At the beginning of prototyping, we all took a moment to reflect on our perception of our product. Then we went around and described what we thought the idea was. I found this to be such a helpful exercise to do at the beginning of the prototyping process because we found that while we were on the same page about a lot of facets, there were a few details that we hadn’t talked about. For example, we talked about the vibe of the community space – whether it would be open and modern or cozy (like the Grind). By defining our product scope, we determined what we believe the space needed to communicate in order to fulfill the customers’ needs for relationship facilitation and community enhancement. This ended up being a mix of homey, cozy, and modern in order to make sure customers feel comfortable as if they’re in their own living room, but modern to attract millennials and have great marketing potential. We also outlined all the activities we wanted to be available in this space to get an idea about how to market and how to create a floor plan for it.
Next, we split into 2 groups – one to make the 3-D foam board model of a typical space and one to design the website and brand. I decided to help with the website and brand because I have experience with website creation and design, and because I plan on 
working in branding one day. For the following 30 minutes or so Mbiye and I worked on the website, focusing on the color palette, logo, and finding stock images to convey The Den to consumers. This was difficult at first because while we spoke briefly about The Den’s brand and that we wanted to make it cozy and modern, Mbiye and I had to make many executive decisions on the brand’s positioning and identity. Over the summer I worked for a digital marketing and branding company and in that world branding for a new company takes months – it was a fun activity for Mbiye and me – to create something so comprehensive in just a week or so. It was also difficult because Mbiye and I at first had differing ideas about how we wanted to brand to be portrayed. Working together we found the middle ground and wrote a mission for The Den and everything.
After about 30 minutes of working separately, we checked out the 3D modeling group to see what they were coming up with. It was so cool to see their drawings on the whiteboard because naturally I had been thinking about the layout and features on my own and it was so interesting to see what they created. They did a lot of planning before creating the 3D model, making sure to take into account the activities that would be done in the space and the challenges associated with transformative furniture. It was helpful to come back together at the end of class and present to each other what we had been working on because we had a lot of constructive criticism for each other. Over the weekend we were able to continue working on the website and creating the 3D model.
