OVERVIEW
MY ROLE:
I conducted user research, helped fabricate the device and carried out user testing with our client, successfully creating a prototype of reasonable robustness.
OUTCOME
FEATURES:
IMPACT
It actually didn’t end up working on our demo day.
Our selling point backfired on us:
the jacks for connecting the telephone cords to our sensors were terribly fragile.
We didn't realize this until we started soldering and the metal parts easily broke with just a bit of applied force.
Instead we pivoted to refining the design.
Going into the project, the physical design was not necessarily our priority, but when it ended up being the only part of our project that we could show, we realized how important it actually was.
Many of her caregivers commented on how important personal style and expression is for our client, and having a device custom made for her gave her a lot of control over color, shape, etc. which often isn't an option for assistive devices that are mostly utilitarian.
SOME ISSUES
USER RESEARCH
User Interviews
We conducted an in-depth 20-30 minute interview with our design client.
We discussed the daily workings of her life and what parts of her life that could be made more convenient in the context of her physical disability that requires her to navigate with a mobility chair.
Our Client
Maura is a fan of baseball, and she loves watching the Pittsburgh Pirates games.
Her favorite colors are red, orange, dark blue, while her favorite animals include dogs, cats, turtles.
To our surprise, her favorite sound is a dog barking, which we unfortunately didn't have the chance to incorporate into our design after cutting audio.
INSIGHTS
As a wheelchair user, we found the main pain points included navigation, especially in tighter and more enclosed environments.
Low-fi sketches + ideas
Ideas mentioned:
Accessible button to alert others to assist her after using the restroom
Help with morning reminders
PROTOTYPING
Where it all started!
Our main questions we wanted to address from this testing:
TAKEAWAYS
I learned a lot during the experience, here are the top 3:
Hofstadter's law
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law. Part of the reason we couldn't get our device to work on time was bceause we underestimated the time required to stress test it.
Test.Test.Test.TEST!!!
Test in increments, especially early as you're iterating with new materials and ideas. When we got to our testing stage, we realized how unreliable our hardware was, but it was too late to order new parts. This could have been addressed with earlier testing!
Create more low-fi prototypes
One issue was underestimating the space constraints for our device because we finalized prints that were hard to change without testing enough with low-fi materials like cardboard.