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Behavioral Science Meets Design

About the Lab
Educational Projects
- Design Learning
  
  iFashion: Fashion design in your pocket
  
  Design Learning
  
  Bucket (2.0)
  
  Design Learning
  
  HowTo
  
  Design Learning
  
  Nourishly
  
  Design Learning
  
  OPTIMIZE PRIME: Reimagining the Workspace
Product Desirability Reviews
- Reviews
  
  Rose Gold Magnetic Dry Erase Monthly Calendar
  
  Reviews
  
  Lou & Grey sweatpants
  
  Reviews
  
  Lola
  
  Reviews
  
  Away Suitcase
  
  Reviews
  
  Earring organizer
Join Community!
- PXDD Course Overview
- Go to Community

Category:

video

Testing video

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Test test test test.
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WING Wing serves as your automated, personal wing-man/wing-woman wherever you go. For challenge 7, we decided to build a multi-platform app that helps users build confidence and engage in effective…
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#Challenge7: Boost The results of our #Challenge6 survey of elite athletes shaped the app we created for #Challenge7. We found from our survey that, while (as argued in the Bradley…
CHALLENGE 7: THE R GUIDEBackgroundOur product deals with the “self-presentation” of courses. From our survey, we learned that most students would like to see a grade distribution on the Q guide. We also found overall people view the Q guide as an objective evaluation of courses but tend to evaluate courses more subjectively than objectively. We also reflected on our own experience in shopping for classes. One of the most important things that we learned was the inefficiency of the current method for looking for course – often students will spend hours scrolling through My.Harvard in order to find courses to shop. To address this need, we chose to create an app that would help bring courses to the users in a helpful way, streamlining the pre-shopping process.We modeled our app, called the “R Guide” because it’s one step above the Q guide, after popular social sharing platforms such as Tinder, Reddit, and Yikyak. There are several key elements of functionality in our app:Swiping through CoursesGiven the sheer volume of courses that students browse, we felt that a swipe-right, swipe-left mode of going through the course catalog would be incredibly intuitive and efficient in selecting one’s class. Users can quickly swipe through hundreds of courses on the R Guide, swiping right to save a course to their CourseCart and swiping left to reject a course.FiltersUsers can easily personalize the selection of courses they view by customizing the filters located on the bottom half of the swipe screen. Students can choose a minimum course rating, professor rating, and workload as well as specific requirements to fulfill.Grade DistributionOur app also creates grade distributions, crowdsourcing the data from the grades of our users. When users input their past course history, we ask for their grades, which remain 100% anonymous and are used to create graphs of the grade distributions.Profile with RequirementsOnce users have inputted their concentration, secondary, and course history, they will be able to navigate to a page that displays their graduation requirements in that field. Students will be able to see what they have left to do, what they have already done, and in the final version perhaps more detailed information about the concentration or the requirements.Student FeedbackStudents will be able to comment on courses, with upvoting and downvoting like Yikyak that will allow for the most helpful comments to reach the top of the page. This will also increase user engagement and make the guide feel like a living community that the students are part of.CourseCartUsers save courses that they’re interested in the CourseCart which they can edit and delete courses from.Display AlgorithmThe finished version of The R Guide will use an algorithm to determine and recommend classes based on user history, as well as the history of other students in their concentration or with similar tastes.

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH6MD6dfpG4] What I’ve got: Huggie dry pants The commercial says it all. This is a revolution for baby care. Mother is released from the pain of complicated steps into simple…
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My proposed application is called picnews. I focused on the challenge (proposed in class) of communicating news stories with a semi-literate population. The goal of picnews is to minimize the…
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(Click to view video ^) “Nowadays, everyone in this city and in this country is trying to find identity, and trying to find that new Chinese voice…is there one?” This…
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The artist visualized the tension between human body and environment. Fantastic work!
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Start-Move was inspired by the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders [MSD] among office workers. MSDs affect the muscles, nerves, and tendons of the neck, upper extremities, and lower back and result…
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n35Ev3xuO_4] When I first saw this ad, I thought it was going to be a movie, as did many other people who saw it. And I actually was kind of…

Newer Posts

Older Posts

Selected News…

Fifteen Professors of the Year, Harvard Crimson, 2016

Top 50 Thinkers: On the Radar 2018
Emerging thinkers with the potential to make lasting contributions, 2018

Laura Dern & DL Director Say Creators Need to ‘Catch Up’ With Audience’s Desire for Diverse Stories, AdWeek, 2018

Rolling toward a user-friendly commute
Harvard faculty-led startup pioneers human-centric urban travel, 2017; Vespa’s New Robot Will Carry Your Groceries, CNN Money, 2017

Five Cutting Edge Ideas and Attractions, Boston.com, 2017; Technology That Helps Us Understand Ourselves, HUBWeek, 2017

Food for Thought: Flavor & Algorithms, MIT Museum, 2017

Harvard Aims to Reinvent Business-Engineering Education, Harvard Magazine, 2017

Globetrotting Digital Nomads: The future of work or too good to be true?, Forbes, 2015; Why is a Harvard professor studying digital nomads, Nomadlist, 2015

The nature of desirability, The Design Issue, Kinfolk Magazine (paywall), 2015-2016

Harvard Class Teaches the Design of Desirability, Boston Magazine, 2015

A new model for innovation in big companies, Harvard Business Review, 2013

Present at the Creation (Putting research-based creativity tips to the test), Boston Magazine, 2013

Contact & Acknowledgements

RESEARCH LAB OFFICE:
Desirability Lab
Harvard University
Pierce Hall, No. 204C
Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: ba[at]desirabilitylab.com

THANKS TO:

Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences

Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching

Harvard Innovation Lab

Harvard Global Health Institute

Berkman Center for Internet and Society

SUTD-MIT International Design Center

April 20, 2020

Best Idea

This is my favorite idea from the challenge. Not only do I think this is high need for students, but... View

Happy Cafe

April 20, 2020

need it

I would love to see this come true. While I agree Harvard did solid job with the student spaces, I t... View

Skyview Commons

April 20, 2020

Good combination

Big fan of the app, and I especially like how it is essentially an upgrade to the various things peo... View

Wanderbus: Adventure, sustainably

April 20, 2020

super cool

I love this idea a lot. There is so much potential for more avant-garde uses of the Smith campus cen... View

Skyview Commons

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