INTRODUCTION

Some background, motivations, etc

This project emerged from a collaboration with Ben, a caregiver at Achieva, who has over two decades of experience supporting residents with disabilities. Through interviews and collaborative sketching, we learned that caregivers often rely on memory and fragmented paperwork to manage tasks—leaving room for miscommunication, missed responsibilities, and added stress. Supaboard aims to fill that gap by providing a user-friendly, hybrid physical/digital task tracking system.

WHAT WE BUILT

[su-pa-boːd] NOUN
An intelligent whiteboard and task manager 

Supaboard is a tool that helps Ben stay organized by combining a whiteboard for task tracking with a simple timer. It can be used by any of the caregivers, who would write their tasks directly on the whiteboard, and set a timer to ensure timely completion. The whiteboard also features color indicators to show whether tasks are pending or completed, and allows Ben to easily mark tasks off once finished.

HOW WE GOT HERE

Exploring "works-like" prototypes and process

PROTOTYPES

The prototype allowed us to gain an Initial understanding of the most recurring aspect of what we were going to build - a cell. We initially went with a strip of 32 LEDs backed with popsicle sticks, and tested which potential whiteboard surfaces it would shine the best through.

PROTOTYPE LESSONS

PROTOTYPE TAKEAWAYS

Throughout the prototyping process, we iterated on materials, layout, and internal components to improve clarity, usability, and maintainability. Initially, we used a solid white board but found that a translucent surface allowed the LED indicators to shine through more clearly while still being easy to write on. This answered the question of what material we should use. We also learned that using pre-cut and soldered LED strips for each side of the label was more effective and durable than trying to bend a single strip. To manage internal wiring more cleanly, we added a dedicated slot for wires to exit the board without interfering with other components.

From critique sessions, after testing with Ben's writing size, we decided to enlarge the task cells, keeping the rectangular layout, giving us a clear answer to how big the cell size should be and therefore how many LEDs we should use. This change made the writing areas more legible and aligned better with Ben's natural hand movements. We also took feedback to separate the ideas for daily and weekly tasks boards, to preserve simplicity. Overall, we were surprised by how much material choice and LED visibility impacted usability, and how small layout decisions can significantly improve the ease-of-use and approachability of the final product.

PROCESS

PROCESS TAKEAWAYS

Throughout the Supaboard development process, we made adjustments to our approach that ultimately shaped the final product. Our most significant decision we made as a team was prioritizing the perfection of a single cell before attempting to scale the design to multiple cells. This allowed us to focus on fundamental challenges with LED visibility, wiring, material selection etc that would eventually need to be reproduced. Our original Gantt chart outlined plans for both daily and weekly whiteboard modules, however, we realized we needed to narrow our scope after facing time-intensive fabrication hurdles. 

The daily task planner alone required multiple iterations of testing different animation styles (wrap-around versus underline highlighting), transparency levels of whiteboard materials to achieve optimal visibility, and fabrication issues. Shifting from our initial timeline we felt wasn't a failure but a necessary adaptation to focus on quality over quantity.  By focusing on getting one comprehensive module working effectively rather than pursuing both simultaneously, we delivered a more refined and user-friendly solution for Ben and his caregivers. Overall we learned the importance of being flexibile in planning and iterative development.

CONCLUSIONS & LESSONS LEARNED

Haps, mishaps and plans for the future

The final critique gave us some great ideas to improve Supaboard. The biggest suggestions was ensuring that Supaboard was a "smooth surface without visible screw heads" to keep the writing surface flush. We totally agree - this would make writing smoother and look cleaner. One other major recommendationw as to add the magnetic bar to attach mangets and markers.

One interesting suggestion was adding a touch screen interface for more intuitive controls. Since our current setup "feels like setting a watch." While we purposely chose physical controls for simplicity and durability, this feedback made us think about finding a middle ground that might work better for more users.

Someone also mentioned adding a "bottom tray for keeping items" - another straightforward improvement that would make a real difference in daily use. It's these small practical features that often matter most.

Working with Ben taught us that designing with clients is really about uncovering needs they might not even realize they have. What surprised us most was seeing how much Ben carries in his head - schedules, resident preferences, medication timing - with minimal written support. Supaboard goal was to make visbile what Ben already manages mentally. Looking back, we wish we'd spent more time shadowing Ben through his actual daily routine to spot more opportunities for improvement.

If we did this again, we'd narrow down our focus much sooner. Our best progress happened once we committed to the whiteboard solution and started building. Getting into fabrication earlier would have given us time to solve technical issues like LED brightness and wiring without the last-minute rush.

In the end, we learned that the best assistive tech often doesn't look high-tech at all. Supaboard is basically a smart whiteboard with lights - but that simplicity is exactly what makes it work in a caregiving environment where technology shouldn't add complexity to an already demanding job.

< TECHNICAL DETAILS />

Functional block, Schematics, Code, Github...

FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM

### https://github.com/Ireoluwa-A/SupaBoard