Will Koehler, DAAP '09

Industrial Design

Live Well and Prosper

My journey with the Live Well Collaborative began my junior year in the Industrial Design program at UC. I heard about a new multi-disciplinary design studio and walked across campus to investigate. I have always been a designer of broad interests and was excited about collaborating with students outside of design. My student involvement with LWC consisted of two very different studio projects. The first, sponsored by General Mills, focused on new Yoplait food products focused around health and beauty for 50+ women. The second re-evaluated the notion of the patient hospital gown. Both studios allowed me to work in diverse student teams and provided me with unique challenges and learning experiences.

After graduation, my LWC experiences led to a full time position as a Design Researcher. In my new role I was asked to engage with design studios as a facilitator and team leader. This has given me rich experiences in organizing and executing consumer research, managing client relationships, and leading design teams. Undeniably, my experiences at the Live Well have fostered powerful insights, beneficial relationships, and mature perspective in my education and professional career.

But enough about me, why should you become involved? Designing a product, service, or business plan is only half of the process. Qualitative research, problem finding, consumer empathy are all things that Live Well does better than other studios here at UC. Its crazy how many students work most of their school career without ever meeting the person for whom they are designing. How can you make good decisions without empathy for your consumer? Learning to plan, observe, and synthesize consumer research is essential to your development as a designer, marketer, engineer, etc. Additionally, the team structure of the LWC experience is unique. No one can maximize their creative potential on their own. This can be the most challenging and rewarding part of the studio experience. Teamwork skills are paramount to professional success after graduation. So if you are still interested, I suggest you dive in and see what happens. You may surprise yourself.