Embedded Files
Day 1
Day 1
19/09/2018
Today marks the first day of Design Odyssey. The group went to SUTD and learnt interesting and more in-depth design thinking! Instead of just creating the product for the sake of fulfilling what the lecturers want us to fulfill, the team has to come up with a problem to solve and a solution that is feasible, viable and desirable!
In the beginning the team got to learn about what the majority of people sees the definition of "Design" and "Innovation". It's interesting how different the answers the team had as a class compared to Google's answer.
The team got to learn about identifying who we want to help (the target audience), the needs (what problems needed to be solved), effect of stakeholders (how powerful or how interested different stakeholders have) and personas. The team didn't manage to complete our persona during the allotted time as the team initially misunderstood the persona creation process, but it was close to completion and it should be easy enough to get it ready for the next day.
The team had a concept for a self defense flashlight that had a GPS connection that could communicate with the police.
-John
Day 2
Day 2
20/09/2018
Today the team finished the persona in the morning. Here it is:
Persona: Scared Stacy
Age: 23
Occupation: Accountant
Education: NUS Graduate
Status: Single
Archetype: Overprotective older sister
Personality: Introverted, tech-savvy, animal lover, family focused, dislikes violence
Goals: To maintain peace in her life, maintain stability and safety
Motivation: To be able to make it back home after work to raise up her 9 y/o sister Lily and her pet cat Tingle
Frustrations: Dangerous on the streets, one day may disappear and cannot take care of them. Heard of rape cases and harassment happen often near her area. Doesn't like using pepper spray
Needs: A way to feel assured when going back home through a dangerous area while not deeply injuring others
Quotes: "I want my family to grow up strong and healthy, so I have to be their pillar for them"
This was surprisingly useful for the journey map as it helps identify issues that may not be apparent. The journey map is essentially the step by step process of the users, from their waking to their sleep. The team was more focused on when the users are outside of their comfort zone and alone (for example, outside of home or work and away from friends and colleges). Here it is:
In the system the team follow the AEIOU design thinking which stands for: Activities, Environment, Interaction, Objects and Users.
The black circles are the activities that the persona takes, from leaving the house to going to work and going back home with groceries. Black notes refers to her thought process. Orange represents her interactions with people and objects such as her wallet.
Through this process, it becomes easier to identify issues that may not be apparent at first glance. The team got to identify key scenarios that can affect the persona's ability to fend off against potential attackers, such as groceries that makes it harder for escape or using a self defense tool.
With this in mind, the team went to interview people based on the interpretations of the target audience and after 3 hours of searching around the SUTD campus, the team gathered information from the target audience on their wants and needs. The data the team gathered is shown at the side.
A bit hard to understand at first glance. The team compiled the results of 17 interviews and have a few common answers. There were new and interesting insights such as the bystander effect, where people do not act in a situation where there are many other people present, alarms being normalized from drills, and others like people having a mixed view on the topic such as some people feeling safer with crowds as they can call for help, but some feel less safe in crowds as it increases stranger danger
After going out to survey the target audience, the data were compiled and the main points of the data were highlighted by the group members
The photo below showcases all of the notes derived, which are further split into more categories
The biggest feature needed when doing the interview was more orientated around capturing the data during an attack, alerting others such as the police and by-standers as well as having a system that can work overseas. The concerns raised on self defense were not as evident in Singapore (during the interviews) compared to overseas. Thus the target audience should be people who are travelling alone, or to be more specific, those who are travelling overseas alone.
That is where the value proposition canvas comes in to provide a better understanding of the target audience and to provide for the wants and needs of these users. Our focus was geared towards putting the customers first, identifying what they want before developing a device or prototype that can solve their problems.
In this case, there are 2 main types of users. One that travels alone in Singapore and one that travels alone overseas. These users would want to have a sense of security and protection when travelling. What they ultimately want is the sense of enjoyment and fulfillment from travelling alone, both overseas and local.
Thus the "How Might We" statement was: "How might we improve the safety for vulnerable people who are alone in cases of assault?"
-Ethan
Day 3
Day 3
21/09/2018
As a continuation from Day 2, the value proposition canvas was to be completed, now more catered towards product that can add to the gains and relief the pains from the users, as well as complete the jobs stated by the users. The canvas is at the side
The team went through many idea phases, from a watch to a lanyard attachment to even a jacket that serves the purpose. Ultimately, there was a common theme of these products being a wearable, portable and light for the users. Ideas generated also have similar methods of solving the issues, such as using a strong LED to deter the harassers, using IoT to store data of attackers and even use social media to quickly update information of the users during the attack.
After finishing the value proposition canvas, the physical prototyping stage starts. To create a minimal viable prototype (MVP), the team had to convey the ideas with the tools provided. The design the team went for was a ring and a watch with a LED to convey its application. When the prototype was created, the team went out to do the interviewing:
Through the interviews with the prototype, concepts were validated, new ideas were established, assumptions were changed and overall more progress was made towards the project.
If the team persists to continue this project, the next step is to further refine the product, either through designing it even better or adding more features that the target audience wanted.
And that concludes the 3 Day bootcamp of Design Odyssey. The team will be updating more information on this blog as more progress has been made.
-Ethan
Day 4
Day 4
25/09/2018
After the bootcamp, there was a hiatus for idea generation and problem statement finding. The team came up with ideas to present to the supervisor for validations and improvements for the project.
The ideas were rejected as they either are too simple or does not have enough impact. Therefore the team went to spend the day focused on generating problems to solve or people to help on.
After the day, the team decided to focus on the cleaning as the theme for the project, and to keep it as broad as possible without coming up with ideas, the team decided to take some time to do design thinking on the project
-Samuel
Day 5
Day 5
26/09/2018
The team went to restart the design thinking process, centred around household chores. The team went through the design process until the User's Journey map, right before the interviewing. For the documentation of it, you can access it on the 1st Design Process page.
The team went on to come up with interview questions as well as do some research on the statistics of housecleaning in Singapore as well as overseas.
From the research, it was found out that to have a maid in Singapore, it cost roughly S$1000 a month due to payment, feeding and housing for them, making a hefty long term cost. In addition, some feels there is a sense of invasion in the household privacy.
To create a product that is lower than the cost of the maid service in the long term, the product can be viable. This is only in secondary research so it may not be the defining factor as to why people would want to opt out from maid services.
-John
Day 6
Day 6
27/09/2018
The team started to do the interviews and research on this day and collected many data revolving around the cleaning services that the demographic required.
The team decided to approach the data collection through online survey and interviews for both qualitative and quantitative data.
The questions are kept to be as open-ended as possible. The questions can be found in this survey: https://goo.gl/forms/6WsyKUAiS0Nf8hiu2
Do note that the interview questions are modified to understand the users as much as possible.
After the surveying, the team went to present the findings to the supervisor of this project. Sadly, he rejected the theme behind this project as it does not have enough impact into it. Therefore the team went to go back from scratch and have to come up with different problems to solve.
-John
Day 7
Day 7
28/09/2018
The team went to search for possible problems to solve and have come up with two main issues to solve:
"Samuel and I used to suffer from bad back posture and scoliosis because we aren't reminded on our posture constantly.
So our problem is getting a detector or tracker on our posture so that we can notified of it and correct it before serious issues are developed.
If possible, we can make it into a wearable (e.g. jacket) and also make it correct the posture for you." - Ethan (Group Leader)
"I worked with a Voluntary Welfare Organisation for the disabled Friends of the Disabled Society FDS last year where they create products by the disabled to sell. This makes them contribute to society and make their community sustainable. The people inside ranges from physical to mental disabilities
However, the products they sell are too simple and not marketable for sales. The sales usually are lesser than targeted and the products doesn't fit the market
Issues that they face are the products they make have to be simple to make, safe to operate and have to be within the workshop that they work on.
One of our ideas is to introduce tools that are simple and safe to use (or allow them to create products that they cannot before). Something like a safety scissors for power tools" - Ethan (Group Leader)
The team have a mixed view on the two subjects. The first one is more feasible within the budget but the impact value may be lower. The second one requires time and more budget out of the limited budget that the team has, but if done well the project will have a greater social impact.
The supervisor over the project approved for both subjects to be carried out and ultimately depends on the team's decision on which project to do. As of writing this, the team's vision is still mixed, but the decisions will be reached soon.
-Samuel
Day 8
Day 8
29/09/2018
The team headed off to redo the project, using the "back posture" idea as the theme. There were a lot of discussions based on the feasibility of both projects and due to budget constraints, the team decided to not do the "aiding disabled" project. The original idea was to create tools safe for the mentally disabled to operate on, but the cost to make it fool-proof would inquire too much material and design costs. In addition, the project may fail its purpose if the tools used does not contribute to a more marketable product at the end that will break-even the price of the project as soon as possible.
On that day, the team went to go through the design thinking process again, but this time it was more efficiently done. Progress that would have taken 2 days before was shortened to a few hours.
Other than that, the team went to plan out the next week plans. Hopefully, the team will be able to achieve one of the targets: to interview someone who is proficient in body anatomy.
Progress of the works can be seen in 2nd Design Process
-Ethan
Day 9
Day 9
01/10/2018
The team went to come up with a required parts list and do some interviewing. The parts list is on the left, where the bare minimum is needed. The additional features are not considered yet. Until the surveys, quick prototyping stage and interviews with quick prototypes are done, the ideas additional features are not added yet.
The team discussed on the potential methods of tackling the issues after the interviews and came up with 5 potential methods. The team will be doing the value proposition canvas on Day 10 or 11, but as of now the team has a rough understanding of what is there in mind.
Other than the interviews that was conducted in campus, the team also wants to interview experts within the field of body anatomy, specifically chiropractors who understands the body shape well. So it's expected to have Day 10 to be focused on interviewing the experts.
-Ethan
Day 10
Day 10
02/10/2018
The team focused on collecting data and research. The team went to consult an expert on the body anatomy (orthosist) on issues faced with the posture of the users.
The team also conducted research on similar products and other studies related to back issues. There are products that alerts the users having bad posture and using vibrations to nudge the users on their posture. They also use IoT and an app to monitor and track the process overall.
So the team has to reevaluate their product that either improves upon what the competitors are doing or solve an issue that they have not done.
The team decided to focus on the corrective wearable that aids experts in the body posture field.
The team aims to solve the following issues that the current products are facing:
- muscle atrophy
- limited movement
- heat
- comfort
-Ethan
Google Sites
Report abuse