Students will investigate real community members’ heating and cooling needs, conduct live interviews, and create evidence-based empathy maps that ground their future heat pump brochure designs in authentic user insights.

Students will synthesize their heat pump user interviews and climate research into a clear, evidence-based problem definition. They will identify patterns across empathy maps, draft and critique "How Might We" statements grounded in real user quotes and climate data, and refine a focused design brief that will guide ideation in the next phase.

Students will generate a wide range of brochure solution ideas grounded in real user evidence, evaluate concepts against their defined user needs and climate data, and produce annotated concept sketches that will guide rapid prototyping in the next phase.

Students will build, test, and refine low- and medium-fidelity heat pump brochure prototypes grounded in real user evidence. They will document feedback from users and peers, make evidence-based revisions, and prepare a stronger version for final testing and presentation.

Students will validate their refined heat pump brochures with a new user, document final feedback-driven adjustments, and deliver a stakeholder presentation that traces their design journey from user research to final solution at a culminating showcase.