Shore Design Thinking Week

Adrian Lai and I attended the Shore Design Thinking Week, in Darling Harbour during Week 6 this term. It was a week involving the process of learning about and participating in design thinking exercises to come up with a solution, strategy, or product to assist survivors of domestic violence.

In partnership with Mary’s House, a North Shore women’s refuge, we as a cohort of around 45 Year 10 boys, went through a process of learning how to think in a human-centred design mentality, with talks about domestic violence from key stakeholders such as Mary’s House volunteers and police officers, involving thinking exercises in between. This process took place over the first two days at the Commonwealth Bank Innovation Lab in Darling Harbour.

For Wednesday and Thursday, we were at school, prototyping and trying to actualise our solution. Finally, on the Friday, we returned to Darling Harbour to try sell our solution as a group to a panel of four sharks, in a ‘Shark Tank’-like pitch. Overall, the week was incredibly productive and introduced us real-world employment skill of design thinking, and provided us with a chance to make an impact and help reduce the too-large impact of domestic violence in Australia.

Adrian Lai and Jack Davis