Week 10 - Post Concept Round-Table Discussion Feedback (Mid Semester Break)

This week we had no tutorial due to it being mid-semester break, however, we did receive our feedback from Marianella regarding the Round table discussion in week 9.

Below is an image showing her feedback sheet;

Marianella discusses how our concepts Object is unclear at this stage, how our Scenarior needs narrowing down is feedback we expected. The points Marianella raised regarding;

"What are the messages that people need to convey in the context of 'coming back home'?" 

"What gestures convey those messages? Are those appropriate to the chosen user group?"

Are very valid points, although we briefly touched on them in our descussion, we are struggling to fully understand our concept and its intentions/potential right now.

However, based on Marianellas feedback regarding the Week 9 discussion, I think its plain to see that the concept direction and intention is not working for us as a group, this is seconded by each group members thoughts towards the concept over the previous few weeks, but after receiving this from Marianella I think as a group, in order to produce a relevant and successful concept come Week 15, we need to make an executive decision to move on from this concept idea and think of a new one, and yes, for the third time this semster... but I dont see that as a major issue, I see it really as just exploring our options and not settling on something we're not comfortable with presenting and developing; which I understand to be a good trait amongst group work. 

Due to project demand and deadlines from other subjects unfortunately I wont be able to put as much time and effort into considering a new direction come our regrouping in Week 11. However I understand the other group members may be in a similar boat with other subject commitments.

Week 9: Concept Presentation and Feedback

This weeks tutorial saw the group meet with the tutors to present and discuss our developing 'Sensing the News' project direction and concept intention. The discussion was conducted as a round-table format consisting of Yasu, Marianella, Leo and Jamie from LifeTec the external tutorial we had there a few weeks ago. 

Jamie was included in this discussion due to the specific feedback he would be able to give to the various groups regarding their limiting user consideration (if they had any) and how they could potentially begin to consider the limited user (if they hadn't already). All this feedback was relevant to his Universal Design presentation he gave in the week we visited and to help express ideas for how we could approach our design or concept with this consideration and therefore include it into the design itself.

We presented out design intention for the scenario of 'Arriving Home' but I think it was obvious we werent really into the idea of this direction, because well, we werent. But none-the-less we sat there and discussed our concept explorations openly, hoping for something to click and all of a sudden we'd understand exactly what we needed to do. But, it didn't, haha. Oh well it'll be good to see the formal feedback Marianella gives us to maybe shed some light on where were lacking or failing to meet the project acts and requirements.

After the discussion we went back as a group and continued to discuss further this direction again hoping to grasp the concept and understanding of what it exactly we can show and produce into a working concept and model using the Arduino.

Week 8 - Further Concept Direction Development and Consideration

This weeks tutorial saw the group look towards further developing our concept direction. 

As last week was spent at the LifeTec expedition we didnt have the chance to sit down and fully discuss our research from the week before. However with the beauty of technology and social media we were able to roughly voice our findings or concerns ahead of todays tutorial, and luckily we did. 

As a group we all came to essentailly the same conclusion in one way or another, through either a lack of motivation or inspiration for the current chosen direction of 'Music Event News', or whether it was from our research finding the vast number of existing products and methods currently used and practiced around Brisbane and for that matter the rest of the world. after discussing the future of this idea, and realising the majority of our designs would lead to either an Application design for a smart phone, or if we managed to design a hand held device etc, then it would just become a pain in the arse for the user to carry around and use, when in fact they'd spend a lot of the time wondering why said device wasn't just implemented into their smart phones - thus hitting a dead end.

So, in light of the matter and the discussions, we all agreed it was in our best interests to scrap that idea and progress onto something potentially more realistic and more possible to carry out under the requirements of the semesters project. 

To get the ball rolling again we went back to the drawing board and brainstorming to find some inspiration and potential context or direction... instead of running around in circles around the whole 'News' thing, even though it was the brief, we decided to go back to design basics and look at Daily Activities and the different personas that carry out those activities and how they differ. We selected four main personas for this consideration, and they consisted of

A tradesman (tradie)

A school child

A Uni student

An elderly person

We then assigned these persona's to each member in the group and went away planing out 'A typical life in the day of ...", I was tasked with looking into a typical school child's day, while Steve looked at typical day of a tradesman, Joey the Uni student, and Hannah looked at the elderly person. 

So I set about brainstorming on what I interpreted as a typical school child's day. The child was around 12 years old and had to commute to school daily without his parents via public transport. He had many friends and enjoyed hanging out and mucking around after school with them a lot. His parents worked during the day, but his mother was only part time and was home early afternoon to prepare dinner etc for the family. He had 2 older siblings, a brother and a sister who were aged 15 and 17.

Below shows an image taken of my initial brainstorming of the child's typical day;

After we brought forward our brainstorming activities to the rest of the group members it was clear to notice the similarities amongst our 'day in the life of' and they were the details surrounding leaving home and coming home. From here we decided to focus on the concept of 'Arriving home' and then tried to apply potential devices and concepts to this scenario still focusing on our assigned user.

I decided to look at a potential device that could notify their parents, or anyone at home of the child's location, and then their eagerness to return home - helping to show emotion to the parents awaiting their arrival;

Below are some images showing further brainstorming around potential devices a school child could utilize and apply to the scenario of 'Arriving Home';

Looking at who is notified by the device, how it might convey emotion, the input requirements and possibilities

Further consideration of suiting the users wishes - potential embarrassment attached to using the device, potential to convey messages within the home too - location pin point, updates automatic for safety and potential input changes of gestures or emoticons

From these progressive brainstorming sessions I then began to roughly sketch and consider some concepts for application, aiming mainly to see how realistic my specifications were, and also to get a sense of the potential form and shape this device would take - helping to determine if it was realistic and practical for application. 

Below are some images taken of my roughly drawn concept considerations;

Device attaches to the child's backpack and notifies the parents of their location - air travels through an opening communicating the speed of their movements - to show their eagerness to return home and potential emotion attached

Alternatively the device could measure shakes or movements to measure the child's increase movement/activity

Bracelet/Belt with predetermined emotive icons (emoticons) and a green/red light - child presses symbol related to their mood and its communicated to a device in the household - when the message is received acknowledge then the green light lights up to show the child they're being heard

Below are some images from the other group members showing their concepts for their user as a result of their brainstorming;

Hannah - elderly person;

Visitors and how they may communicate their arrival - motion sensor for waving = 'Hello' - colours associated with members of the family flash

Steve - tradesman; 

Glove to be worn when driving - measures pressure exerted on the steering wheel to communicate to the other person of their location - gripping strengths communicate emotion as well - strong = angry/anxious

Instead of a glove the steering wheel could be covered in a cover providing the same purpose and containing the same technology and intentions as the glove concept

After the sharing of our concepts as a group we then reassess our direction and current project concept of 'Arriving home'. Unfortunately it was again agreed that this direction might not have enough depth for us to explore successfully for the next 6-8 weeks and develop into a final project and concept. We did however take the idea of the journey and leaving place A to go to place B and the potential of following this notion. 

As a result we decided that we will stick on the path of conveying emotionally the 'Arriving home/announcing arrival' theme and concept.

Hopefully next week we will have more definitive direction and definition into this notion and we aim to bring further concept consideration and proposals for the chosen theme/direction.

Week 7 - The LifeTec Expedition!

This weeks tutorial consisted of the class leaving our regular room at QUT GP and venturing out into the wild, the great unknown. Well actually it was known, we'd been there before, in second year. This place was known as... LifeTec;

The purpose of this visit was to sit in on a lecture given by the staff at LifeTec; looking at and discussing the purpose and need for universal design in modern day society and its products. This has always been an interesting side of design in my mind, catering for the less-able-bodied individuals of our world and providing eequal opportunites and ease of use with everyday products, but this lecture was especially interesting as it was being presented by Occupational Therapists and their take and understanding of what they see day to day. 

After the lecture we each went away in our respective groups to explore the current products on the market; the products that LifeTec had in store. The task was to select a current product on the shelves at the store. We were then asked to redesign this product in a way that it could be used by a wide range of users and not just a limiting user.

As a group we chose the Vibralite8 Watch to redesign. From our initial understanding of the products task, we found that the product was quite incompetent of carrying out its tasks. 

So as a group we worked to directly define these issues and then took the necessary steps we felt to fix these problems. 

Below are some images of our workings and exploration of the product;

An image of the Vibralite8

Examples of our workings out

Group 13 (my wonderful group) at work

Hannah presenting our groups findings to the rest of the class

Below are a selection of photos taken from our experience at LifeTec;

This experience was needless to say more insightful then our first one in second year. Having said that, if the staff from LifeTec ever stumble across our blogs; then a big warm thank-you for everything you put on that day. :]