Design Thinking for Innovation – Reflection Paper 

 1 . Challenge 

 The innovation challenge I faced is related to product development .   My wife and I are   interested in candle - making as a hobby .   Rather than creating candles that are based solely on   our personal preferences and assumptions , or copying products that are readily available in the   market , we wanted to apply design thinking techniques to better understand the mindset of   candle - buying consumers in order to create innovative products that better serve the needs of   the market . 

 2 . Selection 

 The tool we selected for our challenge was the mind mapping tool .   This tool seemed well suited   for helping us to gather data about the greater candle - consumer market and segment this data   into workable components that could be actionable for candle - making innovation .   Specifically ,   the mind mapping tool ’s ability for looking for themes and pattern in the data , and then   analyzing the data to create different consumer personas seemed like just the thing that we   needed to help us better understand our target market . 

 3 . Application 

 In order to first apply the mind mapping tool , we needed to generate a sizable data set that   could be analyzed .   To generate this data , we decided to call a number of our friends and family   and conduct brief interviews about what characteristics of candles they preferred , why / how   they purchased candles , and what they used them for .   After conducting approximately 20 of   these interviews , we used the mind mapping tool to analyze the data .   We used the tool to look   for themes and patterns among the interview responses , and then to group these patterns into   various personas . 

 4 . Insight 

 After generating the data , analyzing the data , and applying the mind mapping tool to group   themes and patterns from the data into groups , we were able to identify 4 basic personas .   These groups ranged from people who were casual candle - consumers to those who were highly   sophisticated and knowledgeable about the space .   One the casual end of the spectrum , we   identified two basic personas : the Any - Candle - Will - Do group and the Special - Occasion group .    We found that the Any - Candle group rarely used candles and that they typically only   needed / wanted candles at seemingly unpredictable times of the year . This group tended to   impulse buy candles on rare occasions and were sometimes gifted candles which they stored for   future use . This group did n’t seem to care about specific candle features , rather they wanted   the candle to “ look pretty ” overall .   The Special - Occasion group tended to purchase candles   more predictably but centered around certain holidays .   Thanksgiving and Christmas were the   primary holidays in which they shopped for candles . As such , they wanted their candles to have   a holiday appearance and feature scents that are typically associated with that holiday .   This   group did n’t consume candles very much outside of these holidays .     On the more sophisticated side of the spectrum , we identified two groups :   the Mildly - Aware   and the Hyper - Aware .   Both of these groups tended to use candles fairly regularly , not simply 

 associated with the holidays but more throughout the year .   The main differentiator between   the groups was the level of attention paid to candle features and preferences .   For the Mildly- Aware group , they tended to have a particular preference ( for example : white wax , floral scents ,   glass container etc . ) and tended to purchase candles that stayed within their common   preference for all their candle needs .   The Hyper - Aware group tended to alter their preferences   depending on their candle needs .   Members of this group tended to prefer specific types of   scents for specific rooms / areas and were the most frequent purchasers of candles .   For   example , one interviewee said they prefer floral scents in the main bathroom but more   masculine scents in the guest room . Without applying the mind mapping tool , we would not   have been able to gain this level of knowledge of different customer segments of the candle   market . 

 5 . Approach 

 I would certainly use the mind mapping tool for generating customer personas .   It is very useful   for identifying patterns and themes and establishing market segmentation .   However , if I had to   do this exercise again , I would look for ways to help automate the process .   For instance , I would   possibly generate a questionnaire that asked the respondent to rank certain candle features on   a numerical scale ( 1 - 5 ) .   We could then compile that data and use the numerical rankings to   seek out patterns in a more automated manner . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Design Thinking for Innovation – Reflection Paper 

 1 . Challenge 

 The innovation challenge I faced is related to product development .   My wife and I are   interested in candle - making as a hobby .   Rather than creating candles that are based solely on   our personal preferences and assumptions , or copying products that are readily available in the   market , we wanted to apply design thinking techniques to better understand the mindset of   candle - buying consumers in order to create innovative products that better serve the needs of   the market . 

 2 . Selection 

 The tool we selected for our challenge was the mind mapping tool .   This tool seemed well suited   for helping us to gather data about the greater candle - consumer market and segment this data   into workable components that could be actionable for candle - making innovation .   Specifically ,   the mind mapping tool ’s ability for looking for themes and pattern in the data , and then   analyzing the data to create different consumer personas seemed like just the thing that we   needed to help us better understand our target market . 

 3 . Application 

 In order to first apply the mind mapping tool , we needed to generate a sizable data set that   could be analyzed .   To generate this data , we decided to call a number of our friends and family   and conduct brief interviews about what characteristics of candles they preferred , why / how   they purchased candles , and what they used them for .   After conducting approximately 20 of   these interviews , we used the mind mapping tool to analyze the data .   We used the tool to look   for themes and patterns among the interview responses , and then to group these patterns into   various personas . 

 4 . Insight 

 After generating the data , analyzing the data , and applying the mind mapping tool to group   themes and patterns from the data into groups , we were able to identify 4 basic personas .   These groups ranged from people who were casual candle - consumers to those who were highly   sophisticated and knowledgeable about the space .   One the casual end of the spectrum , we   identified two basic personas : the Any - Candle - Will - Do group and the Special - Occasion group .    We found that the Any - Candle group rarely used candles and that they typically only   needed / wanted candles at seemingly unpredictable times of the year . This group tended to   impulse buy candles on rare occasions and were sometimes gifted candles which they stored for   future use . This group did n’t seem to care about specific candle features , rather they wanted   the candle to “ look pretty ” overall .   The Special - Occasion group tended to purchase candles   more predictably but centered around certain holidays .   Thanksgiving and Christmas were the   primary holidays in which they shopped for candles . As such , they wanted their candles to have   a holiday appearance and feature scents that are typically associated with that holiday .   This   group did n’t consume candles very much outside of these holidays .     On the more sophisticated side of the spectrum , we identified two groups :   the Mildly - Aware   and the Hyper - Aware .   Both of these groups tended to use candles fairly regularly , not simply 

 associated with the holidays but more throughout the year .   The main differentiator between   the groups was the level of attention paid to candle features and preferences .   For the Mildly- Aware group , they tended to have a particular preference ( for example : white wax , floral scents ,   glass container etc . ) and tended to purchase candles that stayed within their common   preference for all their candle needs .   The Hyper - Aware group tended to alter their preferences   depending on their candle needs .   Members of this group tended to prefer specific types of   scents for specific rooms / areas and were the most frequent purchasers of candles .   For   example , one interviewee said they prefer floral scents in the main bathroom but more   masculine scents in the guest room . Without applying the mind mapping tool , we would not   have been able to gain this level of knowledge of different customer segments of the candle   market . 

 5 . Approach 

 I would certainly use the mind mapping tool for generating customer personas .   It is very useful   for identifying patterns and themes and establishing market segmentation .   However , if I had to   do this exercise again , I would look for ways to help automate the process .   For instance , I would   possibly generate a questionnaire that asked the respondent to rank certain candle features on   a numerical scale ( 1 - 5 ) .   We could then compile that data and use the numerical rankings to   seek out patterns in a more automated manner .
### Output: 