Impact Fair
A dive into sustainable development goals and accountability.
Impact Fair is a tradeshow occurring in early April 2025. It is an opportunity to connect business with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. As our clients for one of our design challenges at the Co-Design Studio at Hogeschool Utrecht, we were posed with the design question, “How do we intrinsically motivate Gen-Z at and after the Impact Fair?”
Empathize
Uisng prototypes to engage and empathize with users
We used multiple prototypes to engage with our target audience, including a bullseye map where participants placed the SDGs to show the importance of each SDG to the participant. We used storyboards and personas to empathize with our stakeholders, and we engaged with them as much as possible through prototypes to gain insights and receive quotes to help us understand such a broad issue.
Define
After gathering insights, we grouped similar ideas and used strings to discover connections.
After we took our insights and quotes and created a map with twine and post-its to connect our insights and distill the issues, Gen Z was having trouble connecting and implementing the SDGs. Helping us define our guiding principles: transparency, a positive mindset, that change is possible, and bring it closer. One of our most important insights was that by gamifying our prototypes, it became easier for Gen Z to participate.
Guiding Principles
Our guiding principles were shaped by the insights and quotes we gathered during the empathize and define stages of the design process. These principles—"transparency," "positive mindset," "bring closer," and "change is possible"—reflected key challenges faced by Gen Z. We learned that many Gen Z individuals wanted to make a difference but felt overwhelmed about where to start and what changes they could realistically make.
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To keep these guiding principles at the forefront, we hung them on the wall, allowing us to easily reference them and ensure our final design prototype aligned with our objectives. This visual reminder helped us stay focused as we refined our ideas, making sure our solution addressed these concerns in a meaningful way.
Ideate
Using ideation to shape our prototype
During the ideation phase, we explored various brainstorming activities, including Crazy-8s and association games provided by the studio. We referred back to our insights, quotes, and guiding principles constantly to make sure we were on the right track.
Prototype
The final prototype Cards for Humanity
Eventually, we developed Cards for Humanity, a game inspired by Cards Against Humanity that combined SDG issues with random objects, encouraging players to find creative solutions. These solutions could be serious or humorous, but the primary goal was to spark conversation and highlight how the SDGs impact everyone. To make the experience interactive, we incorporated the game into the fair, allowing participants to play and collect limited-edition cards. For the final presentation, we designed a custom box to showcase our prototype, ensuring a polished and professional product for both our client and our grading assessment. The project concluded with a celebratory studio event where clients and students gathered to share their design challenges, solutions, and experiences, fostering a meaningful exchange of ideas.
Showing the game being played at Impact Fair.
The card game.
A look at branded cards to be collected at Impact Fair.
Team Members
Mathieu Douw
Communication &
Multimedia Design
Specialized in UI/UX design
Jorn Voorbij
Mechanical Engineering
Specialized in product design and finding creative technical solutions
Giacomo Rossin
Creative Business
Specialized in design thinking and problem solving
Feline van Zwieten
Communication & Multimedia Design
Specialized in illustration and branding
Savanna Lawless
Systematic & Graphic Design
Specialized in design thinking and branding