Like most of these processes and this project as a whole, the prototyping step was new to me. I’ve never designed anything or built anything that would resemble a service or product before. Within my group, it seemed like we had an unclear idea of what we were going to focus on. This idea of a subscription service for Johnson & Johnson and their products that would incorporate reusable glass containers and no plastic within the cycle seemed intriguing, but challenging when it came to developing a prototype. With that, there isn’t much to do other than an app or the website the subscription service would be found on. At first, we decided to take the route of the app; this ended up being too complicated of a software to figure out, and left us wasting time trying to develop something that would look amateur at best. I think transitioning to a website was the best for our group, and every member was able to use the same login and edit whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, which was an important part in this process. This allowed all minds to come together, rather than one person working on the website all alone. Making the website itself (with WIX) was easier than I thought it would be, as each of us designed and wrote a designated section of it and consulted one another about what to put and where to put it. It turned out really well, and I feel like it captured our ideas and thought process nicely.
As we thought more about how to go deeper with this idea of Johnson and Johnson becoming more sustainable, we came up with the idea of a dispenser, mostly used for pills, of their products that people can use at a local pharmacy if they bring their own reusable container. With this idea, we were able to construct something in person with a shoebox and paper. It seems simple, but it was nice to see an idea in front of our eyes, and puts into perspective the larger scale prototypes that huge corporations are creating. This dispensing machine, our persona and project board, and the website allowed us to see more concrete visions of our ideas, which I think was the best part of this for our group. We went from a vague understanding on how this will work to a set plan on what we wanted to do and what we needed to do to make it the best we could.