Service Design
Workshop Facilitation
Georgians First
Research Synthesis
Copywriting
Project Context
Newly elected Governor, Brian Kemp, sought to deliver on a key campaign promise, make Georgia the #1 state for small businesses. In order to accomplish this, he established a commission to first understand Georgia’s ranking .
Project Context
Identify the Georgia’s current ranking amongst small businesses and map the process of obtaining/renewing business licenses. Additionally, the commission had the idea that call centers and lazy public were the main pain points and were already pushing for a chatbot.
Approach
Our approach was two front. First, any understanding of today or vision for the future needs to include input from local gov’t, licensing board members and aspiring business owners. For this, we facilitated a highly collaborative workshop called a Rumble. Second, to gain attention, we needed to share our workshop findings with the governor. To get the most attention, we created a large format newsprint publication. These publications were wrapped in red tape and delivered while the state congress was in session. Creating a visceral, tangible impression.
Let’s get ready to Rumble
This entire project was contingent on a collaborative workshop called a “Rumble.” This workshop would give us key insights that would unveil the real reason why Georgia was ranked #16 in the nation, or it would further prove the client’s suspicion that citizens are lazy and a chatbot will fix their problem.
Post workshop synthesis;
sticking point to turning point
With the initial journal studies from Dscout and rich feedback from the workshop, the synthesis process should be simple, right? Yes, but our SME colleagues had their own ideas. That was until we had a breakthrough during synthesis that changed everything.
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Workshop findings
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From the gov himself
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Emmerging themes
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Framing the problem
Aha!
moment
Breakthrough
We were told from the beginning of the project, that the public is lazy and they simply won’t read. However, after reviewing the workshop findings and the state’s websites; a very simple truth became clear. It’s not the people, it’s the services. The website was barely accessible and navigating it was like reading latin. But how do we convince the client of this truth?
Impact
We do it using a the language and visuals they know, campaigns. After all, the client had just ran a statewide campaign. We would create a report that mimicked the visuals and language of a political campaign, and sprinkle in a bit of subversive tones.
The result
Key research theme
Visual representation
of state rankings
After the initial research, the Rumble workshop, and arguments with the SME team we took matters into our own hands and began designing the report. After all, we knew the team would buy into our vision. They just needed to see it. After an initial iteration, the team was sold.
We delivered a beautiful, rich, hard-hitting report on large format tabloid paper. Our report combined a truthful narrative about the state of business in Georgia, along with our research findings, and recommendations from us and the SME team that aimed to make Georgia a better place for small businesses.
In the end, being brave and generous was exactly what we needed.
Research sub-themes
Detailed narrative intro
Project impact
This report was unveiled during the state assembly session. It created a big buzz in the state.
