Phase 2
Phase two of the design process involves a collaborative approach where co-design sessions are done with the participant. These sessions provide an opportunity to gather feedback directly from the participant, enabling a deeper understanding of their needs, preferences, and challenges. This feedback serves as a crucial input for ideation. After the ideation three concepts can be created. These three concepts go into further development, incorporating additional feedback from a second co-design session. Finally, following ideation and concept development, a final concept is created in order to address the participant's needs most effectively, based from the co-design sessions.
Co-Design
The co-design session was conducted to ensure the final product aligns with the participants' needs. Valuable insights were gathered for a more user centered design. The session began with a warm-up exercise to stimulate creativity. Afterwards the directions that were developed during the research phase were presented, and feedback was gathered from the case owner, which was later used on the ideation stage. It is important to involve the case owner in the design process, as this project uses an inclusive approach that considers the unique needs of the international participant.
The three directions that were created in Phase 1 was presented to her. She expressed preferences for elements of both the Bamboo and Lotus flower direction and suggested to combine both ideas. An affinity diagram exercise ( the two mind maps that can be seen below), provided additional insights into her preferences, highlighting a preference for plants over flowers and tactile interactive experiences.
The main takeaways from the exercise are the following:
She likes plants more than flowers because flowers only look beautiful for a short time when they bloom, whereas plants provide longer-term care and appreciation.
She finds the Bamboo more beautiful and peaceful than the Lotus flower and then the Frangipani. However she feels like the Lotus flower is a must have.
She does not have a specific preference about her favorite plants
When it comes to interactive elements, she favored tactile experiences that involve grasping rather than just touch-screen interactions.
Regarding shape preferences, she preferred more organic and rounded surfaces.
She also likes the nurturing aspect, such as caring for plants.
The session finished with a request for photos and videos of her living spaces. The reason for this is to be able to design around her living space. The aim is to create a product that seamlessly integrates into her daily life, making it even more personalized to her needs. For a more detailed explanation click the button below.
Ideation
Based on the analysis, research, and ideation, a design challenge and vision can be created. The idea is to translate the Pomodoro technique into an aesthetically pleasing object, while also incorporating Vietnamese cultural elements to address the participant’s international background. This direction was chosen based on the case owner's preference in the co-design session of what directions she felt could help her more. She suggested combining both the Bamboo and Lotus directions together. Thus, the ideation that is shown, is the brainstorming on how both directions could be implemented together. There is also an ideation sketch on how the mechanism of the flower would look like in order to be able to open the flower.
Product challenge: Create a visually appealing object that incorporates the Pomodoro technique and Vietnamese cultural elements, offering a personalized time management solution for the case owner.
Product vision: A product that helps the case owner by visualizing tasks and time in a relaxing, organic and nurturing way, engaging her with interaction of multi sense level while incorporating Vietnamese culture aspects.
Concept
Three concepts were created based from the ideation sketches, with the main focus being on aesthetics and size, considering the participant's living space. Each concept has a similar functionality as they are inspired from the Lotus flower and Bamboo directions.
The concept behind each idea involves using stacked bamboo sticks to divide tasks into hours. For example, if a task requires three hours, three bamboo sticks are stacked. This visually represents the tasks and how much time they will take in order to be done. The lotus flower acts as a timer as sand is poured into it, its petals gradually open over time. When fully open, a signal indicates that an hour has passed, prompting the participant to remove a bamboo stick. This approach addresses the participant's time management issues, as she tends to get absorbed in her work and lose track of time. The flower's signal serves as a gentle reminder that her time is up. Making her remove the bamboo stick is important because it interrupts her intense focus on work. The lotus flower's signal alone might not be noticed if she's deeply engrossed. But having to physically pause her work to remove the bamboo stick forces her to take a break. Overall, this concept combines visual representation and gentle reminders to effectively manage time.
For more information on how the co-design insights were implemented into the concepts can be found in the link on the right.
Time Catcher
Time catcher has the lotus flower timepiece on a cylinder with two side parts that the bamboo sticks. These side parts are able to rotate around the center cylinder, allowing the product to be placed on either edge of a desk.
Time Line
Time line takes the lotus flower and the bamboo sticks and compactly packages them, making it easy for the case owner to use the product while working on their whiteboard in their living space.
Time Tower
Time Tower concept has the bamboo and lotus flower in a vertical fashion, reducing the amount of space the product on the participant's desk will occupy.
How the concept was chosen?
Each concept was evaluated against the requirements. The reason for this is to see which concept aligns most closely with the desired functionality, user experience, safety standards, and aesthetic preferences of the participant. The concept that scored the highest was the Time Catcher. For more information about the requirements and how it was evaluated click the link below.
In the second co-design session, the three concepts were presented to the participant. She expressed a preference for the first concept, primarily due to its aesthetics and how well it would fit on her desk. She appreciated the visual appeal and the way it seamlessly integrated into her workspace, finding it both functional and visually pleasing.
Therefore the best concept based on both the participant preference and comparing it to the requirements was concept one, Time Catcher.
Concept development
A storyboard was created to illustrate the steps of how the prototype works. It provides a detailed visual narrative of the product's functionality and user interaction. The main steps are the following:
Divide tasks into hours, each part of the bamboo represents one hour.
Pour sand into the middle of the flower to activate the timer.
Remove the lid from the funnel when it's filled with sand. As time passes, the sand gradually falls into the basket below, fully opening the flower.
A light indicator appears to signal when one hour has passed.
5. After one hour, remove the bamboo from the stack and store it away. This indicates the completion of one hour, leaving remaining bamboo for subsequent tasks.
Co-design session:
In the second co-design session, the participant selected her preferred concept from the three presented concepts. The chosen concept, the "Time Catcher," was seen as the best option as mentioned before.
Afterwards the participant choose the color palette for the prototype to further personalize it to her preference. The case owner made the final decision on the color palette as can be seen on the left. She also suggested a list of features she wished to include or would like to have in the final prototype.
The details she would like to see the final prototype were the following:
She requested it to be portable
To use natural sand without any added colors or scents.
The color scheme consisting of glossy grey, matt brown, matt green, and light blue.
For the prototype's material, she preferred a more organic feel, suggesting wood instead of metal or plastic.
The drawing above represents the final concept design, which serves as the starting point for Phase 3. This phase entails creating the prototype, which will be based on the finalized concept drawing. It will incorporate the mechanism ideation developed during the ideation stage, as well as the inputs provided by the participant. This includes suggestions regarding color, texture, and other design elements. For more information about the prototype it can be found in Phase 3.