Author: Emma Bradford

Hi there! I am a Senior studying Marketing and Information Systems/Information Technology. I chose to take this course in order to expand my creative and design thinking skills that I can apply to my future career. I am grateful that we are provided the opportunity to take this course as Business majors.
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Fail Early and Fail Often

This week’s guest speaker was from EarthSense, which is a start-up on U of I’s Research Park, and he shared his process of designing a prototype. I was intrigued by his acceptance–and even welcoming–of failure. Personally, when I fail, I am very hard on myself and tend to give up. However, the presentation made me realize that failure is critical to the design process.

EarthSense presenting on the design process.

One piece of advice we were given is to “Fail Early, and Fail Often.” The sooner you fail, the quicker you can alter your product. The more often you fail, the better your product will be because with every failure, you can improve your product even more. I can relate to this because I am pursuing a career in Market Research. Thus, I have to connect with the consumer and understand their preferences and may have to alter products based on consumer feedback.

The second half of class this week was spent creating a logo for our teams. My team named ourselves Solestice, as we are creating a tread to attach to the bottom of shoes that facilitate walking on snow and ice. We 3D printed a logo, which you can see in the picture below.

3D printing our logo in class.
Solestice logo.

In addition to class this week, my team conducted some secondary research to see what other products are on the market related to treads for ice and snow. I found an article that describes the Top 10 Best Traction Cleats for Snow and Ice. I realized that there are some products similar to what we wanted to create. However, to differentiate from these products, we will create treads that also have a soft sole in order to increase comfort when walking for prosthetic users. I am excited to start designing a prototype of of tread!

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Defining Opportunities

Temperatures colder than Antarctica don’t stop us from innovating! This week’s class was different from most–due to inclement weather, we held class virtually. We were accompanied by Milestone Labs, who ran a workshop on design thinking and led us through how to convert our opportunities into tangible ideas to move forward with.

Over webcam, each team presented a mentor who we visited during Week 2 who inspired them and potential opportunities they could explore with said mentor. My team and I chose to move forward with the opportunity of designing a tread that facilitates walking on snow and ice for people who utilize prosthetic legs. With the guidance of Milestone Labs, we created an opportunity statement. We started by analyzing the audience, the limitations, other people involved, the environment, and usability of our opportunity. From this analysis, we synthesized our opportunity into the following statement: To create detachable tread attachments that can be used to travel in a variety of terrains.

Initially, our idea was to create a lightweight, affordable tread that could be used in snow and ice. After our workshop with Milestone Labs and speaking with Jenna, we learned that it is difficult to walk on sand and other terrains in addition to snow and ice. Thus, our new opportunity statement expands our audience to people, prosthetic users or not, who find difficulty walking in different terrains. For example, we even discussed how we could create a tread for people who wear heels in the winter time. This made me realize the difficulty that I personally have walking in different terrains. If we successfully create this new tread, or multiple treads, it could potentially benefit every walking person. And not only that, but the tread could also be applied to wheels. I look forward to next week to see the project start coming to life!

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Finding Opportunities

It’s hard to believe we are already 2 weeks into the semester. Prior to this class, I have no Digital Making or Design experience. However, I have recently developed a new interest in design thinking and how I can apply it to my everyday life and future career in Business. I believed that this course would be a great way to start looking at the world through a design thinking lens.

During the first week of class, Illini Service Dogs, one of our clients, visited the Maker Lab. We were able to meet one of the dogs in training and learn about opportunities to help the dogs and their trainers. The class then visited the DRES (Disability Resources & Educational Services) Center to meet with our mentors during the second week of class. One of our mentors, Adam Bleakney, showed us where UIUC’s wheelchair track team works out in addition to the history of the racing chair.

Racing chairs in the Illini wheelchair racing team’s workout room.

One mentor who inspired me deeply was Rob, who has played several different wheelchair sports throughout this lifetime and has played an instrumental role in the evolution of sport wheelchairs. Rob’s resourcefulness in building a new, lightweight, and affordable chair inspires me to look at situations differently. Moreover, Rob explained a non-profit organization he has been working with to supply used chairs to countries in Africa. There are a large number of children in rural communities who have never left the floor of their home, and providing them with chairs gives them the opportunity to go to school and go to work with their parents.

I have always had a strong passion for serving those who live in developing countries, so this opportunity really hit home with me. I would love to help make an impact in these African communities and their children’s lives. Helping non-profit organizations inexpensively build/alter wheelchairs would not only affect the children in Africa, but could also affect other people around the world. I look forward to the opportunity this class has given me to combine my desire to utilize design thinking and to make an impact on someone else’s life.