Working in the Margins
Produced for the requirements of the Business and Design Thinking course of Strategic Foresight and Innovation MDes at OCAD University, our project involved a problem/opportunity finding and framing considering stakeholders' needs and influences. Furthermore, we developed a user-centred innovation solution and strategy for implementation.
Our research process began by exploring pathways into and forms of sex work around the world. We decided to focus on Vancouver, B.C., instead of a city or country abroad because of Vancouver's precarious, well-known sex work history.
Within a Canadian context, we explored how sex workers in Vancouver interact with different types of government services, including criminal justice, housing, and healthcare. Both cisgender and transgender women who are sex workers in Vancouver face intersectional oppression. Because of this, our project scope aimed to explore opportunities for socio-economic empowerment for this group of women identified persons.
Our research process went through four different areas that assisted us in diverging or converging: sex work, geography, structural and systemic. Leading us to our research question: "How might we innovate current socio-economic frameworks in a way that empowers and de-stigmatizes cisgender and transgender women street-level sex workers in Vancouver?"
Through our research, we evaluated an influence diagram of the stakeholders, developed experience maps, crafted personas, and designed a stakeholder matrix to identify the relationships and unmet needs. We then looked into barriers to innovation in this area, and what the project criteria would be for our proposed solution.
Report - Part one:
In the second part of our project, we navigated to an ideation phase. Our main concern was to create a business proposition that did not ignore nor underestimate the value of the voices and experiences of those who work in the sex industry. We looked for a solution that would have them as social actors and co-creators: SWEETS Box.
SWEETS Box is a subscription-based service with an inclusive and mindful approach to sex and sex work. We aspired to act as a catalyst for positive social change by empowering our users as well as our co-creators to build confidence in their everyday lives.
Our project then detailed the business idea with the Flourishing Business Canvas, demonstrated how we met the project's criteria and presented an execution timeline and financial projections.
Report - Part two: