Earlier this summer, after Sydney was accepted to Bucknell, we learned about a program in the business school there called MIDE, their Markets, Innovation & Design program. I thought it was a pretty cool program and reached out to connect during one of our visits with Sydney. That started a conversation about ways we could work together during the school year.
Later in the summer, once we had the folks from Jisp move in, that started many conversations about how the store of the future would be designed if you didn't need cashiers and checkout lines, particularly at grocery and convenience stores. Our internal teams started thinking about it as well, exploring the entire checkout process that exists today and what would be done with that space once the checkout lines were removed and it spurred some great conversations.
In late August, I had the chance to meet with Collin Smith and we both thought that the idea of recreating the front end of a grocery store would be a great project for his class. Since they had to explore a topic and then actually design and build something, the ability to use our manufacturing resources at Unified to actually build some prototypes was pretty exciting.
Collin described the class and its process:
“Creative confidence is about believing in your ability to create change in the world around you....the ability to come up with new ideas and the courage to try them out.” - Tom Kelly, IDEO
Our design studio at Bucknell's Markets, Innovation & Design program is building creative confidence by having students bring new ideas to life through prototypes people can actually experience and interact with to really feel what the future might really be like. We fill our studio space with supplies for very rapid and rough prototyping (ex. pipe cleaners, felt, fun foam, Play-Doh, popsicle sticks, tape, hot glue, etc.) so our design teams can think with their hands and physically build on each others ideas.
This collaborative project with Brand Experience Lab builds on these making experiences by giving these students real opportunities, tools, and mindsets to envision, design, and demonstrate possible futures of retail experiences. By bringing these ideas to life through low and high fidelity prototypes these students will be able to really ensure that what is designed makes sense in the future lives of people, bringing truly meaningful and differentiated consumer value.
Let’s make the future awesome, together.
I had the chance to meet with the class in late September and kick off the process with them. Throughout the semester, we'll introduce them to other designers and technologists who will give them more ideas to work with over the semester. There will be a variety of times throughout this process to see what the students are doing and we will update the blog whenever we can.
You can email me if you'd like to know more about the program and participate either as a technology or retail partner. We anticipate this to be the first of many programs and we couldn't be happier to be partnering with Bucknell on this first initiative.
More on MIDE:
As a Bucknell markets, innovation & design major, you'll learn to recognize what consumers want — before they even know they want it — and build a career developing the products, brands and messages to meet those desires. But you don't need to wait until graduation to get started. Whether you want to help entrepreneurs launch their first websites or start your own magazine, you’ll have freedom to follow your passions here. When you are ready to enter the job market, those experiences in and out of the classroom will make you stand out. Leading employers around the world actively recruit our graduates, who hold jobs with organizations as diverse as Tommy Hilfiger and the Philadelphia 76ers.