Inventable
A physical and digital community for builders and inventors
We invite kids to level out and become workshop leaders where they gain certified leadership experience
Overview
Client Goal: Create a community for all invenTABLE users to participate in.
Problem
Given the broad goals of this project, we aimed to: 1) Understand what community means to adults and kids, 2) Identify what invenTABLE users value in a maker community, and 3) Determine whether a physical or digital space would be the best platform.
What is invenTABLE
InvenTABLE is a company that created a kid-safe cardboard cutting tool. Their mission is to be a part of the movement to get kids and adults to build and learn with their hands. They recently raised $1.25M on Kickstarter to fund their product and plan to deliver their final product from manufacturing and their community platform coming October.
UX Research
We began by interviewing 3 makerspace leaders, 2 teachers, and 4 parents to understand their views on community. These 30-minute interviews revealed that adults value in-person interactions, long-term relationships, and learning opportunities for their kids. Given the varied building capabilities of kids, we needed to understand their preferences.
To explore this, we hosted 7 workshops on the design process for kids, focusing on six key topics: collaboration, competition, preference for open- or closed-ended prompts, teaching, hands-on learning, and gamification.
Our research showed that kids enjoy mentoring, favor career-related projects, dislike collaboration (though parents and teachers see its value), love gamified elements, and that more experienced builders prefer open-ended prompts while beginners prefer structured ones.
Revised Problem Statement:
How do we bring an in-person and consistently engaging experience to all kid and adult invenTABLE users across the nation?
Design Decision
An in-person and online community experience for invenTABLE aligns with both parents' and kids' preferences. The workshops were effective, offering an in-person learning experience for kids while incorporating gamified elements, leveling up, and rewards online. Kids also enjoyed teaching and sharing projects in person.
UX Designer, UX Researcher
3D Artist
Graphic Designer
UX Research
Strategy
Was comprised of 5 Integrated Product Design Students at the University of Pennsylvania. All of us were involved in the Design Strategy, UX Research, and UX Design of project, with some individuals taking on different leadership roles.
The Team
The Team
What Is invenTABLE?
InvenTABLE is a company that created a kid-safe cardboard cutting tool. Their mission is to be a part of the movement to get kids and adults to build and learn with their hands. It’s main target market. They recently raised $1.25M on Kickstarter to fund their product and plan to deliver their product from manufacturing coming October.
What is InvenTABLE’s Timeline?
InvenTABLE Raises $1.2M on Kickstarter
Working on Manufacturing & Craft-Kit Subscriptions
Our Task: Create a Community Platform
Develop Community Platform & Subscriptions
InvenTABLE products are delivered
October 2023
March 2024
October 2024
October 2024
Create a community for all InvenTABLE users to participate in
but...
what does community actually mean?
Client’s Goal
What do adults want to see in a community?
The what, how, and why of a community with 3 makerspace leaders, 2 teachers, and 4 parents.
Is a long term relationship
Perfect for everyone - Segments ages, interests, and skills
Supporting both kids and parents
9/9 value an in-person and consistently engaging experience
Provides a learning opportunity
Personal growth
Provides Inspiration
Is Low Maintenance
How do they engage?
What makes their
community enticing?
Why do they engage?
How do they engage?
9/9 value an in-person and consistently engaging experience
What makes their
community enticing?
Is a long term relationship
Perfect for everyone - Segments ages, interests, and skills
Supporting both kids and parents
Why do they engage?
Provides a learning opportunity
Personal growth
Provides Inspiration
Is Low Maintenance
... to find out, we hosted 7 workshops
with 32 kids & 4 parents
At these workshops, we explored 6 themes:
Collaboration
Collaboration
Collaboration
Competition
Prompting
Mentorship
Learning
Gamification
How do kids collaborate
Do kids like competition?
Open ended vs. Closed Ended Prompts
Effectiveness of hands-on learning
Leveling Up & Rewards
Do kids like to teach others?
What do kids want in a community?
... to find out, we hosted 7 workshops
with 32 kids & 4 parents
At these workshops, we explored 6 themes:
Collaboration
Competition
Prompting
Mentorship
Learning
Gamification
How do kids collaborate
Do kids like competition?
Open ended vs. Closed Ended Prompts
Effectiveness of hands-on learning
Leveling Up & Rewards
Do kids like to teach others?
3D Animation
Showing the finished 3D model on the template page of the product helped them understand how to visualize 2D-> 3D
“The Greatest Vroom Car”
Inventors: Jack B, Christy L, Jamie K, Brendan Y
Learning
7/7 groups were able to demonstrate understanding of the design process after the lesson
Tips & Instruction
Tips Section & easy to follow drawings, give cues for parents on how to help younger kids who may need a more hands-on approach
Collaboration
Only 9/32 kids chose to collaborate, but it is a valuable skill.
How do we promote this?
Duo/Single/Group Mode
Tips that promote collaboration
Individual Next Step Button
Automatically splits up tasks
Allows you and your partner(s) to go at their own pace
Prompting
Prototyping
Decorative
Techniques
Mechanical
Movement
Joining
Methods
24/32 kids chose the open-ended prompt, but those with less building experience would use the template as a guide
With each level we give an option to either complete the template or complete an open-ended prompt that will both give you tips and explanations on joining methods you can use in your projects
Level up and Learn new skills
Provide opportunities to explore career-oriented projects and invent project templates
Mentoring & Career
Inventor leaders
Appeal to older kids and parents longterm goals
Career-oriented Resources
4/5 kids when asked directly would engage in mentorship as a mentor or mentee. Many showed teaching capabilities and gave suggestions to each other
8/14 kids wanted to be some sort of designer or inventor in the future. If kids had a solid understanding of their career, they designed around it
We invite kids to level out and become workshop leaders where they gain certified leadership experience
Collect Accessories
for your character
Gamification
5/7 groups showed high interest in “leveling up”
7/7 groups were excited about rewards: mystery projects, accessories for their character>badges
The prompt of the day today was “space exploration” so I made a rocket ship.
Today I used the InvenTABLE to make a city with my friend! I made the short buildings and he made the tall buildings. It was a lot of fun!
I made it all by myself...mostly, and only asked my dad for help on the really hard circle parts.
Save your projects to your
Digital Photo Album
Character Accessories
Digital Project Album
Kids can collect accessories for the character by taking on more challenges and leveling up
Provide them a place to collect and document progress
Design Decisions
How will
this help InvenTABLE?
Workshops to help teachers try out the product before purchase.
Expands our users from individual customers to institutions and large entities
Purchase
How the Inventor Club Works
When users subscribe to the Inventor Program, they receive subscription boxes, free templates for math and building skills, and can attend in-person workshops led by InvenTABLE volunteers.
Builders
Attend in-person workshops in their communities
Inventors
Build on technical skills through personalized learning and structured projects
Teach Workshops to builders
Submit designs to invenTABLE
Explore Career-Oriented Projects
Become an inventor and gain access to more career-oriented projects
Be able to teach kids their newfound skills & add to their personal resumes
Solve real-world problems and explore careers through in-person workshops based on mentors interests
How will this help kids?
problem statement based on our research
How do we bring an in person and consistently engaging experience to all kid and adult InvenTABLE users across the nation?
Research-Backed Design Decisions
Collaboration
Only 9/32 kids chose to collaborate, but it is a valuable skill.
How do we promote this?
Tips that promote collaboration
Individual Next Step Button
Allows you and your partner(s) to go at their own pace
3D Animation
Showing the finished 3D model on the template page of the product helped them understand how to visualize 2D-> 3D
“The Greatest Vroom Car”
Inventors: Jack B, Christy L, Jamie K, Brendan Y
Tips & Instruction
Tips Section & easy to follow drawings, give cues for parents on how to help younger kids who may need a more hands-on approach
Learning
7/7 groups were able to demonstrate understanding of the design process after the lesson
Prompting
24/32 kids chose the open-ended prompt, but those with less building experience would use the template as a guide
Level up and
Learn new skills
With each level we give an option to either complete the template or complete an open-ended prompt that will both give you tips and explanations on joining methods you can use in your projects
Mentoring & Career
Appeal to older kids and parents longterm goals
Inventor leaders
We invite kids to level out and become workshop leaders where they gain certified leadership experience
Provide opportunities to explore career-oriented projects and invent project templates
Career-oriented Resources
4/5 kids when asked directly would engage in mentorship as a mentor or mentee. Many showed teaching capabilities and gave suggestions to each other
8/14 kids wanted to be some sort of designer or inventor in the future. If kids had a solid understanding of their career, they designed around it
Gamification
Developing a character and obtaining rewards were motivating factors for the kids to
continue working on their projects
Collect Accessories
for your character
The prompt of the day today was “space exploration” so I made a rocket ship.
Today I used the InvenTABLE to make a city with my friend! I made the short buildings and he made the tall buildings. It was a lot of fun!
I made it all by myself...mostly, and only asked my dad for help on the really hard circle parts.
Save your projects to your
Digital Photo Album
Character Accessories
Digital Project Album
Kids can collect accessories for the character by taking on more challenges and leveling up
5/7 groups showed high interest in “leveling up”
Provide them a place to collect and document progress
7/7 groups were excited about rewards: mystery projects, accessories for their character>badges
From a revenue standpoint
Drive more users to the subscriptions with more incentives to become a subscriber.
Currently piloting career- based workshops across Philadelphia schools, community centers, libraries, and makerspaces utilizing the invenTABLE team and recruited volunteers to have potential buyers.
1.
2.
3.
Develop the platform based on what features are most revenue-impacting to be tested in conjuction with their manufacturing delivery date in October.
Already created a relationship with the Startup Initiative Foundation to supply us with volunteers and have established relationships with Cupola Academy who would love to have us host more workshops.
Our Solution
A platform to help kids gain confidence in their building skills through workshops and/or digital
The Inventor Club
This landing page presents the Inventor Club program, where kids learn basic engineering through templates or community workshops, collaborate in Duo mode, and advance to creating templates and leading workshops using invenTABLE as a hands-on tool.
How the Inventor Club Works
When users subscribe to the Inventor Program, they receive subscription boxes, free templates for math and building skills, and can attend in-person workshops led by InvenTABLE volunteers and graduates to explore topics like building a cardboard cell model.
Attend in-person workshops in their communities
Inventors
Build on technical skills through personalized learning and structured projects
Teach Workshops to builders
Submit designs to invenTABLE
Explore Career-Oriented Projects
Builders
How will this help kids?
Become an inventor and gain access to more career-oriented projects
Be able to teach kids their newfound skills & add to their personal resumes
Solve real-world problems and explore careers through in-person workshops based on mentors interests
Workshops to help teachers, makerspace leaders, and librarians try out the product before purchase.
Expands our users from individual customers to institutions and large entities
How will
this help InvenTABLE?
Purchase
From a revenue standpoint
Drive more users to the subscriptions with more incentives to become a subscriber.
Subtly promote invenTABLE add-ons throughout the website and templates
Currently piloting career- based workshops across Philadelphia schools, community centers, libraries, and makerspaces utilizing the invenTABLE team and recruited volunteers to have potential buyers.
Develop the platform based on what features are most revenue-impacting to be tested in conjuction with their manufacturing delivery date in October.
Already created a relationship with the Startup Initiative Foundation to supply us with volunteers and have established relationships with Cupola Academy who would love to have us host more workshops.
1.
2.
3.
Key Takeaways
Comfortability with Ambiguity
The design prompt from the client was initially ambiguous—simply to create a community platform. To address this, we conducted small-scale testing to deeply understand the specific needs and preferences of our target audience, which includes parents, crafters, teachers, and kids. This approach allowed us to uncover the core elements that our audience truly values in a community platform before moving forward with concept development.
Small-Scale Testing and Design Iterations
We utilized each workshop to test distinct hypotheses, generating unique insights and results for each one. These findings guided our iterative process, enabling us to refine our main concept for the community platform. Each new result brought us closer to a well-informed resolution, driving continuous design improvements and enhancements.
Prototyping & Pitching to clients
Given the constraints of time and resources for a concept pitch, we opted to develop a streamlined marketing landing page to effectively communicate our vision. This strategic approach allowed us to showcase the core value of our idea without the need for a fully-built platform. As a result, InvenTABLE has successfully forged partnerships with various organizations across Philadelphia, leveraging our workshop lesson plans. With these initial successes, we are now poised to develop a comprehensive online platform once manufacturing operations are scaled up.
Our Problem Statement
How do we bring an in person and consistently engaging experience to all kid and adult InvenTABLE users across the nation?
Case studies
Case studies
Case studies
Case studies