Black Box Durban

If you haven't seen, we've been featured in the and Good Hood Stories, season 2.

Our crisis map made it into one of four stories that this season of mini documentaries focusses on, aligning to the theme of local urban innovations that have brought impact to citizens.

So sit back, grab a beer and have a watch. See some of the cool work that citizens have done around the country!

Link in bio
ventures

Are you a fan of local arts and culture?

We're doing research on how to stimulate local creative economies for a potential online platform. The idea is that it will connect artists to one another and to the public by making use of underutiziled urban spaces! If you're a fan of local arts and culture, please fill in and share with friends and family to help us design something useful!

Link: https://zl3kc00ab7t.typeform.com/c/IpsOcifQ

KZN Invest Magazine shares our story as we mark the start of the campaign, a partnership between ourselves and the Thuli Madonsela Foundation - THUMA.
28 Days of meals shared across the country, across tables and in the homes and spaces within our communities, sparking meaningful conversation around what democracy means, and how we intend to deepen and anchor it in our country.

Join us, as we celebrate, reflect and collaborate - find out more about the campaign: https://bit.ly/3rfekHU

Thulisile Madonsela

#Dinner4Democrats - Famous Durban Callum Oberholzer is the director of a tech company, Black Box, that is involved in a project that could give social cohesion a much-needed boost.

If you want to know a little bit more of our story, and what we've been up to the last little while, this is a great write up by KZN Invest Magazine. We're grateful to be featured, thank you Greg Arde!

#Dinner4Democrats - Famous Durban Callum Oberholzer is the director of a tech company, Black Box, that is involved in a project that could give social cohesion a much-needed boost.

The crew 💛 We spent Friday morning filming for a mini documtary being done by the South African Cities Network and on the crisis map we built, for their Good Hood stories initiative. Excited to share it with you when the editing is done! 🎬

Meet New People & Experience Local Food!

We love people, and we love local food. Have you seen our OpenSeat product yet? We’re super excited about it. We’ve been launching it in Durban, with the vision of connecting different people over local food experiences.

Think AirBnB meets Come Dine with Me. It’s your new platform where you can browse food experiences, all hosted by locals in their homes or empty city spaces!

If you love hosting, you can host anything from a pizza, wine and book club or games night, through to a fine dining experience in your garage. You set your price, share your event, and OpenSeat handles the rest until the day. Basically, if you have any creative idea that involves food and creates the opportunity for people to get to know one another, this is the platform for you to start creating, and potentially even earning an extra income stream from.

On the other hand, if you love meeting new people in the city and enjoy creative, local food, then find an event on our platform that suits your taste. We’re all about meeting new people over local food in empty city spaces.

So tell a mate, bring a mate - and let’s create!

https://www.openseat.co.za/

P.S: Did we mention that, as a host, you set the price, and keep the profits?

Black Box Quarterly Newsletter - Better Late Than Never! 💁 - https://mailchi.mp/aed31305526a/black-box-july-newsletter

In April 2022, over 40 000 people in KZN were displaced due to flooding. This came as another devastating blow to the province after 2021’s civil unrest, which in itself, had a disastrous impact on communities, the economy and South Africans’ trust in the nation’s ability to act in times of crisis.

A critical insight that arose from the unrest was the lack of collaborative disaster management, and no live mapping or tracking of impact, need or resource distribution. So when the floods hit, we, along with our partners from Heal Our Land and Pista, chose to act.

In 36 hours, the Crisis Map was live - providing a live, mapped environment for users to either capture their need or log a resource they could provide to those in need, along with their contact details and location. Within 28 days, had over 27 000 users.

Nkululeko Mthembu, our partner from Pista, captures the conceptualisation, collaboration, engineering and resulting data that followed in this article: https://bit.ly/3IEYTR7

Have a read, and let us know your thoughts!

Hi all,

We've been working frantically with a Nkululeko from https://pista.co.za/ to build a real-time solution to track what's happening on the ground during the disaster.

As people log entries a pin pops up on the map with details.
Users also have the ability to assist others, and then log that assistance on the need marker on the app.

The vision here is to get an overview on the ground so that Government, NGO's and NPO's can steward resource effectively.

This platform is for anyone to use relating to the current floods. If you have a need, or a resource, please log it with detail.

Feel free to share.

https://crisismap.black-box.io

📣 We're on the lookout for an experienced Product Designer, with refined UX/UI and Human-Centred design skills.
Think you could be a match?
Apply here: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1655865179/

Our first Quarterly Newsletter of the year is out! - https://mailchi.mp/c59813312e2e/ame1ksmwe1-15780896
In this release we look at design systems, new postures, current and future products as well as how one of partners built an application in 48 hours that went viral.

Black Box founder, Callum Oberholzer, shares his thoughts as he reflects on 2021's many challenges, opportunities and learnings as well as his hopes and predictions for the future as a company, country and as human beings.

Looking Back to Look Forward Black Box founder, Callum Oberholzer, shares his thoughts as he reflects on 2021's many challenges, opportunities and learnings as well as his hopes and pred...

2021 - it’s a wrap!

Last Friday we closed our laptops, stepped out of the office and spent the day celebrating each other, solving riddles, drinking fancy cocktails and sharing a meal together.

Our morning started the way we know best, with coffee at African Roots Coffee Once sufficiently caffeinated, we made our way up to The Capital Hotels & Apartments boardrooms to kick off with our team sessions. In our first session, Carla-Leigh Ziady shared her year in review as Project Manager, going on to lead a discussion where we openly discussed our wins, losses, challenges and frustrations, as well as our learnings, victories and celebrations of each other as team members and individuals. The first session wrapped up with a financial review from Jean-Luc Koenig, highlighting our growth, short, and long term goals and 2022 projections.

After diving into the delicious eats provided by The Capital Hotels & Apartments we moved onto our second session, led by Callum Oberholzer looking at the future of Black Box, opportunities on the horizon and our broader mission and vision going forward.

As if we hadn’t had enough of each other - we headed across to Mindgame Escape where we were locked in a room of riddles together. With 60mins on the clock, we had to solve our way out, but true to our nature, we refused to accept any clues and ran out of time on the very last clue! Despite not escaping, we were all pumped and loved every minute of the experience!

Finally, we wound down (the adrenaline is real in an escape room!) with dinner, cocktails and great conversation The Danté Experience. Sharing a meal together as a team is one of our favourite things to do, and on that we really value - especially after such a prolonged period of isolation.

Creative Coffee Week 2021

Despite various COVID-19 related curved balls being thrown over the past 18 months, Creative Coffee Week finally took place as a hybrid in-person and online event from 15-17 September at The Bond Shed, hosted by the amazing The Coffee Magazine team, alongside a number of industry partners and sponsors.

We were really excited to jump on board, along with Open Cities Lab to present the Barista Wage Calculator - from its inception, recent learnings to where we see it going in the future. We took the opportunity to explore the important (often avoided) discussion around barista wage shortfalls, employee performance and cafe owner challenges - a tough, but critical conversation.

What came out of this was just the tip of the iceberg, but left us with some important insights and questions that we aim to unpack as we begin the Phase 2 UX process. Having a group of one of our core users, cafe owners, in a room was invaluable, and further instilled how critical consistent user testing and interviews are to the product life cycle.

Watch this space, a new release of the Barista Wage Calculator is on the horizon!

Leaders Eat Last.
Our second book in our company book club, by Simon Sinek 📚🍷🍕

Here are three ideas that we really liked from the book:

1. Servant Leadership

The core social idea of leadership throughout many centuries has rested on sacrifical service. In history, great leaders who have sacrificed and took the consequences for their people met a social obligation and contract. Dating back to tribal periods in various cultures, leaders were given respect and wealth due to the reality that their life expectancy was the shortest. If a wild animal or waring tribe put your tribe at risk, it was your responsibility as the leader to place yourself on the front line. If you didn't, the social contract was broken, and the people would general replace the leader. This in essence seems to be one of the biggest traits that are lacking in corporate and political forms of leadership today.

2. Circles of safety

If your organization's team members don't feel safe in their environments, they loose the ability to bring all of their faculties to the team, and end up placing large amounts of energy defending or protecting themselves due to internal politics and infighting. However, if the organization has a safe environment for all members, diversity sets in as a status quo culture, and the team can put their creative energy into doing what they do best; their job!

3. Modern Abstraction

As economies of scale, GDP's and leveraged technology have helped contribute to a modern, limitless mindset; one of the consequences of this has been the lack of proximity of our actions to their consequences. You can see this in large corporations where the top management no longer have an understanding of the people at the lower levels of the company, and become disconnected from the lives of the people they employ; the realities and intrinsic value of those lives. Not only is abstraction prevalent in organizational science, but equally on how industry effects the natural resources of the earth. Essentially, abstraction has to be carefully managed and intentionally designed into an organization.

Let us know if you find these ideas helpful 😎✌️

Heyo! We grow by one, and she’s a party 🎉

Meet Jeamine, the newest member of the Black Box team.

Joining us as our Product Designer, Jeamine brings a skillset pivotal to balancing both design and systems thinking. Jeamine has studied both design and computer science, and her laughter is already brightening up the office!

Fun fact: “I love collecting fun and random facts. I believe that life is about gaining knowledge and insight into the world; the more you know the more you grow!” 📚🌱

What excites and inspires Jeamine’s transition to the civic tech and human-centred product design space?
“Joining the civic tech world allows me to satisfy the yearning in my heart to bring about change with the skill set I've been given. Design and technology has the power to transform the world and I love that I can be a part of this force for good. And all of this is for people, to make things better for humans, which is why being human-centred is not just helpful but essential”

Welcome to the team Jimmy!

Black Box Durban updated their phone number.

Black Box's Callum Oberholzer, sits down with Nkululeko Mthembu, a fellow Durbanite and Director of Durban-based company PISTA, to discuss and share their journeys as young South African entrepreneurs.

From financial viability to impact, innovation and Imposter Syndrome - these two young entrepreneurs candidly share their experience, vulnerabilities and vision in this UKZN inQubate Enspire'd talk.

Let us know what you think!

UKZN inQubate Enspire'd Talks: Callum and Nkululeko Black Box's Callum Oberholzer, sits down with Nkululeko Mthembu, a fellow Durbanite and Director of Durban-based company PISTA, to discuss and share their jo...

Meet Jean-Luc, the newest member of the Black Box team. Joining us as Finance and Business Development Manager, he brings an inspired mix of razor sharp numeracy, blue sky thinking and intuitive leadership, sufficiently fuelled by espresso’s and equipped with one of many carefully selected notebooks.

What excites and inspires Jean-Luc’s transition to the civic tech and human-centred product design space?
“I think it is about this search to find something worth becoming… as a city and as a country and also as a Black Box family; that through our projects we bring Durban together and contribute to it becoming more inclusive and collaborative. This really excites me”

Welcome to the team J-L!

Follow our journey...
We’re is starting a quarterly publication sharing our insights on Medium that we would love to share with you!

What will we be sharing?
Firstly, no spam, we promise! Our newsletter will based around two core topics:
1. Innovative products designed by both us and partners in our network.
2. Shared learnings, failures and successes in starting a company in the design tech industry in South Africa.

The tone of this publication is low frequency, high quality, so need to worry about a flood of emails, one will arrive once every three months - although we'll be writing on Medium on a monthly basis (so follow us if you’d like to keep up to date with our articles: https://medium.com/black-box). We'll be starting off writing about who we are and the people and products we are involved with, which will then in due course develop into insights on industry experience, analysis and the role design technology has in aiding us solve problems that we face in an African context.

Use this link: https://bit.ly/3fgzChY to opt in, and feel free to opt out at any point. We look forward to having you join us as we journey through our ever-changing contextual and professional landscapes!

DEEP WORK by CAL NEWPORT
You may have seen our previous post introducing the first of our company book club selections, ‘Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World’ by Cal Newport. Here’s a quick summary and verdict from our team:

SUMMARY:
Deep Work is essentially about the art and science of concentration and productivity. Cal defines Deep Work as working on a single task at a level of high concentration and without distraction, which he believes is the key to creating value in the knowledge economy. The book is divided into two parts. The first defines the nature of Deep Work by juxtaposing it with ‘shallow’ work, and explains why and how it maximises value (with some really impressive case studies) and why so few people are equipped with the skill. The second is a practical guide on how to develop your own consistent style of Deep Work and how to apply this to your personal and professional life.

VERDICT:
Do you find yourself constantly distracted by unproductive meetings, a flooding inbox or social feeds? Do you find yourself spending a large amount of time on these tasks rather than on high value tasks that contribute towards meaningful work goals and consequently a more rewarding lifestyle and balance? Then this is a must read. Cal Newport is really great at breaking down complex ideas and practical strategies into easily understandable, accessible and practical chunks of knowledge and guidance. His arguments are based in a broad spectrum of philosophical, psychological and scientific research that are explored with useful case studies and individual narratives. You will feel an overwhelming sense relief knowing how many people are also living with their time drained by ‘shallow’ work, and left with a sense of confidence that cultivating a sustainable method of Deep Work is well within your reach.

PRODUCT LAUNCH: https://baristawage.co.za/
Statistics indicate that Baristas do not earn sufficiently for their experience and expertise, and unfortunately, they and their employers are often unaware of the problem within the industry.

Motivated by their desire to create transparency around these issues, and to further equip and empower both Baristas and Cafe Owners, we were approached to collaborate with Open Cities Lab and The Coffee Magazine to design a product that met the above criteria, based off the original Living Wage calculator https://living-wage.co.za/ built by Open Up. The solution was to design a Web App that would allow users to simply, quickly and accurately assess their salaries earned or paid in order to calculate their placement within industry standards, and against average living wage data. This knowledge of knowing where they stood in their industry would equip users to make informed career moves, and motivate healthy conversations between baristas and cafe owners.

The tool consists of two calculators, one for the barista to assess their earnings compared to others with the same experience and qualifications across South Africa, and the other, for Cafe Owners to assess the salary they pay and whether or not this covers their baristas’ average living wage. Both calculators are based on a number of variables that users input, and are assessed against data collected from a nationwide barista-specific survey.

Once the user has completed their calculation, they are then able to compare their salary to industry averages, or compare paid salaries to living wage standards via the data dashboard, after which they are able to access various related resources as a guide to actionable steps that they can take, as well as stories of how other South African baristas have found successful ways to advance their careers.

Involvement: Concept Development, UX Design, UI Design, Continuous Development

Tech Stack: Python, Flask, Postgres, Progressive Web App, React.js, Gulp.js, Bootstrap 4

📌 FRONTEND DEV POSITION
Do you love your city, and have an eye for digital product design?
We’re on the hunt for a talented Frontend Developer to join the Black Box team.

A large part of what we do is motivated by the desire to craft digital products that solve civic problems, and have managed to partner with some really exciting players in the Civic Tech space. If you’re the rare combo of designer meets coder with an authentic bent on creating beautiful products that have meaning, we’d love to have you on board.

👉🏾 Requirements
UX + UI Design familiarity
Frontend languages and frameworks
- CSS + SASS
- HTML
- Vanilla JavaScript and jQuery
- Wordpress + PHP experience
- React.js (optional)
- Python + Jinja experience (optional)
Minimum of 3 years experience

Send us your CV and a motivational letter to [email protected] and we’ll let you know if we think you could be the right fit. Please note that all applicants that make the first shortlist will be tested.

UKZN Interactive Map

LATEST COLLABORATION _ We’ve just gone LIVE with our unique collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal!
As part of the international student relations objective, this interactive map 🗺 takes you on a journey through the city of Durban with immersive 360 virtual tours 🎥through the UKZN campuses and informational markers indicating various tourist attractions, hot spots and facilities - giving users a social and geographical view of the city and it’s surrounds.
🔈Turn up the volume, the sights and sounds of Durban await!

👉🏾 Illustrated by: Brad Cuzen Illustration & Design
👉🏿 Use of: Python, Flask, Gulp.js, Bootstrap 4, JQuery UI

irmaps.ukzn.ac.za

OUR 2019 COLLECTION: 👏🏾 🍾
What an epic year it has been for Black Box, we are incredibly grateful for the collaborations we have been involved with and the partnerships we have formed.

Here’s a round up of a few of the projects we are proud to have been involved with 👉🏿
✅ UKZN: http://irmaps.ukzn.ac.za/
✅ : https://openseat.co.za/
✅ NARRATIVES OF HOME: http://narrativesofhome.org.za/
✅ GRAFFITI APP: http://bit.ly/2QhKoIz
✅ : https://city-story.org/

*In Collaboration with:


Urban Futures Centre (in partnership with NRF)

www.black-box.io

THAT'S A WRAP FOR 2019! 👏🏾 🍾
What an epic year it has been for Black Box, we are incredibly grateful for the collaborations we have been involved with and the partnerships we have formed.

Here’s a round up of a few of the projects we are proud to have been involved with 👉🏿
✅ UKZN: http://irmaps.ukzn.ac.za/
✅ OpenSeat: https://openseat.co.za/
✅ *NARRATIVES OF HOME: http://narrativesofhome.org.za/
✅ *GRAFFITI APP*: http://bit.ly/2QhKoIz
✅ City Story Durban: https://city-story.org/

*In Collaboration with:
Open Cities Lab
Gauteng City-Region Observatory
Urban Futures Centre (in partnership with NRF)

black-box.io

Black Box is proud to be part of City Story Durban's journey! Join the to unite in Prayer tomorrow night 👉🏾 7pm at Greyville Race Course.

Come and join our at our monthly United Prayer tomorrow night, 6-7PM at Greyville Race Course.

OUR COLLECTION _ We’re really proud to have brought this unique meal sharing platform Open Seat, to life. The platform is dedicated to connecting people into community through in-home meal experiences. 🍲 Users have the opportunity to attend or host private or public meals in their chosen area, which includes a registration and in-app payment transaction. Read more about this project: 👉🏾 http://bit.ly/2pfUr6J

Open Seat is pioneering the use of mobile technology for more authentic, face-to-face human experiences. Why not register and try it out? 🍴http://bit.ly/2pa48nu

Black Box Durban

👋🏿 Hello, we’re Black Box - a digital product design and development company in sunny Durban, KZN ☀️ We’re all about Human Centred Design, User Experience and Interfacing, thriving on collaborations and challenges! Find us online 👉🏾 black-box.io - whether you’ve got a project for us or want to connect and collaborate - we’d love to hear from you!