Design research & strategy: A Journey of CarE

Project Overview:

“Beyond Health: Designing for Care” was a Fall 2019 Studio in Parsons’ Transdisciplinary Design MFA Program, co-taught by Patricia Beirne and Eduardo Staszowski. We explored how social and cultural observations can lead to meaningful design projects, with a special focus on delivering care to the most vulnerable communities.

We focused specifically on how we might reimagine the current military journey in a way that established trust, transparency, and accountability through a series of design interventions.

Project Journey:

In order to immerse ourselves in the topic, we gathered secondary research, conducted interviews at recruitment offices and across different stakeholders (veterans and their families, recruiters, and government employees), and spoke to people on the street about their perception of the military. I facilitated a participatory design workshop at Parsons with members of Lab at OPM, veterans, and veteran service organization administrators to explore ways to build trust. We also created user journey maps and tested prototypes.

Based on these insights, we proposed a suite of design interventions:

1. A new Central Recruiting Office that serves a central point of information, allowing a recruit to understand all of the branches and careers offered by the military and where they might be the best fit

2. A new NGO called the Veteran Partnership Assistance League (PAL) that connects recruits with veterans, who can help guide the recruit and offer support along their journey. This also allows veterans a pathway to give back and continue their service.

3. An Enlistment Workbook that offers guides, visualizations, prompts, and reminders to the recruit to ensure they know what questions to ask and what provisions to ensure as part of their enlistment

4. A Community Agreement between the recruit, PAL, and the DoD that ensures the recruit will have support once they have left the Military

5. A Translated Contract in everyday language that explains the details and obligations outlined in the enlistment contract

6. The MyMilitary App that serves as a dynamic centralized source of information, through which the recruit can browse careers, track their progress, access records like test scores, and chat with their PAL.