Over the course of three months, a group of students and I were tasked to create an educational, retail, or healthcare kiosk.
After extensive research, we decided our interests lay in the intersection of these three spaces, so we created a kiosk that
educates the general population on homelessness in San Diego and allows them to donate money to buy hygiene items for shelters.
.jpg)
Initially we pitched a kiosk that allowed the public to directly insert items to donate in the kiosk. Homeless people could then withdraw the specific items they needed to make for a frictionless transaction.
We interviewed various shelter workers and advocacy groups around San Diego, including the Rachel’s Women's Center and Think Dignity.
We presented our original idea to shelter workers and found the direct donation feature posed a big risk to the health and safety of the people receiving those donations. We also learned there’s the risk that people put trash into the kiosk, meaning a human would need to sort items before allowing someone to withdraw them.
.jpg)
After learning more about donations from a shelter worker’s perspective, we changed the donation to be purely electronic.
In our final design, users approach a kiosk with a digital touch screen. There is a catalog that allows the user to see what items shelters need the most at that moment, then users can donate money to buy those specific items.
Humankind takes that money, buys those items, and donates them to local homeless shelters.
These changes were made to work alongside existing shelters and address their needs rather than undermine the valuable work they contribute to the homeless population.
.jpg)
Leave your contact info below and I'll get back to you ASAP.