Spark NC Hackathon

During this program, we spent the first three days learning about the design process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. We then participated in a one-day hackathon, where we were given a problem and went through the design process. Our hypothetical scenario involved a person named Kathy, who has arthritis. Her job required repetitive push pinning of items to a board, which was difficult for her. To better understand her needs, we created an empathy map noting what she says, does, feels, and thinks. It included that she hasn’t found solutions from others, has tried medication and compression gear, and likely worries about losing her job. During the ideation phase, we brainstormed many ideas, including pins with bigger tops or grips and even a pin shooter. With limited materials, my group designed a glove with magnetic pins. Kathy could hover her gloved hand to collect a pin and then smoothly push it into the board by placing her palm on the wall and sliding, eliminating the precarious finger movements that caused her pain.