Apeksha Garga
MDes 2010
MDes 2010
resume
project 1:
Research: Smokeless Cook Stove for Rural India
Cooking with solid fuels is among the four greatest risks of death and disease in the world’s poorest countries. Over the summer, with a team of 5 people, I conducted qualitative research in remote rural areas of India to identify user beliefs and behaviors around health and cooking practices that could lead to the design of a smokeless cook stove. Research methods included, in-depth interviews, intercept interviews, observation studies and secondary market and technology research.
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Cooking with solid fuels is among the four greatest risks of death and disease in the world’s poorest countries. Over the summer, with a team of 5 people, I conducted qualitative research in remote rural areas of India to identify user beliefs and behaviors around health and cooking practices that could lead to the design of a smokeless cook stove. Research methods included, in-depth interviews, intercept interviews, observation studies and secondary market and technology research.
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personal statement
Hi, I am Apeksha. Over the past years, as a student of architecture, a design practitioner and now at the Institute of Design, I have learnt to balance empathy for users and business. A point where their needs and values converge is a state of social utopia. This is especially difficult to achieve in BOP problems where a service or product is new for both the users and the business. I am interested in being an active participant to explore these new frontiers by combating real intractable problems and create social impact through design. I have the ability to view the whole and part relationships and approach problems from a systemic perspective with the user at its core, distill patterns and communicate a compelling story that offers intelligent and meaningful strategic directions.
Hi, I am Apeksha. Over the past years, as a student of architecture, a design practitioner and now at the Institute of Design, I have learnt to balance empathy for users and business. A point where their needs and values converge is a state of social utopia. This is especially difficult to achieve in BOP problems where a service or product is new for both the users and the business. I am interested in being an active participant to explore these new frontiers by combating real intractable problems and create social impact through design. I have the ability to view the whole and part relationships and approach problems from a systemic perspective with the user at its core, distill patterns and communicate a compelling story that offers intelligent and meaningful strategic directions.
project 2:
Strategy: Community Campaign for Violence Prevention, Ceasefire, Chicago
A team worked with CeaseFire Chicago, an anti-violence organization, to develop a communications strategy to change the thinking about the social norms and behaviors that perpetuate the transmission of violence at the individual and community level. Over a period of three months the project team interviewed CeaseFire staff, community residents, local stakeholders, potential enabling partners and created visualizations of context analysis to understand organization innovation history, competition landscape and value webs in order to define the problem space and design a solution.
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A team worked with CeaseFire Chicago, an anti-violence organization, to develop a communications strategy to change the thinking about the social norms and behaviors that perpetuate the transmission of violence at the individual and community level. Over a period of three months the project team interviewed CeaseFire staff, community residents, local stakeholders, potential enabling partners and created visualizations of context analysis to understand organization innovation history, competition landscape and value webs in order to define the problem space and design a solution.
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project 3:
Planning: Juncture, Opportunity Engine for Urban Slums
To get by, day by day, slum dwellers solve problems of scarcity in innovative ways, they have ideas about how to ‘trade up’. Our team used secondary research techniques and business frameworks such as value webs, position maps, to arrive at a concept model called ‘Juncture’ that matches the ideas of the slum entrepreneur to the right information, capital and networks that eventually allows slum dwellers to leap frog from survival to growth.
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To get by, day by day, slum dwellers solve problems of scarcity in innovative ways, they have ideas about how to ‘trade up’. Our team used secondary research techniques and business frameworks such as value webs, position maps, to arrive at a concept model called ‘Juncture’ that matches the ideas of the slum entrepreneur to the right information, capital and networks that eventually allows slum dwellers to leap frog from survival to growth.
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