Wieden + Kennedy – Positive Parenting (2017)

Introduction

As part of our ‘Smart Play’ module theme Wieden + Kennedy (W + K) offered 12 of our students a brief about ‘positive parenting’ with technology. Technology can be a challenge for parents. Children are quickly obsessed with touch screens and hypnotised by TV programmes. It is a challenge to get kids outdoors. Technology is often used as both a carrot and stick for parents, giving screen time as a reward for good behaviour or a taken away when they do something wrong. Could families have a more constructive relationship with technology?

Challenge

The challenge for the students was to turn the tables and make technology a positive and empowering force for better parenting. W + K wanted them to investigate and prototype some kind of reward system that parents could implement for their children.

The project was specifically about rewarding not punishing! Positive Parenting is a parenting built around the idea of recognising and encouraging good behaviour, and ignoring bad behaviour. Student could read more about it in the NSPCC’s advice brochure. https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/leaflets/positive-parenting/

Sample pages of research and development from Jack Johnson and Jake Sharratt’s Design Documentation.

Considerations

Studens were asked to think about the different types of rewards a child might enjoy and how technology can activate, enable or track them.

Consider which rewards may work best for children of different ages - don’t be afraid to specify a particular age group for your solution.

Read up on new trends and technologies both related to parenting and beyond and incorporate these into our response.

W + K were particularly interested to see what students could try out, prototype and make for real, even if in a very simple way.

Process

• Students worked in pairs over a twelve-week period.

• They followed a service design development cycle: Orientate, Discover, Generate, Synthesise, Model, Specify and Prototype.

• Students were briefed by Jonathan Plackett, Senior Creative at W + K London, who then gave feedback and advice remotely before coming up to Newcastle for final presentations and also gave a talk about his work and role at W + K London.

Mock-up smart watch interface designs by Jack Johnson and Jake Sharratt for their ‘Omni’ reward system for children.

Results

A variety of newly imagined services arose from from new service offers that included smart pharmacy vending machines, health advice groups in local coffee shops, AI driven e-health apps for both customers and pharmacists, and even a pharmacist chatbot on Facebook.

Student presentations of their work to Jonathan Plackett. .

Final presentation slide stack to W + K by Adele Brown and Fiona Jacques.

Working demonstration of their ‘Jibba Jabba’ concept by Adele Brown and Fiona Jacques.

‘Journey of the Jobba Jabba’ video prototype by Adele Brown and Fiona Jacques.