Supermarket savvy - Harvard Gazette

"The GSD course "Paper or Plastic: Reinventing Shelf Life in the Supermarket Landscape," taught by twin brothers Teman and Teran Evans, turns students into strategists who evaluate household brands and then redesign them from the ground up. The Brooklyn-bred Evans brothers have been lifelong collaborators. Both attended the Graduate School of Design before launching careers in design, marketing, and branding. They've been teaching "Paper or Plastic" at the Graduate School of Design for 14 years."

"The students who took the course this past fall selected from brands that had been divested, or sold by their parent firm after the firm determined that the brand was no longer successful. The goal? Revival. "Someone else has purchased [the brand] because they see potential for it to perform," according to Teman. It's up to the students to tap into that potential."

"The class was divided into four teams, with between nine and 11 students per team: Clean & Clear, Kleenex, Popsicle, and Yoplait. Before jumping into design and fabrication, each team went through an extensive process of market research, trying to identify new target audiences with distinct wants and needs. With that information in hand, each team redesigned its products with those consumers in mind."

GSD course 'Paper or Plastic: Reinventing Shelf Life in the Supermarket Landscape' turns students into strategists who evaluate and redesign household brands from the ground up. Twin brothers Teman and Teran Evans, Brooklyn-bred alumni and designers, teach the course and have led it for 14 years. Students selected divested brands and aimed to revive them by identifying new target audiences through extensive market research. Teams redesigned product offerings and prototypes tailored to those consumers. At semester end, teams pitched to recruited design professionals who evaluated both the products and presentation details. Instructors expect graduates to disseminate learned skills and mentor future innovators.

Read at Harvard Gazette