PROJECT BRIEF
The aim of thoroughly investigating the challenges confronted by Fukushima's fishermen in light of the ongoing wastewater discharge issue. Throughout our collaboration, we identified these needs through customer journey mapping, ecosystem mapping, storyboarding, and service blueprinting.
Through this project, we see future opportunities for the Japanese fishing industry to recover. Our success has been driven by great collaboration within our team and with stakeholders during the discovery process. We hope our booklet has provided valuable insights for you.
APPROACH
Many stakeholders take part in the buying process of NPWT devices. Deciphering how the process unfolds in reality needed contextual in-hospital observation, interviews and mapping sessions with care givers, nurses, wound care specialists, doctors and hospital buyers. Research insights were activated in a workshop with the client team to inform their business strategy.
TOOLS
FIGMA
Miro
ROLE
Service Designer
Project manager
Procreate
METHODS
Hypothesis Journey map
Ecosystem map
Stakeholder map
COLLABORATIONS
Blair Xu
Lane Lieberman
LINKS
Survey Insights
Booklet link
Alignment workshop
Blueprint
Storyboard
EXPLORATIVE RESEARCH
Why the Japanese government needs to discharge nuclear water now?
This treated nuclear wastewater is used to cool damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, stricken by an earthquake over a decade ago. Japan claims that the wastewater, containing a radioactive isotope called tritium and possibly other radioactive traces, will be safe.
Japan says it needs to release the water as storage tanks are full. Tanks used to store the water are already at 98% capacity and are expected to reach their limit as early as February. TEPCO stresses that the tanks are taking up too much space, leaving no room for it to build other facilities or set up equipment needed to proceed with decommissioning plans.
PRIMARY RESEARCH - SURVEYS
Sending out a survey to Japanese residents helped us to gather first-hand insights and perspectives on the ongoing wastewater discharge issue in Fukushima.
STAKEHOLDERS
The primary and secondary findings have provided a big scoop of the whole situation. We discovered that our communication model with stakeholders is transactional, and will be applied throughout the project.
In our stakeholder mapping process, we identified possible actors across four tiers, which include the core, national, involved, and informed. This helped to narrow down our identifying our core stakeholders.
COMMUNICATION MODEL
IDENTIFYING OUR CORE ACTORS
CUSTOMERS
Secondary actor
Our secondary research has highlighted the direct influence of customers on fishermen. Based on the findings from surveys, we have identified customers as our secondary stakeholders.
FISHERMAN
Primary Actor
Fishermen is our primary core actor because the fishing industry is the most impacted sector due to the discharge project. Our decision is based on secondary research, which reveals that fishermen face the most substantial challenges.
GOVERNMENT
Agent
We have chosen the government as the facilitating agent in this project.
The government possesses both the authority and financial resources required to support our primary stakeholders, the fishermen.
CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP - CURRENT STATE
MOMENTS OF TRUTH
01
Customers begin the process by searching for information in the news or internet, seeking friends and family opinions, & scroll on social media to understand the quality of the fish provided by the local fishermen. Based on the information they've learned, they decide on whether its safe to buy the fish.
02
The local fishing industry is making efforts to guarantee the safety of their fish by imposing a limit of 50 becquerels per kilogram, which is considerably stricter than the national government's allowable limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram.
03
The government is making an effort to assist local fishermen by offering subsidies, which is a move that the fishermen appreciate. However, this is not their desired solution.
ECOSYSTEM MAP - CURRENT STATE
PURPOSE
The purpose of creating a service ecosystem map for this project is to visually and comprehensively depict the complex network of actors, systems, and processes involved in addressing the challenges faced by Fukushima's fishermen due to ongoing wastewater discharge. This map will provide a clear and holistic view of the interconnected elements and their interactions within the ecosystem.
GOAL
01
Identify Key Stakeholders
02
Highlight Interactions
03
Identify Gaps and Opportunities
CLOSER LOOK AT THE CORE ACTOR'S RELATIONSHIP
DEFINING OPPORTUNITIES
PURPOSE
The purpose of creating a service ecosystem map for this project is to visually and comprehensively depict the complex network of actors, systems, and processes involved in addressing the challenges faced by Fukushima's fishermen due to ongoing wastewater discharge. This map will provide a clear and holistic view of the interconnected elements and their interactions within the ecosystem.
GOAL
01
Identify Key Stakeholders
02
Highlight Interactions
03
Identify Gaps and Opportunities
CHOSEN OPPORTUNITY
Opportunity 1 was chosen to focus on for the future state service. The potential solution seemed relatively feasible and most impactful.
STORYBOARD
CHARACTERS
THE STORY
Our story is about a regular local Japanese customer, Philip, and a local fisherman named Jake. In the initial scenes, the Fukushima discharge project began, and Philip struggles to find reliable information online confirming the safety of consuming fish. Consequently, Philip decides to stop purchasing seafood for a period, impacting local sales and leaving Jake disheartened. In the fourth scene, at a global conference, Japan requests other countries to conduct research and publish papers affirming the safety of their seafood. Eventually, Philip comes across news saying the Fukushima project as safe, which made him to resume purchasing Japanese seafood.
01
Identify Key Stakeholders
02
Highlight Interactions
03
Identify Gaps and Opportunities
ECOSYSTEM MAP - FUTURE STATE
THE STORY
Our story is about a regular local Japanese customer, Philip, and a local fisherman named Jake. In the initial scenes, the Fukushima discharge project began, and Philip struggles to find reliable information online confirming the safety of consuming fish. Consequently, Philip decides to stop purchasing seafood for a period, impacting local sales and leaving Jake disheartened. In the fourth scene, at a global conference, Japan requests other countries to conduct research and publish papers affirming the safety of their seafood. Eventually, Philip comes across news saying the Fukushima project as safe, which made him to resume purchasing Japanese seafood.
GOALS
01
Visualize possible opportunities
02
Identify new actors
03
Compare scopes of different opportunities
SERVICE BLUEPRINT - FUTURE STATE
PURPOSE
Creating a future state service blueprint allowed us to further visualize how the relationships of stakeholders can foster solutions. Developing this artifact also helps to take the backstage and support processes into account within the service.
GOALS
01
Visualize possible opportunities
02
Identify new actors
03
Compare scopes of different opportunities
CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP - FUTURE STATE
FOCUS
Our future state customer journey map focuses on the research phase of our original customer journey map.
OUR CO-CREATIVE WORKSHOP
PROCESS
We kick off the workshop with an introduction, featuring a brief video to illustrate our chosen "moment of truth." This helps the stakeholders to grasp key aspects of the customer journey. Following this, we provide an overview of roles, allowing stakeholders to self-select their roles. To enhance engagement, we started with a warm-up activity where stakeholders answer questions related to their roles, so they have a better connection with their roles. Prior to delving into the service blueprint workshop, we incorporate brief activities to ensure stakeholders have a good understanding of the customer journey. Then we will conduct the service blueprint activities together. At the end of the, we unveil the service blueprint created during the workshop, highlighting key differences between the stakeholder and our versions.
Takeaways
The Fukushima wastewater discharge project was my first time working on service concepts. The most challenging aspect was honing in on the project's focus and identifying key actors. Throughout this experience, I gained understanding in various mappings used in service design, which became an essential tool for me in understanding the complex topics.
Research for this project primarily looked into secondary sources, with a smaller focus on primary research involving surveys and interviews. Despite the biassed nature of internet research, we made an effort to maintain neutrality while gathering insights. To improve, I will dedicate more time to researching and interviewing our core actors.