Week 11

Theme: "Project Prototype"

Introduction

This week there was no structured lecture content. As a result, the teaching staff offered each group additional feedback in order to review and improve our current concepts. This feedback helped change our thinking processes which allowed our team to address priorities, delegate tasks and make further adjustments. The main aim for this week was to scope our initial concept and finalize the three aspects of interaction design, object, behaviour and scenario. 

In regards to last week's concept development, our design team had arrived at the idea of wearable technology. The team required support from the teaching staff in order to clarify the appropriateness of our idea and whether or not we were headed in the right direction. Firstly, our team decided to focus on the scenario and behaviour aspects of interaction design. We felt if we were able to successfully establish a well-defined scenario and human gestures, these elements would provide us with a platform of knowledge to design an object around this research. In addition, this research would also justify the need for this product.

Initial Concept Development

User group: Trade professionals

Scenario: The manager of a construction site employees numerous trade professionals to work on a specified site. The employees arrive at the work site and begin working. The context is a busy, hazardous and relatively dangerous environment. At any one time there can be numerous trade professionals moving from location to location and working simultaneously. As the day progresses, the manager alerts his employees to work harder in order to achieve the required outcomes for the day. Trade professionals may begin to experience anxiety and stress given the fact that they need to increase their work performance. Trade professionals will work through the pain in order to please their manager and complete their set tasks. It is due to these circumstances that trade professionals will disregard the mental and physical consequences of working inappropriately. 

To further analyse the scenario, the team decided to examine the context that trade professionals currently work in. The team made a list from our own experience and observations. The images below support our findings:

A trade professional's work environment varies from local / residential areas to large commercial / industrial sites. These factors must be considered when designing for this user group as they may have to re-locate from time to time to complete tasks or discuss issues with their manager or other co-workers. 

Another factor to consider is that trade professionals may be a sole trader which means they run their own business or work independent from a company. This requires them to source their own materials and tools. The fact that they have their own personal tool set means they may work differently to other workers on the site and thus require different needs. I believe if we were to further examine the tools that trade professionals rely on most, it would allow us to narrow down the scope of the project. It is almost certain that most trade professionals would rely on certain types of tools to get their tasks done safely and efficiently. However, once they become tired or stressed it could be assumed they begin to rely more on the tool then their own capabilities. Studies in this area would provide valuable insights into exactly how trade professionals use their tools, especially when they become fatigued due to prolonged use. 

The team discussed the various issues surrounding this type of scenario and more importantly the needs of the user group. The issues the group identified are as follows:

- No scheduled rotation on tools and heavy machinery;

- Limited organisation on local job sites to direct employees and maintain good working conditions;

- Poor circulation of information; and

- Minimal feedback relating to safety and efficiency for employees. 

Based on this research and collaboration with the teaching staff, the team recognized a potential opportunity to integrate many different types of products within this particular scenario.  

Idea / Object: Creating a structured workplace rotation system to provide improved working conditions for workers. The primary use of the object would be to establish a more efficient working scheme. Furthermore, there needs to be an information system that alerts trade professionals when to change tasks to improve their safety and physical condition. Tools are an extension to people's inherent abilities, so why shouldn't a tool act like the human hand, and use the same motor functions? 

In addition, the team also looked into the idea of having a notification device that could be placed into the user's utility belt to avoid distraction and allow them to work in a comfortable setting. The product would need to be in close proximity to the user in order to easily notify the them, but not to the point where it hinders their work performance. 

Another aspect which the group considered was integrating the technology into a glove. Trade professionals rely heavily on gloves and use them in a variety of ways. They are considered a necessity and to some extent standard for safety procedures. However, even though this idea is highly practical, we decided on the basis that as product designers we wanted to focus our attention on designing a tangible product rather then using the 'silhouette' of a previous product. 

Below are a few images of my individual concepts:

Behavioural aspect: Due to the fact that our concept focuses on people's natural behaviours when they are tired, stressed, drained or fatigued, the team created a list of habitual behaviours that people engage in when they are experiencing one or more of these feelings:

- Rub your eyes

  - Drop your head

- Place your hand's on your hips

- Hold your hand

- Press on a specific area which is sore

I believe the image directly above offers the greatest opportunity for innovation and imagination. It is almost as though the thumb is used to locate the source of pain and provide temporary relief. It can be said that the thumb is an integral component of the human hand, and for this project it may well prove to be the turning point to solve the team's dilemmas. 

After much collaboration and discussion with the tutors about our user group, object, behaviour and scenario, the main problems associated with our new concepts are listed below:

- The user group and their need was too specific;

- Needed to appeal to a more diverse market;

- Scenario needs to be specific to the user group and their processes of completing tasks; and

- Eliminate the amount of information the device would be collecting.

From this collaboration session, the team realized we needed to look at our user group and understand what industry they are in and what is required in their practice? In order to answer this question the group organised a meeting and started to brainstorm new ideas. Images are displayed below of our group discussion:

The group was able to learn a great deal more from this meeting. We bounced ideas off each other for several areas and with the help of the entire teaching staff we were able to narrow down our concept.

New concept proposal
The new concept is a smart grip for trade professionals that collects and transfers information relating to their safety and work efficiency. This data is firstly sent to the trade professional for immediate feedback and to alert them to need to change activity and move on to a new task or take a break. This has the potential to reduce work place related accidents and poor employee performance. The type of information collected would be core body temperature, grip position and hours of tool use. Secondly, the information would be sent to HR for them to analyse the data and improve the organisation of their company. The teaching staff gave us two alternatives  either re-design a new grip for an entire product line, or replace the grip on specific tools. The team decided to re-design a grip for a product line to ensure a consistency across the market.

At this stage the tutor said in order for our team to design a product, we needed to define the process of what it is like to interact with certain tools and machinery. To do this, the team was required to perform initial prototyping to extract the design details and identify emerging elements that were not previously considered.

Prototyping phase
In the prototyping phase I looked at several different tools and performed a quick user test to 'flesh out' the process of use and identify design solutions.  The images below show the process of use and interaction:

The most significant issues identified in this user testing are as follows:

- Thumb is used to stabilize the hand and hammer;
- More comfortable to place thumb on the handle;
- The thumb provides most of the support;
- The weaker your grip becomes the less control the user has;
- A wide and long handle resulted in an increase in comfort;
- The grips provided no visual information as the most appropriate way to use the tool;
- The tool with no grip was more practical as it allowed the user to change the position of their grip depending on the type of work; and
- There is no added support for people without a thumb.

Concept Design
After conducting this interactive prototyping exercise, I did a series of design concepts to generate new ideas.