Minor Project - Group 14: Cocokami New food New Life

MODULE PRJ 62204: Minor Project 

Tristan Vaughan Sleep - 0365120

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Minor Project - Assignment I, II, III: Cocokami 

---

MODULE INSTRUCTIONS:

“2025: PRJ 62204 / Minor Project MODULE INFORMATION BOOKLET”

Minor Project Assignments: Designing Robot Design (Weighted 40%)

Task I - Proposal: Students of the cohort are expected to sort themselves into mixed groups by their Multidisciplinary skills. The goal is for their groups to present an innovative concept based on their selected client. This presentation should provide unique solutions in relation to the UNSDG.

Task II - Design Production: Based on the students slides and Figjam boards, students are expected to use the Design Processes based on their Multidisciplinary skills - creating a detailed production schedule and end product. Said end Product should be in-line with the defined expectations in the students slides or Figjam boards.

Task III - Final Presentation: To conclude the Project,  students must utilise their Multidisciplinary skills to host their final presentation - presenting their findings, research and work. Students need to address their final product/s, the targeted audience & the UNSDGs.

---

PARTICIPATED LECTURES:

WEEK I:

Introduction: For this Hyperflex-learning Module, students are expected to focus on applying Design Thinking to their group project -  requiring students from different specialisations for a multidisciplinary approach. For this week, students are tasked with getting into groups with other students and watching the videos provided in the Hyperflex-learning program. They should also begin considering their options for the client they wish to represent.

WEEK II:

DESIGN THINKING: Design Thinking is a creative process which is often used to approach discovered problems and provide effective solutions - focusing the design around Human-Centred Approach. The Design process goes through six stages of Design:  Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.  In general, the process expects students to recognise a problem faced by the client and audiences, clearly define and breakdown said problems and begin making ideas and solutions to said problems.

“Introduction into Design Thinking”

ASSUMPTION vs. EMPATHY: In most cases, designs are often made using audience assumption or: a product that is designed to solve a perceived problem which is viewed from an outside perspective. Conversely, Empathy requires research into the audience and finding key information about what they struggle with and making something to solve the actual issue. 

“Assumptions vs. Empathy”

WEEK III:

USER RESEARCH: To get a better understanding of the problem presented, students will need to tailor their research to fit the responses of their audience. Students may need to use methods such as User Interviews, User Observation, Data Analysis etc. By using tailored methods, students can look at individual sections of the problem which can help build up key information to make an effective solution.

“Why Conduct our User Research”

USER PERSONAS: To present a better picture of the problem, it's recommended to build a User Persona as a short-hand way of representing parts of the audience. To do this, Students will use the previously obtained information and condense it down into a fictional character. This way, the problem is not too large in scope but is also large enough to represent the audience.

“Understanding User Personas”

SURVEYS AND RESEARCH METHODS: In basics, Various methods of research will need to be conducted whether it be online resources or in-person surveys, interviews etc. Therefore, it is recommended that students learn how to conduct these methods of research effectively and to get the best responses from said research.

“Importance of Surveys and Research Methods”

WEEK IV:

DEFINE STAGE: In general, the define phase is looking at  information gathered in the empathy stage and using it to better identify the problem. Despite this being great for human-centred thinking, it's important to consider that not all information gathered needs to be used as this can lead to a single product needing to achieve too many things. Sometimes, it's better to focus on the most common problem rather than all problems.

“What are Insights in the Define Stage”

DATA, FINDING, INSIGHTS: Data is any information that is quantitative and directly comes from the audience - 60% of people prefer… Findings are any patterns in quantitative data which are not directly mentioned by audiences - Preference of … has increased by 20%. Insights is qualitative data gathered from opinions and observational studies of the audience - seeing what the audience may struggle with etc.

“Data vs. Findings vs. Insights”

HOW MIGHT WE: This is a method of thinking where after recognising the key problem, students propose ‘How might we…’ questions to better shape their direction in the project. How functions as setting the problem, Might suggests a probable solution and, We suggest collaborative efforts.

“What are How Might We (HMW) Questions?”

WEEK V:

USER JOURNEY MAPS: This is a method of visually mapping the audience experience and identifies their Actions, emotions and Pain-points. It expects the students to think in their audiences’ shoes and see where improvements can be made. 

“Ideation for the User or Customer Journey Map

WEEK VI:

PROPOSAL INFORMATION: To end the first task, students would need to make a presentation on how their project will progress. It should outline deliverables, timelines and identifying commercial terms.

“What Are Design Proposal Presentations”

---

PRACTICAL STUDIES:

TASK I - Proposal:

Introduction: For our first assignment, we would need to form ourselves into small groups and would then need to get into contact with our potential clients and see how we may develop ideas to support their products or to further develop something. In this case, my group had the opportunity to collaborate with ‘Well’s B’ and ‘Cocokami,’ an all natural food brand which promotes the selling of coconut products with the intention to limit food waste as well as providing Malaysia with healthier food options. 

Their implied goal was for us students to come up with something new to support the brand and get it to be more widely known with the possibility of expanding into a new demographic of young adults. We would be given near endless freedom to explore all possible solutions and to make the most of this collaboration. 

Group Members: 

Jesslyn Octavia Tjong (0374562) - Group Leader

Gwendalyn Firly Bong (0374580)

Ummehani Kaderbhai (0377885)

Tristan V. Sleep (0365120)

Wang Yiming(0379392)

Gabriela Natalie Wibowo (0357130)

Iman Mikudim (0338004)

Before we could begin thinking of basic ideas or looking into potential problems or solutions, we were provided with design briefs and history about the Cocokami brand and their mission objectives. The idea would be for us to expand upon these ideas and help them develop something and to help their audiences

PDF12

“Cocokami Main Objectives”

With the following information gathered, we began exploring potential ways to approach a new demographic and what potential products they may be interested in. In general, we picked Sporty, Food Science and, Vegetarians/vegans Young Adults and asked them a series of questions to gauge their opinions of coconuts and how it may support them. During this time, our research was recorded in a shared FigJam document.

“Initial Proposed Ideas and problems”

“Rough Proposed User Profiles & Questionnaires (For Active Lifestyle)”

“Questionnaires and Interviews”

With the ideas formed and interviews thoroughly conducted, the group would work collaboratively to sort the information with the intention of finding the most common problems shared amongst the User profiles. From there, we could begin brainstorming ideas on how to potentially solve these problems while still meeting the demands of the Cocokami Brand. 

In part of the project, I’d been responsible for developing the “Active/Sporty User Profiles” and setting up requirements to interview, potential lines of questioning, how to measure responses etc. In addition to this, I would also need to interview two of the four “Active Young Adults” and would extract the info from their interviews. Finally, I’d help to combine all the data from the “Active Young Adults” to figure out what were the group's leading problems. 

“Interview Affinity Diagrams (For Active Lifestyle)”

Now that we have an effective amount of information, the group would start working together to develop problem statements and lines of thinking to better shape the next stages of our project. This would lead to the forming of key ‘How Might We Statements’ as well as the generation of key ideas. Each idea would be shared amongst the group with shared criticism from everyone - similar ideas would be grouped together to how the idea could further be enhanced. Furthermore, the top three most referenced ideas would be further explored and adapted to see if a reasonable product could be made.

“Crazy 8 Ideation”

Following the shared ideas, the group would finally begin developing products based on the shared information. For this process, research would be done into the viability of each product type with mockups being created to highlight the visual aspects of the design. In this instance, the would be very important to consider as a good portion of our interviewees mentioned the striking appearance of products which gets them interested in the product initially. Furthermore, we would also need to consider something that would keep the user returning in future.

PDF 12

“Mock-up Designs”

For this task, I would once again stay with the ‘Active Young Adult’ section and would work to develop energy bar mockups based on the recommendations of that audience. The basic idea was to make a nice tasting, all natural energy bar using coconut products as the key ingredients for protein and varied tastes with additional grains and fruits to make it more flavourable and dietary responsible. To do this, I’d work with a template and begin sample mockups.

With the mockups, I would then go back to the ‘Active Young Adult’ audience and ask for their take-aways of the product's design - looking at what information they most valued, any confusion they may have with the brand or their expectations of the product. With a second round of key information gathered, I’d be able to go back to the designs and edit them to make it more in-line with the needs of the audience.

“First Designs and inspiration”

“Second set of designs for sampling”

“Finalised Designs and Presentation"

To finally close out the product, the group would work collaboratively to write up their findings in a presentable way as to allow us to add it into the final presentation. This final presentation is to showcase our ideas, problems and solutions to the client and see if we’ve truly met their demand. With most of the work done already, I’d taken up the additional task of redesigning the full presentation as well as presenting pieces of information for the groupmates who would be unable to present. 

“FINAL PRESENTATION"

Overall, this course had its own share of difficulties and learning points which I intend to build upon in future projects. Getting to work with a client gives minor job experience and the processes learnt in this module show us effective ways to build up to a final product. While the work was rather tedious and did require additional work to support others from time to time; I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore clientele work and produce a product to help others in a Human-Centred way.