Month: May 2019

At the start of the semester, I was not exactly sure what I had gotten myself into for this course. With very little experience in 3D printing, I was nervous that I would not have the proper tools for navigating this semester, let alone an entire weekend of just making things! Thanks to my team, mentors, and professor I had a great semester and learned more than I could have hoped! Check out my journey below!

Empathy

To start our semester, we dove right into empathetic human design. What can we learn from those who are different from us in order to create a product that will benefit their lives. Immediately, we were introduced to the Illini Service Dogs, a variety of members from the wheelchair racing team, and others who were willing to help guide us through this process. I found this intimidating because I did not know what I was expected to know or understand about wheelchairs and how they work or how it makes someone feel..the truth was, I did not know anything, and that scared me. No, I was not familiar with the lifestyle of someone who lives in a wheelchair, and I had no intention of trying to tell each user that I knew how they felt because I did not. But, I was willing to ask about how they felt, how they moved, how they lived, and suddenly, I realized not knowing was the best mindset to have when it was time to learn. And with that, I met and learned about some of the most inspiring on this campus.

Optimism

Luckily, I was placed on a great team with my teammates for the semester, Maryam and Kate. We hit it off right away and were very pleased with our first assignment of creating a team name and logo. Upon deciding our mentor to be Arielle, we wanted our group name to reflect she had done with her own company Ingenium when taking the class. With that being said we decided to choose another Latin word, Evinco, meaning overcome. And with our team name, followed our opportunity statement: Increase a wheelchair racer’s grip in undesirable weather conditions.

Embrace Ambiguity

Although this opportunity statement changed over the course of the semester, we had a large task at hand because Adam, the coach of the wheelchair team here at Illinois, said this is a feat he has been trying to overcome for years. We only had one semester to find a result and that was a daunting thought as the weeks passed.

We had the opportunity to tag along with Arielle to an 8am practice (which my senior year 11am class schedule did not prepare me for), where we observed exactly how wheelchair racing works, the break down of a racing wheelchair, and how athletes attempt to combat poor weather conditions. Each of these lessons brought us closer to understanding how we could improve the racers’ experience. While we were learning about the makeup of the chair, we learned how much work individual athletes have to put in in order to create their own equipment. For example, handrings need to be replaced every 3-4 months depending on how often the athlete practices and how much force is put on the handrail. In order to replace these handrings, the athletes need to use a heat gun to warm up the concrete glue enough so the worn rubber will come off of the aluminum rail, cut up a bike tire, and then glue the new bike tire onto the aluminum. The entire process can take up to 3 or 4 hours. From my knowledge, no other olympic sport requires its athletes to actually MAKE their own equipment. Understanding the “behind the scenes” of what it is like to be a paralympic athlete in wheelchair racing, our opportunity became two-fold: Find a better way to cover handrings in preparation for the race.

Creative Confidence

Over the next couple of weeks, we learned Fusion 360 software, brainstormed how we could accomplish our goal, and had the opportunity to be guided by individuals who work in the Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab) on campus. These weeks were used to help us better understand the resources that were available to our class and how we could use them in order to complete a prototype by the end of the Make-a-thon.

Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

The Make-a-thon was whirlwind of iterations. Every step along the way we faced a new challenge or found something that did not quite work for our team. We ordered three materials in preparation for the Make-a-thon: bath mats, yoga mats, and snap screws. We had to find a way to add this material to the handring in order for it to become more water resistant and withstand large amounts of force from athletes. Unfortunately, after simple testing, the yoga and bath mats were unable to withstand even light force. They began to pill at the first sign of light force.

After this we were on the hunt for the right material within the FabLab. T-shirts, nylon, and corduroy were a few fabrics that we were able to test for process improvement as well as durability.

We borrowed PlastiDip from another group, which is shown in the photo below. Vishal was also able to find PlastiDip Aerosal which was more of a spray compared to the initial yellow dip which we were able to use as a paint.

Make It

Learn from Failure

I was really excited for this course because I wanted to make something tangible. I am in an organization on campus called Design for America, so I was familiar with the design process and interested in how we would apply it in class. I ended up learning a lot through this class and I’m thankful for the opportunity to take it.

Week 2

How do you use what you have to make something better?

-Ron

Ron said this above quote when we visited the DRES facility. I really like it because it speaks to the opportunity out there without having to invent something new.

Week 3/4/5/6

These weeks really served as times where we explored, conducted interviews, talked through different ideas, and spent time learning in the fab lab. Week 3 was when we had the cold day, so we stayed in and video chatted Milestone Labs along with our mentors. We saw an opportunity after speaking to Ryan, who said he wasn’t able to really do video interviews because of the heavy equipment and setting it up. This led to our first how can we statement:
“How can we can improve the ability to multitask for people with limited mobility in their arms or are in wheelchairs. ”

Week 4 is when we established our team name as well as did user interviews. These interviews helped us discover more opportunity areas, including the area of grabbing things.

Week 5 is when we curated a bunch of our ideas and sorted through them. We came up with multiple categories ranging from school/work life to personal life. After discussing our insights with one of my team members Huan, I discovered an area of interest which I was curious to explore more which was independence. We originally were looking to explore multitasking this activity helped me consider the element of just being able to do things by yourself.

Week 6 is when we came up with a few more how might we statements.

How Might We create a way for wheelchair users to see what is behind them?

How might we create a way for wheelchair users to grab heavy or hard to grab items easier and independently?

How Might Design an affordable assistive tool?

Week 7

This week Mehmet lead us through an exercise where we looked at our How might we statements from the perspectives of different users. This includes designing for an older person versus a child. It was interesting how the user we were designing for inspired us to think more out of the box. This was a great exercise for us because we actually created something and for the first time thought that we were on to something. I think it was important for us to have this discovery because even though this was far from the design we ended up pursuing, it got us excited at the time.

Week 8/9/10

These weeks are when we met with Dr McDonagh as well as story boarded in class. We were still working on the idea of a glove at this point to help with limited mobility. These conversations and ideating helped us visualize more what our potential project could look like. We also video chatted Milestone labs and got some more insight on our project. We were going forward with the glove but there was still a lot of questions on what exactly we would design,

MAKE-A-THON

This is when everything changed for my team. We went from several ideas this semester to deciding to dedicate to this weekend to creating a watch strap. This came from meeting John McSween at the meeting before the Make-A-Thon. He can’t wear many watches because of his limited ability to pinch. He also tried using a magnetic strap before, but it came in the way of his wheelchair. We spent the weekend prototyping and working hard to come up with a design for him.

The Make-A-Thon taught me a lot. We had to be patient and stay optimistic even when we weren’t sure if we could make something good. We ended up being one of the winning teams which was incredible. The money we won allowed us to buy a watch for John, and redesign the strap for his watch.

Post Make-A-Thon

We ordered material, hit the fab lab, and made a usable watch band.

LESSONS LEARNED

1. Human centered design is super challenging but super rewarding. I’m so glad we got to make something that John can actually use and wear.
2. IT is important to be understanding when working with others. My team members all had different things going on at different times but we really depended on each other to do what we can when we could.

THANK YOU NOTES

Thank you John for helping us create this! Your feedback and positive attitude during this process really motivated us.

Thank you Huan for your passion. You brought so much interest and curiosity into this project and I’m grateful I got to know you better through the process.

Thank you Eric for your persistence. You thought about using the hook after we told you to think of something other than velcro, and then worked really hard to make the final watch band.

Thank you Charlotte for all your optimism and help in the class. You were such an awesome TA!

Thank you Mehmet for all your guidance and advice. It was great to learn from you and I really appreciate all the time you dedicated to this class.

Thank you Professor Sachdev for creating a course like this that really challenged us to work hard and do good.

Thank you to all my classmates for inspiring me with your designs and making the world a better place 🙂 It has been a great learning experience being surrounded by such talented people.

Taking this course has been a great learning opportunity for me. I have applied design thinking mindset with actual design and prototyping and experienced the iterate process of human-centered design. I have also learned from other teams’ project as I took classes and read reflections every week. After taking this class, I have grown my interest in the area, and have decided to participate in iVenture Accelerator to further the journey.

At the beginning of the semester, I chose to take this course because I wanted to have more hands-on practice with 3D printing, Arduinos and other technologies. I have had some experience with those technologies, and yet I have never had a systematic study on the subjects and didn’t apply those skills into practice. In addition, I care about social justice very much. I have been working as I Connect Facilitator to lead diversity and inclusion workshops on campus, and would like to learn more about people with disabilities and design for people with disabilities. For those two reasons, I signed up for this course.

In the first two weeks, we visited DRES (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-2-reflection-inspiration-at-dres/). I have changed my view on the subject and began to understand what it means to design for people with disabilities. One thing that really stood out to be was the word choice of mentor instead of user in this class. People with disabilities have more experience than us. Rather than designing for their unmet needs, the mindset should be we are learning from experts who know more than what we do.

In week 3, we had a session with Milestones Studios to learn the current trends and needs in the assistive technology field (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-3-reflection-challenge-to-make-an-impact/). After learning the examples and how to use analysis and synthesis, we wrote opportunity statement as a group. As we worked on the statement, we had a clearer picture of what we wanted to do: improving the ability to multitask for people with disabilities.

In week 4, we first had a session with Mike from EarthSense (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-4-learning-from-observations-and-reflections/). This gave me a chance to see a real example where the product evolves with users’ feedback. At later half the class, we decided our team name to be “Blueprint” and designed our logo.

In week 5, we began our class with a presentation by John, I was impressed to see how 3D painting has revolutionized the healthcare industry (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-5-reflection-revolutionize-the-world/). Specifically, I realized that 3D printing has the nature to assist with democratization and customization so that it could help with equal accessibility and equal affordability issues in the area. In the second part of the class, we learned the resources available that the Fab Lab and began our journey to learn hands-on skills.

In week 6, we learned how to use Fusion 360 to build a model (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-6-reflection-growing-the-passion-and-skills/). We did a pre-class project on a camera and an in-class project on a phone case. For the project, we began the ideation phase. After conducting an interview with mentors, we found some areas that have potential. Besides agreeing on the importance of equal accessibility and equal affordability, we realized that some people with disabilities have issues with seeing things behind them and grabbing things.

In week 7 and 8, we adopted more skills such as circuit, laser cutting and how to use sewing machine (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-7-reflection-dive-deep-with-design/, https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-8-reflection-learning-more-tools-and-reflecting-on-the-project/). In addition, we had make much progress with our project. We brainstormed on the ideas we had and draw stretches that consider multiple settings. We also made some low-fidelity prototype on our idea on vision. We communicated our ideas with the Milestones Studio in week 8, and received feedback on how to approach the ideas.

In week 9, we first finished the skill session with finishing the watch that we were building for detecting the curl and twist of the users which could make sure the users do the exercises as asked (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-9-designing-the-object-as-well-as-the-experience/). Then, we learned how to use storyboard to design the whole user experience.

In week 10, we began our preparation for the makeathon event (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-10-preparing-for-makeathon/). During the event, our group met John, and he shared many of his personal experiences with us. We realized that he would love to wear a watch but was unable to do so because the existing one in the market doesn’t satisfy the needs. Seeing the actual needs, our group was considering if we should shift our project.

In week 11, we updated again with the Milestones studios and received many insightful feedback (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-11-update-the-project/). I realized that it was essential to consider the mechanism of the movement in the design process.

During the same week, we had our makeathon event. Our team officially changed our topic to design an accessible watch for people with limited pinching mobility. For the weeks after, we iterated on the design and came up with the final design last week (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/team-5-watch-strap-for-people-with-charcot-marie-tooth/).

Looking back, I am really glad that I have chosen to take this course. I immersed myself in the designing process and actually came up with something that could have potential impact on people’s life. This wasn’t something that I expected initially, but it turned out to be greater. I love the innovation that I have experienced in the process and get the ambition to connect the innovation with more people to a great extent. This encourages me to participate in the iVenture Accelerator to further my idea in the area.

Expectations

When entering this course I truly had no idea what to expect. I had been advised by my fellow classmate that heard that this was an interesting course to take our senior year. Although I didn’t know what we were going to be doing in the class I did know that I have yet to take a class in college anything like it. Throughout my college career, I had been taking very limited classes with a very structured view of business. This course offered me a great opportunity to work on the making behind the business plans, which is what really intrigued me to sign up!

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Fusion360 and 3D Printing

As a business major coming from the Gies College of Business, I came into this course with really no background in any design program. Although the course was a huge learning curve I have definitely gained some pretty valuable skills in the process. This first program we learned was Fusion360. This was such an amazing experience because we really got to learn and visualize our designs and then print them on the very same day. I have many aspirations to create my own company and learning the skill of prototyping while utilizing a program like Fusion 360 is definitely going to benefit me.

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Iterating

Throughout our entire process, we worked tirelessly making our project as great as it could possibly be. As a group, we met on many occasions in the Art and Design Building making improvements to our prototypes. Again coming from the business school we really haven’t been able to create build and foster projects as we did in this class. I really found great pleasure in working with our projects and learning about the idea of iteration. Throughout our project, we went through 5 or 6 separate prototypes and a large make-a-thon where we put all our hard work together. We went from prototypes made out of paper to cardboard to bending acrylic. This is a process that takes time and effort and is extremely rewarding in the end.

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InkScape and LaserCutting

Also in the semester, we got very personal with the FabLab which is an amazing building by the ACES library that has such an incredible environment that foster ingenuity. With the FabLab We worked on making a watch and the great staff members really helped us to understand the software and hardware involved. We needed to work on our software skills so we could design the watch. That is when we were introduced to InkScape. InkScape is a program the allows us to model our prints in 2D instead of 3D. This is important because for the laser cutters that we would be using in the FabLab we need to be able to model in 2D for the cutters to understand. After a quick tutorial on the basics of InkScape we were tasked on creating our watch face so the user would be able to know if the watch function was set to measure “twists” or “curls”.

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Overall I have a fantastic time joining this class. I have never been in a class where I have been able to interact and physically design solution for issues that people face every day. One of my favorite thing Professor Vishal said day one was, “We are not looking to solve problems, but we are looking to find opportunities”. I thought that this was an amazing way to look at innovation that I have never noticed before.

Expectations

At the very beginning, I head about this course from my friend Ruei when we were in Chicago and watching Heat VS Bulls. I learned about that this course is focused on 3D printing and students will have lots of opportunities to learn about other skills such as designing method, prototyping, and modeling. I still remember the time when I walked by the Makerlab and I was attracted by the 3D printers. I have never seen a 3D printer before. To me, Makerlab was like the mysterious palace that I need to make lots of efforts to get in. Due to my strong interest in 3D printing and designing, I sent an email to Professor Sachdev after I came back to Champaign. Even though I couldn’t make to the first two weeks’ classes, Professor Sachdev still provided me the opportunities to join you guys. Looking back to the beginning of this semester, I really appreciate the opportunities given to me. Speaking of the expectations, to be honest, I didn’t even think about what we’re going to do this semester, and the only thing that I kept in mind was that we’re going to design a product for our mentors or certain group of people. I was like a freshman to this course when I first walked in the class and found out that we have different teams. At the first few weeks, I noticed that other teams did lots of stuff and share them in class. I was really freak out since I thought my team was not actually making any progress even though we scheduled a lot of interview with potential group of customers. I even thought we probably couldn’t make it till the end of this semester. “Unfortunately”, we did make our product and we actually used our gift card won in Make-A-Thon to buy a watch and redesign our product for our target customer John.

Week 2: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-2-reflection-4/

Week 3: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-3-reflection-5/

Week 4: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-4-reflection-learning-from-interviewing/

Week 5: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-5-reflection-6/

Throughout the whole process, what I didn’t expect is that sometimes team members and I would have some different ideas and it was hard to get consensus. Actually, from this experience, I learned about how to collaborate with other people who have different perspectives. I found it was not only about communication but also you need to think about what you can do to benefit everyone and gather everyone together and work on the same goal. I truly realized that it’s hard to manage a team from doing the team project. The second thing that I didn’t expect is that changing our product at the last minute. Since we’ve been working on some glove design that help people with disabilities to hold things like utensils. However, after the meeting before Make-A-Thon, we met John who told us that he has problem wearing a watch and he actually wants a special designed watch so that he can put it on without making too much efforts. We noticed that the special loops design on his socks. Inspired by that and based on Saloni’s suggestion we started making the watch strap at Make-A-Thon. At first we all thought it was a really challenging project and we were stuck for a long time. After spending time trying out different methods, we found a special way to design the watch strap by utilizing simple physics mechanism. At last, we finished our two prototype on presentation day, and both of them worked well for John.

Resources and People

To be honest, I never expected that this course have such a lot of resources and invites lots of guest speakers from different fields and companies. I would say the Professor Sachdev is really good at networking. Sincerely, I appreciate the help and advice provided by all the mentors, TAs, classmates, guest speakers, mentors from Fablab, people we interviewed (Ryan, Zain, Selina, John, Avery), judges, professors from different classes, and everyone who helps us in throughout the whole semester. Due to your help, we can have access to so many resources that can help us improving our products in to next level. Thank you all for your help and time devoted into this course.

Due to the great guest speakers, we have chance to learn about how to design on Autodesk Fusion 360, 3D printing skills, laser cutting technique, Arduino, and sewing skills. These skills really helped us a lot in our designing process.

Week 6: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-6-introducing-technical-skills/

Week 7: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-7-fablab-reflection/

Week 8: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-8-back-to-the-fablab/

Week 9: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-9-reflection/

Week 10: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/make-a-thon-pre-night-meeting/

Week 11: https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/one-last-week-before-make-a-thon/

Make-A-Thon & Prototyping

I would say Make-A-Thon is the highlight of BADM357. We finally get the time to design our product. Since we changed our project, we spent some time doing research and look for any opportunities that can make our product work. We stayed at Fablab for the whole weekend and kept working on our products. On that Sunday, we finished two watch strap prototypes. We utilized sewing skills and 3D printing techniques through the process of production. We also print out some slides and put them on try-fold.

During the presentation, we introduced our designing process and product to all the judges. Fortunately we won the prize which provide each of our team member $100 Amazon gift card. I was so happy and also shocked. I felt that our work finally got recognized by other people. The recognization also provided us the faith to continue improving our products to next level.

Week 13:https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/make-a-thon-3/:

After Maker-A-Thon, we decided to buy a watch with the gift card that we won, remake a better strap that fits the watch face, and give it to John. Last week, we ordered some materials that we need to make the strap. We ordered bra hook, elastic straps, and velcro. We spent one day discussing how we should design the strap and two afternoons on making the product. We adjust the size, the angle, and the surface design based on John’s wrist and his idea. After all the efforts, I showed the watch to John this afternoon. He was really happy about it, and it perfectly fitted his writs. I felt so happy at that time since my teammates and I actually turn this project in course into a product that can help someone meet his demand. Going back to the objective of this course, I realized how important human-centered design is, how hard it is to design a product, how many interview that we need to conduct, and how happy we finally helped someone who needs our help.

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Thanks again to all the resources and help provided by all the mentors, guest speakers, sponsors, students, and faculties. I actually learned a lot of technical skills such as sewing, 3D printing, researching, interviewing, laser cutting, drawing, designing, teamwork, collaboration, communication, and brainstorming. I really appreciate this valuable experience. This course changed my future career since it offered me so many possible opportunities to discover in the future. I discovered my interests in designing fields, and I hope to continue my journey on this path. I’ll definitely recommend this course to my friends. Well I wouldn’t say it’s a course. It should be an opportunity to start your adventure. Love Y’all 🙂 Happy Graduation for seniors! Hope to see the rest of you who will still be on campus in Fall! STAY TUNE FOR BADM357 PROMOTION VIDEO!!

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Throughout this semester, my journey at the Digital Making course was such a life changing experience. It opened my eyes to various tools located in both the Makers Lab and the Fab Lab. And with the help of “Milestone Lab”, our team was able to experience making a functioning prototype at the Make-A-Thon. This course has taught me that the result is not the most important aspect instead, we need to embrace our failures and talk with our users to create something that our users will love to use.

Tools I’ve learned throughout the Semester:

1. 3D printing and Scanning

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As an industrial design major, I came into this course with the knowledge of how to use “Solidworks”, so I thought this area was nothing new. I was wrong. Our instructor, Dr. Vishal, coordinated with several experts to teach us how to use 3D modeling programs such as “Cura” and “Fusion 360”. It was also really helpful. Our class was located in the Makers Lab, so we had direct access to these 3D printers. There was also the 3D scanner that was powered by a ipad. While holding the ipad, you can rotate the object and watch the ipad recognize the object into an “obj” file. Then sending this file and convert it to a “stl” file will grant us access to the 3D printers.

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For our final project, our team used “Solidworks” to create the model and based it off of a 3D scanned Jenna’s prosthetic leg model, C-Leg, that we’ve previously scanned. The C-Leg was too long, so we had to cut it into three pieces and took us total of 10 hours, but it was the most worthy 10 hours in my life. The 3D model made our project look more refined.

2. InkScape and Laser cutting

We learned how to use “InkScape” on our first week at the Fab Lab. “InkScape” is a very simple tool to use if you have experience of any drawing tools like I do. But even without digital art experience, it’s a much simpler version of “photoshop”. The most beneficial aspect of this tool was it can be transferred over to the laser cutter. The laser cutter is using a laser that is transferred through optic lens and is shotted out through a nozzle that can cut through glass, acrylic, wood, etc in a very precise matter.

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Our group used these tools during the Make-A-Thon. We first had to draw a few patterns we wanted our leg protection to have. Then we transferred the sketch into “InkScape”. Then we sent that “InkScape” file to the laser cutter and then laser cut the acrylic board. It was really cool to use all these tools and it really opened my eyes to the numerous possibility of design methods.

3. Arduino and Heat Gun

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On our second week in the Fab Lab, we learned how to use the Arduino Uno. We were guided through a tutorial by the staff members in the Fab Lab. And then we were able to make the Arduino Uno turn on and off it’s LED light by uploading a blink and fade mode into the system. Our group did not use this program during the Make-A-Thon, but we are planning on using this blink and fade mechanism to brighten up the leg guard in the future.

We used the Heat Gun during the Make-A-Thon. I have never used a Heat Gun before and neither our group members did. So we were very intimidated by the amount of heat this device can heat up. However after a few practice rounds, we were able to get a clean curve based on our mold. We had our 3D scanned model of the C-Leg covered with fabric to prevent the 3D scanned model from melting. After learning the basics, we were able to create a nice acrylic protection for our model.

Overall

I was first introduced to this class from Dr. McDonagh’s disability class. This is where I met Dr. Vishal and I was inspired by his speech about this Maker’s Lab class.

This class kept me on my toes the entire time. We had a lot of submissions and deadlines to keep up, but it actually made us think constantly about our project. It came to the point where we fell in love with our project and always thought about it whenever we went. For me, I always carry around my sketchbook since you never know when a great idea might pop up. Sometimes I would sketch while I’m eating my lunch in the Link Gallery.

Throughout this course, I learned the importance of the users and learning about each steps of prototyping a project. We were assigned a mentor and we were constantly talking with them and searching for opportunities to make a better product for them. I loved how we bonded together and it drove us to wanting to help them more and more.

I am very sad that is course is over. If I had the chance, I would definitely take this course one more time. And if anyone is willing to take this course, I would highly recommend them to take this course.

There is so many techniques I’ve learned throughout this course and it opened my eyes towards how to become a great designer that cares for the users. I plan to use these techniques and pursue my dreams on becoming an empathetic designer that will seek for opportunities in other user’s needs.

Beyond Expectations

Initially, I enrolled in this course to obtain new skills that are rare among business majors and to explore the concept of design thinking. I wanted to learn how to use CAD software to 3D print different objects. However, on the first day of class, my expectations changed. I learned that throughout the semester, we were going to work with mentors on campus on Accessibility Product Design. I assumed we were going to 3D print prototypes that could help our mentors in their daily lives, test those prototypes, and iterate and improve them. However, this course far exceeded my expectations.

Through various workshops during the course of the semester, I was able to obtain a wide range of new skills. I learned technical skills such as Fusion 360 when a representative from Autodesk visited campus and how to code an Arduino to illuminate an LED light and laser cut wood at the Fab Lab. Moreover, I was able to work through the design thinking process over the course of the semester, which was one of the reasons I applied to the seminar in the first place. I never expected to learn these skills and concepts in a business class; however, I was lucky enough that the Gies College of Business and Professor Vishal Sachdev provided me with this unique opportunity right before I graduated!

In addition to teaching me these competencies, this course helped me learn a substantial amount about myself. For example, I realized that I love working with people from different domains who have different backgrounds and experiences. My teammates were Accountancy and Industrial Design majors, and a few of my other classmates were Engineers. It was energizing to see the different ways people think and everyone coming together with open minds and great enthusiasm. Furthermore, I learned that I have a creative mind. Previously, I thought being creative meant have artistic abilities. However, this course helped me understand that I can use my creativity for improving a prototype, writing, overcoming a challenge, and thinking outside-of-the-box.

Semester at a Glance

During the first three weeks of the semester, we met our class mentors and identified opportunities to explore with them. Jenna Fesemyer, a class mentor, is on the Fighting Illini Wheelchair Track team and wears a prosthetic leg on her left residual limb. She inspired us to create a shoe tread that has good traction in icy and snowy weather but weighs less than boots. That’s when my team, Solestice, and I defined our opportunity statement: To create detachable tread attachments that can be used to travel in a variety of terrains. Check out my reflections from weeks 2 and 3 for more a more in-depth look at what we did.

Weeks 4 and 5 consisted of market research and a guest visit from EarthSense, a startup on the University of Illinois’ Research Park. One piece of advice from the representative that had a lasting impression on me is to “fail early and fail often.” This means that the more you fail and the earlier you fail, the more you can improve your prototype and the final product will be. This mindset can be applied to almost anything you do in life. Additionally, team Solestice interviewed our mentor, Jenna, to gain insight on the user experience of the tread and some aspects she would prefer in the tread.

The next few weeks of the semester were spent learning technical skills, learning about different resources on campus, and starting to design our tread. We attended a workshop from Autodesk to learn about the CAD software, Fusion 360, and visited the Fab Lab to learn about the tools that would be available to us during the Makeathon. We also wrote How Can We statements, begun brainstorming potential designs for our tread, and created a storyboard of the user experience with our tread. See my Week 6, 7, 8, and 9 reflections for more detail.

Then, Weeks 10 and 11 were dedicated to preparing for the Makeathon. We met additional mentors who were going to assist us at the Makeathon as well ensure we had all the materials we needed. We met with Milestone Labs, who had consulted with us throughout the semester on our projects. Weeks 12 and 13 were spent making our prototype at the Makeathon and testing it with users. We received some feedback on how to improve our prototype, and we were able to iterate our design before our final presentation.

I am so grateful to have had this wonderful opportunity to learn and grow in new ways during my last semester at UIUC!