The Nurture Pack
A multifunctional storage pack that is designed to aid the lives of unhoused individuals while utilizing recycled & repurposed material into the product.
Originally a group project turned into a winning pitch idea for the Sustainable Hawk Fund competition at Wilfrid Laurier University at the Brantford campus during the 2022 school year!
Project Overview
Our team was instructed to create a product that addresses the social issue of our choice and make it accessible for our audience.
From there, our group chose to focus on the displacement of unhoused citizens and spread social awareness amongst the Laurier Brantford Community. We wish to improve their lives by implementing a product that promotes accessibility, functionality, mobility, and safety within our community.
Roles
User Researcher, UX Designer
Team
Matteo Distefano, Lauren Gottlieb, Maria Lobbezoo
Duration
8 months
Award
Problem Summary
Our team needs to spread awareness about the displacement individuals faced among Brantford and how to infiltrate an idea or product to fix this addressed problem.
Not only is creating this product for our target audience key, but our team wishes to spread awareness as well to our Laurier community about this common issue faced in Brantford. Not many Brantford residences participate in improving the lives of unhoused individuals and our team wishes to change that exact statement with our product design
Solution Summary
Our team decided on creating a multifunctional storage pack, The Nurture Pack, that efficiently folds out into a sleeping bag and contains safe, insulated food compartments.
Our ambition didn't end there. We're determined to make our product known throughout the Brantford community. To achieve this, we're organizing an educational campaign for Laurier students, emphasizing social sustainability through workshops. Winning the pitch at the Sustainable Hawk Fund, dedicated to supporting sustainability initiatives in Brantford, has energized us for the next phase.
Materials Used
-
In order for the Nurture Pack to withstand weather changes in Brantford, we’ve chosen to use water resistant polyester for the pack’s exterior shell to help protect the insulated filler material and lining from getting wet.
-
For the insulation, we’ve chosen down filling and thermoplastic for the insulated section of the pack that'll carry food and keep it safely stored.
-
These binding materials are incorporated in ensure everything stored within the pack is safely packaged and secured during transportation.
For our workshops, we wish for our participants to build the nurture packs while spreading awareness of this particular social issue.
Therefore, we gathered as much recycled materials as possible (down filling, binding materials, etc). This will lower our budget a ton while creating an eco-friendly pack for those in need.
Designing the Prototype
We were able to design the prototype using Adobe Dimensions in order to visualize how our team will build the pack during our workshops.
This was due to our classes being online at the time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Rapid Sketches for our Prototype
The Final Prototype built on Adobe XD
For our in-person workshops coming up this year, we strive to use as much recycled materials as possible to lower our budget as best as we can while still creating sturdy and functional nurture packs for our audience.
Conclusion
Our team wanted to create a product that sufficiently addresses and aids the victims of the local housing crisis and is a design that could be easily replicated and implemented in various communities.
Every Nurture Pack will come with an instruction guide regarding how to assemble the bag as well as listing each of its features and eco-friendly materials that were used to build the pack.
Next step: Community Engagement Workshops
Our next steps was promoting our Nurture Pack Workshops that will teach Laurier students how to DIY and build the nurture packs in order to increase social awareness and encourage community engagement in Brantford.
The more awareness this social issue has, the more likely we can improve the lives of unhoused individuals. Workshops started in late November 2022 and will continue during the 2023-2024 school year for our UX majors! 😊
Here is our groups video pitch for the Sustainable Hawk Fund at Laurier regarding our educational nurture pack workshops.