SWAPPY
2023.11-2024.5
KEYWORDS: Community Engagement, Public Sector Service Design
FEATURE: Academic Group Project
About:
My service design project targets the guilt many mothers feel during leisure time, often neglecting their own needs for their family's.
Partnering with Hounslow Borough, the Council, and NGOs, our research suggests that a stroller-friendly, accessible swapping experience could enable mothers with young children to enjoy guilt-free leisure.
This approach aims to strengthen social ties and combat isolation.
Context
Desk Research
Field Research
Starting point: Hanworth Leisure Center
Who is missing from the leisure centre?
We observed that women typically drop out of the leisure centre when they get pregnant and do not join for the next 3-4 years.
Desktop research revealed that a report by the London School of Economics Centre for Mental Health indicated that poor mental health care for mothers costs the UK £8 billion annually.
The average leisure time for mothers is 177 minutes per day, compared to 222 minutes for fathers.
These findings led to targeting mothers with children under 3 years old as the main user group.
Research
Ethnographic Research
Experts Interview
User interview
Research Question:
How do mums with young babies find their own ways of Leisure?
Ethnographic Research:
During our ethnographic research we observed mothers in high streets, parks, libraries and supermarkets. This helped us to map the time they spent outdoors and the time of the day they visited these places.
Experts Interview with Hounslow NGOs:
Talking to experts from the voluntary organisations who are working with mothers gave us insights into popular leisure activities and the challenges. During this phase we spoke with Feltham arts, Feltham libraries, Stanwell events, Stanwell Foodbank, and creative space London.
User Interview:
Interviewing moms helped us understand their everyday challenges, their network and their perspectives on Leisure.
Insights
01. Guilt VS Leisure
Mums experienced an overarching sense of guilt when they prioritised their own leisure over their babies.
02. Shopping as a Purposeful Leisure
A notable observation was that a substantial number of mothers chose to shop in supermarkets during off-peak hours.
It appears that this activity allowed them to engage in a task that uniquely blends purpose with leisure, without the accompanying guilt.
03. Access Issues
This inaccessibility is due to factors such as their location, the disparity in purchasing power among different groups of mothers, and the lack of convenient transportation options.
04. Gaps between 'Visible & Invisible Mums'
Research into mothers' archetypes revealed that not all of them regularly visited public spaces or high streets.
One group demonstrated less social connection, less personal time, and a deeper sense of guilt; we refer to her as the 'invisible mum.'
The absence or low visibility of certain mother groups suggests a significant gap in our understanding of their needs and challenges. We need to get them onboard.
Co-Design
Co-design Workshop
Collaboration:
Purposes:
Methods:
1. Book Binding - Ice Breaking
2. Collage - Indirect Expression
3. Chat interview - Story Sharing
1. Insights validation
2. Co-design ideation
3. Meet ‘invisible moms’
We organised a co-design workshop with mothers at Creative space London.
Using collage to help them picture their perfect leisure moments, and conduct small chat interview about their shopping experience in Hounslow.
This event helped us meet several invisible mums and hear their perspective which shape and validate our direction.
Hypothesis:
If we facilitate a local shopping experience that is stroller friendly and with lower geographical and financial barriers,
Then, more mums with young kids can have guilt-free leisure, fostering better social bonds to reduce isolation.
Design Opportunities:
Leisure:
Offer Social activities and space for strollers.
Convenient:
Reduce geographical and financial barriers.
Purposeful:
Save on living expenses Eco-friendly items.
Develop
Service
Prototyping
Stakeholder Management
Value Proposition
Quantitative
Research
Prototype the Vision of A Local Shopping Experience:
In order to establish the Local events, an organisation with more power such as Hounslow Council need to create a Mum Market team responsible for planning, regulating, and promoting the events.
Key considerations:
A Trojan Horse Strategy:
Shopping Experience - Stroller Friendly Swap Events
Guilt-Free Leisure through Purposeful Activities:
The existing map indicates that the 'invisible moms' have few and weak connections with other stakeholders. Introducing a local Swap Event could significantly improve this situation.
Such a event would provide an invaluable platform for voluntary organisations and the council to engage with this group of mothers, while simultaneously fostering stronger ties within the broader community.
Stakeholder Analysis:
Considering available stakeholder resources and the team's capabilities, we strategically chose to collaborate with Joana and Rachel to plan the community event.
Validation - EOI Survey
We would like to test what kind of items mothers would like to swap among baby clothes, toys and books, and mum products for a swap event.
Our survey to test this was distributed through two channels:
For offline channel: Distributed 100 posters to mothers in Hounslow personally on the high street.
For online channel: Collaborated with CSL and Heston in the Loop to reach out to the mothers in their network.
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Mothers chose "Toys and Books" as their first choice (58.9%).
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"Baby's Clothes" is their second choice (23.5%).
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Only 17.6% of mothers opted for products for themselves.
Deliver
Video Storytelling
First Event Launched at Heston Community Centre
As our in-depth user insights revealed, children's products (books and toys) serve as a strong motivation for mothers to leave their homes and engage in 'purposeful' and 'guilt-free' leisure and social experiences.
The initial event saw over 170 items donated and attracted more than 60 participants. The results were very positive, with high community engagement. Given this success, we are eager to continue promoting the initiative.
Learnings and Feedbacks:
Potential for Broader Participation:
The event attracts families of all ages, not just mothers with children aged 0-3, creating opportunities to expand its reach and strengthen community ties.
Effective Promotion:
Posters in public libraries and key locations, along with emails from local schools and nonprofits, could serve as primary channels for promoting the event.
Pre-arranged Children's Activities:
Planning more space and volunteers for children's activities in advance could help ease mothers' burdens and keep families engaged for longer periods.
Streamlined Donation Process:
Improving inventory management and establishing more donation points could make donating easier and more convenient for participants.
COLLABORATION:
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the London Borough of Hounslow for their continuous involvement and timely feedback throughout the project.
During our research process, we were delighted to collaborate with Creative Space London, which allowed us to establish genuine connections with mothers in the community, taking our first significant step.
Finally, we are very pleased to have partnered with the Heston in the Loop Project to launch the SWAPPY event, transforming it into a regular community activity.
The program was handed over to the council in May 2024, with plans to further expand the project in collaboration with Cranford College. By August 2024, two additional events had already been organized.We sincerely hope that this concept will continue to benefit the mothers of Hounslow in the long run.
