated platform to explore cultural futures
Our Approach to Human Centered Design
Our approach to future-focused research and innovation is anchored in principles of human centered design - a process that is intrinsic to robust product and service development
Quicksand’s articulation of the human centered design process can be summarized in three simple, yet powerful steps
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
Framing an opportunity through the lens of what consumers need or desire is perhaps the most critical first step in the innovation journey.
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
What does the everyday lives of your users look like?
What are the motivations that prompt the behaviors we observe? What is the larger ecology that influences their behavior?
What are people’s aspirations and how do they fulfill those?
What role does culture have in shaping perceptions and attitudes?
CGAP at the World BankUser Centered Innovations for G2P Transfers
A research and design study to understand the manner in which direct benefit transfers from the government, enabled through technology platforms, impact the lives of end recipients.
The goal of the study was to capture a rich, nuanced picture of the end-recipient experience in semi-urban, rural and tribal locations in Andhra Pradesh and suggest design responses that can enrich the quality of the G2P experience.
The solution almost always lies at the intersection of multiple skills and disciplines. Stories have the power to bring together teams and provide a rich, fertile ground for insights, ideas and inspiration.
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
How do we build empathy for consumers amongst technology, marketing, product & design teams?
Can the stories and insights be more easily accessed & shared?
Are there disruptive ideas that can influence how we think about our solutions?
How can teams be more creative?
UnileverDisruptive Innovations for BoP Consumers
A product development study to conceptualise a comprehensive business and product strategy for Unilever’s household care category (toilet cleaning, surface care and hand dishwashing) in emerging markets of India, China, Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa.
Efforts to address the unmet and unsolved home care needs of low income consumers were focused around field research, ideation, concept generation and co-creation of products and business models with users and experts in each of these markets.
Rural WaterEcosystem Map
Unilever - Kiteboarding | Quicksand 2011
WATER WELLS Shared by 2-3 households or owned privately. Used for all household purposes.
CANAL WATERRuns in front of households.Utensils and clothes are brought out and washed here.
HAND PUMPSIs becoming obsolete because of community taps being installed & bad water quality.
BORE TANKGovernment installed infra-structure, supplied through community water taps.
COMMUNITY TAPSTaps shared by 4-5 homes in the community. Water is supplied for a limited time.
1. Ethnographic Research : Deep dives in households
in various geographies in Africa and Asia
2. Co-design Workshops : Bringing a workshop setting alive with artifacts and tools from the context
3. Context Mapping : Visual synthesis of as outputs to explain complex systems
4. Fatta Boxes {Inspiration boxes} : Rich-media outputs that bring the research alive, being used in an ideation workshop with key stakeholders
5. Quick Concepting : Live visualisations and quick sketches illustrating ideas for a product-service prototype
A well designed product or a system is a standout experience first - finding ways to articulate that early on, even in rudimentary ways, can create a clear roadmap for how an opportunity may be brought to fruition.
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
Experience is such an intangible - how do we make that more real?
Product development can take forever - are there quick, low cost ways of testing concepts?
How do we deliver a well crafted, consistent experience when there are multiple experts working independently?
PATHLow-cost household water treatment and storage products (HWTS)
Developing a low cost water treatment and storage product that can mobilize uptake and sustained use of HWTS products and practices amongst the rural poor.
The product development phase was preceded by an in-depth, six-month longitudinal study of people’s water practices by placing product surrogates within consumer homes. The study findings informed the design and development phase which in turn was a collaboration between engineering, technology and manufacturing teams spread over India, US and China.
User Interactions Testing product prototypes with lead users in-context
Beta PrototypesProduct renderings of the final prototype
Why HCD? Why Quicksand? An Emerging Market Perspective
Human Centered Design is perhaps uniquely positioned to address the challenges of cross-cultural innovation
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
Meeting People
Telling Stories
Crafting Experiences
How does culture and context begin to challenge assumptions around what works and what doesn’t?
How do teams divided by geography and culture gain access to consumer insights in a manner that is immersive and rich?
Are there local resources and expertise that can help jump start product development?
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Human-Centered Approach to Service Design & Innovation
Quicksand will use its core expertise in human centered design and service innovation to envisage solutions that address the possibilities and constraints of the client brief.
Insights & Opportunities
Concept Development
Prototyping & Validation
Generating insights and opportunities through ethnography, contextual observations and participatory research
Building concepts and a pipeline of innovation for the different business lines through expert engagement and creative brainstorming
Lo fidelity prototyping to test and validate concepts with end user groups. Re-iterate the innovation pipeline and build an implementation plan
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Project Plan
Generating insights and opportunities through ethnography, contextual observations and participatory research
Building concepts and a pipeline of innovation for the different business lines through expert engagement and creative brainstorming
Lo fidelity prototyping to test and validate concepts with end user groups. Re-iterate the innovation pipeline and build an implementation plan
8-10 weeks 6-8 weeks
Synthesis workshops with internal team
Insights and opportunities report
DELIVERABLES
Creative brainstorming workshops with internal teams and external experts
Ideation toolkit
Concept visualizations
Lo-fidelity prototypes of leading concepts
Testing and validation report
Insights & Opportunities
Concept Development
Prototyping & Validation
Quicksand It’s about the people
We are part of REACH - a global consortium of highly skilled and experienced design research firms.
REACH (www.globaldesignresearch.com)
