I have done two and a half projects in this semester. The first one is an installation, a collaborative project, with Harry and Rina. The second item is the seat cushion, and the 0.5 item is the suitcase item. I want to divide this semester’s reflections into two categories, one is non-product design and one is product design.
Non-product design
I tried an installation project, rooted in hopeless, a hopeless collaboration that seemed a little sudden and hopeless to us at the time. In this project, I also know that I need to have better cooperation ability, which is the ability to cooperate with different people. After all, my future product design cooperation is not necessarily people who run in well.
Secondly, I would like to talk about the two paintings I drew in ELP, among which the red one is called “Snail”. I really like this painting because I think it’s hard to see it’s acrylic, I added too much water, but I didn’t expect a new texture on the canvas. Followed by three black marks where I felt like a snail had crawled. This time I feel like painting can help you discover a lot of skills that you didn’t feel you had before. (I find using a brush really cool.)
The product design
I found a problem that a lot of people missed, but after I brought it up, some people thought it was a problem. I think we sometimes take things for granted too easily and should consider better solutions.
I agree that user research is an effective way to create innovative products and solve user problems. I read a story about a man who wanted to build a bridge B. B is likely to build a bridge without user studies. If a user conducts an interview and discovers that B’s real need is to cross the river,B. Clearly can find a boat, which is a more efficient and cheaper way to cross the river.
Observation is more real than user research. Take the Sensory project for example. When we did user interviews, some people responded that they didn’t feel any pain or inappropriate. But when I looked, I found that almost everyone changes their posture when they sit for long periods of time.
There are a lot more things to think about in designing a product than the problems I want to solve. For luggage, changing the way it opens is actually a very easy thing, but the problems that come with it are very difficult to solve, such as the center of gravity of the consignment, the company of the consignment, etc.
I overestimated my ability to solve problems. Take the luggage project sample, my idea is to change its opening mode to a drawer. It’s easier to open and it solves the problem I’m trying to solve. With this opening, the center of gravity (how the bag will stay stable on the ground when all the drawers are open) and the stability of the checked bag (which structure will ensure that the checked bag will not be opened) are more important issues. I can’t find the idea of technical balance. As a result, the project was stopped.
Inability to actively manage projects. I didn’t have a big plan for the whole project. I’m not motivated enough to do things, and it’s not proportional to the amount of time you put in. Sometimes I will blindly look at some websites, this time my goal is not strong, looking for a long time also do not know what to look for. Time is wasted.
After doing my research last week, I started to choose materials and methods for prototyping based on my vision. My idea is that there’s an air cushion and a hard ball, air cushion on top, ball on bottom, something like this:
The picture on the upper left shows a round air cushion with some balls in it. When the air cushion collapses, the balls in it hit your butt. The picture on the lower right means a square air cushion with holes in the middle and balls in the holes. I found that both schemes included “air cushions”, so I searched Taobao for products related to air cushions. Finally, I found this:
A cushion to prevent bedsores, it was exactly what I had imagined, so I looked at the size of the balls and bought some 4cm in diameter.
Final production process and finished product:
The finished product is a cardboard bottom, and then the ball is in the pit, so when the cushion is out of air, you’re on top of the ball.
This semester I mainly focus two project to do some try. One is solve the open method of luggage is so tedious, second is solve sedentary problem.
For me, these two projects have increased my thinking about product design. Of course, I still like the field of product design, and I still enjoy the feeling of finding a problem that no one else has solved. However, I still feel that I’ve only seen part of it. I don’t like the first some product design process, and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product. I also found that I do not like intelligent and electronic products to solve problems. I think it complicates problem solving to some extent. If a problem is solved entirely by physics, structure and ingenious design, the product will become an excellent product.
My Inspiration
At present, the luggage project has been shelved, and the sedentary project has just finished the research, and is in the stage of making the product prototype. Both projects encountered some challenges, but also some gains. I reflected on the following points:
Gain
I found a problem that a lot of people ignored, but some people felt it was a problem after I raised it. I think we sometimes take things for granted too easily, and should think about better solutions. In addition, I think I should not be afraid of being too simple or being laughed at by others. Instead, I should boldly put forward my own ideas, and think deeply and improve my own ideas.
I agree that user research is an effective way to create innovative products and solve user problems. I have read a story that A wants to build a bridge for B. If A does not conduct user research, A will most likely directly build a bridge for B. If A conducts a user interview with B and finds that B’s real need is to cross the river, A can totally find A boat for B. Obviously, boats are a more efficient and cheaper way to cross the river.
Observation is more truly than user research. Take Sensory project example. When we do the user interview, some of person’s answer is they aren’t fell any pain or unsuitable. But when I observe, I find that almost all people will change their sitting pose when they are sedentary.
There are far more things to consider when designing products than there are problems I want to solve. For luggage, to change its way of opening is actually an easy thing, but the ensuing problems are difficult to solve, such as the center of gravity, the firm in consignment.
Challenge
I overestimated my ability to solve problems. Take luggage project sample, my idea is to change it opening way to the drawer. That will be more easier to open, and that solve the problem I want to solve. About this opening way, the center of gravity (when all drawer are open, how the luggage stable on the ground) and the firm in consignment (Which structure can make sure the luggage in the consignment won’t open) is more important problems. I can’t find Technical balance idea. So that, this project stopped.
Inadequate ability to proactively manage projects. I didn’t make a big plan for the whole project, so I didn’t know what the whole process was like and where I was now. I am passive about the teacher’s progress in class.
My motivation was not enough to do things, that are out of proportion to the time you put in. Sometimes I will blindly look at some websites, at this time my goal is not strong, look for a long time also do not know what to look for. Time is wasted. In addition, I sometimes focus on small things and ignore the more important things, thus delaying the progress of the whole project.
To sum up, product design is my favorite field. I have a strong desire to start, and I can really find many small problems in life. But after the project started, my motivation dropped significantly, which is something I need to overcome later. In product design, I have a lot of respect for Steve Jobs and IDEO. The former has designed a lot of products that are called “magic” and make ideas which are in imagination come true. The latter has designed a lot of things that are used in everyday life and have changed people’s lives to some extent. When I hit a wall, they rekindle my desire for the final product of an idea.
In those days, my project go into the research process. I learned about research method and have some things done.
Research background
Because I have engineering class at class, and we focus on the problems of chairs. So that I really often focus on chairs. Then, I find sedentary problem was often mention by people, but no solution.
Then, I have the idea to solve sedentary problem. First, I open Taobao app to find some product also want solve this problem. The odd thing was, all of products are make you sitting more comfortable, not make sure you won’t sitting in a long time. I told this idea to Miss Ren, she also think this is a great idea, and better than Luggage one, more suitable for me to solve.
I think about a design which I have seen it long ago, it will reduce water resources. They use a material which meet water then expend on one of a wall in your shower place. Once you shower use long time, this material meet much water, this material will expend the place to you can’t turn your body, so you must stop shower and leave. The logic in this design is let you not comfortable to stop the behavior.
Including this logic, I have the first idea of product of sedentary. The solution is a cushion that have some thing can rock your bottom, so you cannot continue to sit on the chair. About is this idea can truly solve the problem, I want to make a detail research.
Research users
I choose two kind of people, one is junior high school student to undergraduate students, 12-22 years old, two is young office worker, 23-35years old.
Research methods
I decided use three methods to do the research: User observation, user interviews, media resources.
1、user observation ：
I choose 10 persons of my target user (5students, 5 occupied people), observe time of they sit, and how long did they change their sitting pose.
2、User interviews：
I choose 10 persons of my target user (5students, 5 occupied people), talk to them face to face or online.
Those are questions I prepared.
How do you think sitting affects your body？
How long do you usually realize you’ve been sitting for a long time from you sitting down？
Does your body have pain caused by sitting for a long time？
How much do you want to change this question？
What have you done to solve this problem？
Interview record:
Those are my persona of my target user.
16 years old, student, 8-9hours class per day, 10min between each class, 4hours home work
17 years old, student, 8-9hours class per day, 10min between each class, music major, 2h homework, 2h piano.
16 years old, student, 7+hours class per day, 5min between each class, always stay late for play game or do homework.
19 years old, student, 6+hours class per day, 10min between each class, stay late 4 days average each week to do homework.
24 years old, office worker, 8hours work per day, do some sport at home after work.
25 years old, office worker, 9hours work per day, During working hours (9:00-12:00, 13:00-19:00), he will not leave his seat and will directly ask for any information on WeChat.
20 years old, student, 6+hours class per day, always stay late for play games and do homework, lots of poor posture.
22 years old, office worker, 9hours work per day, play basketball after work.
30 years old, office worker, 8hours work per day, but always overtime, lay down after back home, because of so tired.
34 years old, office worker, 8hours work per day, but there are 2 days will be in outside.
This is my interview draft, in really brief expression.
3、 Media resource
Use Bing Academic and Google to find authoritative health websites and search for “sitting” data, and my goal is no fewer than 10 websites.
User obsevation: 10 participants were observed, the average sitting time was 1.75 hours, the maximum sitting time was 3 hours, and 8 participants changed their sitting position after 1 hour of sitting time.
User interview: 10 people were interviewed online and offline. 80% of them knew that sitting was a serious problem and 20% of them took effective preventive measures. 80% of students do not feel sedentary, and 100% of office workers have a more serious problem with sitting; Fifty percent of people experience discomfort from sitting for long periods of time
Analysis of media data: Sitting for long periods of time, with no positive reports, is associated with the following diseases (lumbar disc herniation, obesity, accelerated aging, cardiovascular disease, increased risk of cancer, reduced muscle strength, reduced reaction time, hypertension, etc.)
