When she signed up for the first edition of the Hackathon – the MIT Media Lab Hackathon –, designer Isa Almeida had no idea how much the prototyping marathon would change her life. Isa had her project selected in the Hackathon and spent six months prototyping at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She, who has always designed with the goal of finding solutions, gained a new way of facing challenges and problems through the use of technology from this experience.
The designer states that the proposal of the Hackathon was everything she wanted: understanding the process through the eyes of the user. For her, describing all the sensations she experienced during the process is a very difficult task. “When we arrived for the immersion, with the consultants, we were very excited. We had several ideas in our heads. Then they put us in different groups and we panicked. How would it be with new people and projects?” she recalls.
About her experience at MIT, Isa shares that it felt like she was always inside a cloud of ideas. “You can't and don't want to leave this cloud. Ideas keep appearing all the time,” she explains. She only knew the institution through books and magazines, but what she found at the Media Lab exceeded even her highest expectations. “It wasn't the structure of MIT that intimidated me, but rather the quality of the people, the professionalism, the commitment to work, the desire to grow, and being around people who believed they could change the world. And they are changing the world. That was sensational for me,” she celebrates. She also states that she thought this kind of thing wasn't for her, but now believes it is for everyone. “Everyone who has interest and curiosity,” she adds.
The experience also changed the designer's view of Natura. “When we saw Natura incorporating innovation and technology into the product, concerned with understanding the user and participating in this cultural explosion and technological revolution happening today in the maker universe, we began to have a different perception of the brand,” she declares.
Karen Assanome, a collaborator at Natura for six years, also participated in the marathon and believes it was the best event she has ever attended at the company. The goal of the experience was to contribute to the idea of bringing a new experience to the Natura consumer. For her, the most important point, before building the ideas, was the warm-up that Natura prepared. “All the inspirations and lectures were great to warm up the engines and stimulate us to get our hands dirty,” she assesses.
According to Karen, what sparked her desire to participate in the Hackathon the most was the proposal to enhance the consumer experience by connecting cosmetics and technology and her particular curiosity in the area of technological innovation. “This essence brings a different meaning to the products,” she states.
The experience also brought a coexistence with different universes, people, expertise, and cultures. A baggage that is not lost and which, according to Karen, ended up being, in the end, “a great gift provided by Natura.”
