From Confusion to Clarity: Reimagining Research Support at Pratt

Enhancing Faculty Communication Through Service Design

⏰ Timeline

Oct’25 - Dec’25 (2 Months)

👥 Team

Roshni Ganesh

Carol Bai

Merlyn Koonamparampath

Rutuja Nagulpelli

👩🏽‍💻 My Role

Service Designer

Overview

This service design project enhances how faculty engage with the Office of Research and Strategic Partnerships (ORSP) at Pratt Institute.

While ORSP plays a key role in enabling research, partnerships, and funding opportunities across the institute, its processes, especially around project development, were fragmented, difficult to navigate, and inconsistently communicated.

ORSP plays a key role in helping faculty with:

Identify funding opportunities
Project discovery and development
Proposal writing and budgeting
Compliance and IRB review
Post-award management

Grounded in systems thinking and participatory design, this project primarily focuses on improving communication between ORSP and faculty.

Project Goals

Improve communication from ORSP to faculty by defining the order of events

Value Exchange Ecosystem

Make it easier for faculty to achieve their research goals through ORSP’s procedures and resources

Pratt’s research ecosystem is driven by continuous value exchange between faculty, ORSP, and institutional partners, where each actor contributes and receives what is needed to move research forward.

Faculty contribute intellectual capital, innovation, and institutional prestige.
ORSP translates that innovation into fundable, compliant, and visible outcomes by coordinating the broader institutional ecosystem.
Institutional units (IRB, Finance, Legal, Academic Departments, and the Provost Office) provide the policies, approvals, compliance, and resources that make research possible, relying on ORSP to translate and manage these processes.

Together, these exchanges create a self-sustaining research ecosystem where value flows in multiple directions, supporting faculty success while strengthening the institution’s research identity and capacity.

Approach: Co-Design Workshops

Co-design is a participatory design approach where the people who are directly impacted by a service become active partners in the design process, rather than passive subjects being studied.

In this case, Pratt faculty actively participated in shaping how communication between ORSP and faculty can be improved.

Workshop Goals

Understand how faculty define their research personalities at Pratt.

Identify the challenges and needs at each stage of research development.

Workshop Structure

Image Credits: Toyota Woven City

Instead of designing for them, we design with them.

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Activity 1:

Proposed Solutions

CONCEPT 1 | PROGRAM/EVENT

The Weaver’s Trail: From Visitor → Active Contributor

A National Park Service-inspired Visitor Experience for Toyota Woven City

The Weaver's Trail is a National Park Service–inspired visitor experience built on one belief: social connections drive engagement. Through shared exploration with guides and peers, visitors build genuine social connections along the way.

The Welcome Center doesn't just orient visitors, it connects them to values, people, and a shared journey. Visitors learn city values, choose a themed trail, meet a Weaver Guide, and receive a Weaver Passport that transforms exploration into action. From there, Weaver Guides bring city systems to life along Themed Contribution Trails, while contribution points invite visitors to engage with and provide feedback on live innovation initiatives and discover how they can get involved today and in the future.

Rooted in Toyota's own philosophies of Genchi Genbutsu (“go and see for yourself”) and Kaizen (“culture of constant improvement”), the trails and shared activities naturally move people from passive observers to active participants.

CONCEPT 2 |  TECHNOLOGY

Kakezan Milestones

A co‑creation award system that celebrates Weavers’ contributions with digital milestones and physical pins.

Kakezan Milestones is a co-creation award system proposed as a new feature for the existing Woven City app. Directly addressing our insights on recognition and visible progress, it ensures every contribution, whether a test, co-creation session, or community event, is captured as a digital milestone badge on a resident's profile, linked to the specific project it supported and shareable with friends, family, and colleagues.

But recognition doesn't stop at the screen. For key milestones, residents can visit a dedicated on-site vending machine, scan their profile QR code, and claim a physical collectible pin, making their contribution tangible, wearable, and something worth talking about.

By turning every act of participation into something visible, meaningful, and shareable, Kakezan Milestones reinforces a proud identity as an active Weaver, strengthening commitment and sustaining motivation over time.

CONCEPT 3 | PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Level Up Lounge

Meetup space celebrate shared goals and progress of the community events.

The Level Up Lounge is a community meetup space designed to make collective progress impossible to ignore.

Large interactive screens display live goals and progress bars for ongoing projects, highlight active contributors by name, and feature participant photos uploaded from the app or taken at an on-site photo booth.

Contributions that would otherwise feel invisible become immediately visible and personally meaningful. By putting shared goals, recognition, and community memories on full display, the Lounge creates a sense of belonging that makes it easier for newcomers to stop attending and start contributing.

Image Credits: AI-generated Concept Image

Define faculty archetypes to improve support for the diverse Pratt faculty in future instances

Co-create ideas for a better communication experience with ORSP in the future.

Image Credits: AI-generated Concept Image

Activity 2:

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