Micro Unit
The midpoint presentation made us really stop and think.
On September 19th, feedback from Alaistair challenged us with three big questions:
Where is the research actually going?
What are the ideas and what will the final outcome look like?
Where does this project fit in the real world?
John had similar worries. He encouraged us to figure out exactly who is involved, when they participate, and what the whole system looks like. This was the moment we realised we needed to zoom out before zooming in.
We took this advice and looked at our earlier Peckham Library activity again, this time focusing strictly on the financial side. This helped us spot real opportunities that we had missed before because we were overwhelmed by data.
At the same time, the Monzo Parenthood event taught us the real "opportunity cost" of raising a child. We learned that money isn't the only thing that changes—having a baby reshapes your identity, your timeline, and your emotional energy.
Monzo Event, where we spoke to more mothers & professionals in finance
Board Games
We went back to our initial idea of a game for baby showers, focusing on the time before the baby arrives. Baby showers felt like a perfect moment for friends and family to share knowledge. We explored whether a board game could help couples sort out their priorities and embrace the idea that “it takes a village to raise a child.”
We tried to design the game based on what we learned at Peckham Library, but we hit a wall. It was very hard to make a game about financial security that was educational but also actually fun to play.
Hypnobirthing & Finance
During our research, we kept hearing about practices like hypnobirthing. Seeing how parents use these calming techniques to manage stress made us ask new questions.
Could we help existing communities support parents instead of trying to build new ones from scratch? Could emotional calm and financial planning live in the same space?
At this point, we spoke to Sayantani Bishnu Kumar, a psychotherapist who practices Hypnotherapy. She gave us key insights on how hypnotherapy works and what it aims to do. This gave us a clear understanding of the process of Hypnobirthing.
We ultimately decided not to use hypnobirthing as a direct tool, but we kept its core values—calming the nervous system and staying grounded, when we designed Memory Mint.
We soon realised we were looking too hard for specific "solutions." Instead, we needed to refocus on the broader "Areas of Interest" we found in our research worksheets.
We ran brainstorming sessions where each team member picked an area and explored it deeply. The feedback kept pushing us to be bolder and stop playing it safe. We started using disobedient thinking—coming up with ideas that broke the rules. This is where the concept of the Community Memory Pot (which later became Memory Mint) was born.
This phase marked a shift in who we were designing for. We moved from a broad focus to a specific socio-economic group—people who actually have surplus money to invest. However, we realized that no matter the class, having a child remains a deeply emotional decision, and everyone seeks a community to lean on.
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