Wow. What a weekend. Starting on Friday, I went in thinking about how I wanted to suggest to my group that we reconsider what we were going to design. I was really interested in pursuing the watch idea especially because of the excitement that John had saying that he would love to be able to wear a watch. After successfully convincing my team that this would be a good challenge to pursue, we got started.
Because we changed our idea the first day of the MakeAThon, a lot of our prior research was no longer applicable. Since we ordered materials to potentially make a glove however, we could still use it to test out making a wrist strap. We also utilized the buttons, rings, and flexible string that was available in the Fab Lab. Friday night we ended with a prototype that had some potential but was still hard to put on, but we were ultimately hopeful that we would be able to come up with something.
Starting on Saturday we started exploring the sports band. Charlie printed apple watch faces, and I started experimenting with string based off of some other fun designs we saw online. Saturday we also met with a guy named Barrett who gave us some feedback on if he could wear our watch along with John and Isaiah. They all gave us great feedback and we headed back to the lab with John and Isaiah to keep on working.
Once we got back was when more progress started to happen. Charlie made a prototype that worked with a good length and used velcro. I started to see how I good add my string designs to his prototype. Another thing we tried to do also was challenge the idea of using velcro, as isn’t the most fashionable things. Eric thought of using hooks as the main way to close off the watch strap which was a great idea. So going into Sunday we had two prototypes. One that used velcro and string for an aesthetic purpose, and one that used mainly hooks to avoid using as much velcro.
The MakeAThon was a long and tiring process but it taught me a few important lessons.
- Having a good attitude is everything. It is especially needed when you’re not even sure where you’re going yet.
- Sometimes getting angry or upset at someone isn’t even worth it. Especially if you’re working on a tight deadline.
- Even if you don’t know what to do, do something. Try something, talk to someone, research. Just do something.
- Teamwork makes the dream work.
Overall, it felt really good to have a working low fidelity prototype at the end of this, but I think it is equally important to recognize that even if we didn’t that would’ve been okay. We are college students with not that much time in a race to make an impact and the reality is that changing the world with a mind blowing idea and figuring it all out in 48 hours in unrealistic. Collectively all the students who participated this weekend gave up a lot of time and a lot of magic happened this weekend. I hope everyone is proud of their work regardless of what stage they ended at by the end of the MakeAThon.
What’s next is ordering a watch with our Amazon gift cards and create a more put together band for John so we can give him a watch with our band.
Hi Saloni! Great work at the Make-A-Thon! I applaud your team for being willing to take a risk and switch your design need right before the event. While I’m sure it ended up making the entire weekend a bit more difficult, it is great in the long run because you are solving a need that is very important to John. Overall, you did a great job and I am excited to see the next version of your prototype!
Hi Saloni – this is very cool! I appreciate your takeaway that this is not the be all end all and having a good attitude makes all the difference. I think working long hours with a small group can sometimes get very frustrating, so having a good attitude and being flexible is so important. I am curious – what is the purpose of the watch? Is it just a strap you could put on an apple watch that is more accessible? I had not heard this idea from your team so I am not sure what this includes.