Hive 13 + Faktum

This article was written by former Hive 13 member Cali Karlberg.

Project structure ‍

Hive is Humblebee’s internship program that runs twice a year. Here a team of students consisting of developers and designers get to collaborate with a partner company to develop a digital service. Each intern has their own mentor working in an equivalent role at Humblebee, and the team has a supervisor to guide them in the collaborative teamwork.

The first two weeks of our internship were dedicated to getting to know our team and the bees at Humblebee. We were introduced to the different disciplines and what they do, got to know the layout of the nest, learnt which coffee maker is the best, and our newly formed team’s skills were put to the test by building a fire in the rain.

‍

Partner company‍

We worked together with Faktum, over a period of four months. Faktum is a street magazine that strives for a society without poverty, homelessness, and exclusion. They do this by helping people help themselves. They also produce other products besides the magazine: Faktum Novell, tote bags, Novellix, a crossword magazine and a calendar. In addition, they give lectures on homelessness and social exclusion.

Beyond the initial meeting, the team facilitated the contact and planning with Faktum themselves. Internal project communication happened in Figma and Trello, with a daily morning check-in.

Problem statement

The challenge that Faktum brought to the table on the first meeting was to utilise the data that is already within the organisation and develop a digital product or service in order to strengthen the relationship between Faktum's vendors and buyers.

Some other focus areas were also:

• Finding vendors that are actively selling Faktum  
• GDPR compliance
• Helping more people become new vendors
• People not knowing Faktum's business model and their contribution to society

‍

Approach

Understanding  

The team's first step was to get familiar with the organisation and other similar organisations, both on a national and international level. We created case studies and consumed other readings about topics related to social exclusion and homelessness. We held expert interviews with Faktum’s employees that gave qualitative insights to set off the project, by mapping out the organisational structure and business model.

Deep dive

There were two main user groups that we focused on – buyers and vendors. The team used existing data to extract information and gain a broader perspective on buyers and non-buyers. After the first round of user interviews, we held a five-day design sprint with the team and both the CEO and marketing manager of Faktum joining for two of the days.  

The focus for the design sprint was to:

• Lower the threshold to purchase
• Facilitate interpersonal connection
• Emphasise the individuality of vendors
• Make it easier to know when and where Faktum is sold
• Make something that encourages the vendors to be actionable
  

‍

Prototyping the solution

As one of the problems usually faced by buyers is the difficulty in locating vendors, our initial prototype focused on this part of the experience. We built a web application where users can find active vendors, their locations, personal information and what products they sell beyond the newspaper.

The development of the solution then evolved when taking into consideration the other protagonists of the service. We created an easy way for vendors to set their activity status, keeping in mind the language barriers and limited access to technology that some of them have. These issues also made it necessary for us to design an interface for Faktum’s employees, where they can help set up and activate vendor profiles when needed.

Reflection and learnings

The process of working in a cross-functional team was one of the group's most significant takeaways. The experience taught us how to communicate effectively across disciplines. From the outset, we focused on prioritising direct and open communication, creating a safe environment where we felt comfortable sharing both ideas and concerns.

During the project, the challenges faced by vendors regarding language and technology significantly influenced our solution and prompted a deeper reflection on the topic of accessibility in design and development.

‍