Tag: Human-Centered Design

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Week 3 Reflection – Challenge to Make an Impact

A slide from Milestone Studios' presentation.
A slide from Milestone Studios’ presentation.

During week 3, we had an online session with Milestone Studios and our mentors to explore how to make a social impact. I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t have the class physically, because we could have more interactions with the studio as well as our mentors if it were a face-to-face meeting. Still, I gained many insights from the class and now have a clearer view of what to do next.

We started the class by discussing unmet social needs. After seeing some examples of how people overcame those challenges, we were asked to brainstorm the problems that we had encounter in our life and how we overcame them. I was shocked by this activity. I have always considered myself to be a person who has creativity, yet during this exercise, I was unable to think of anything that fitted the criteria. I have had the cases where I identified the problems, yet the solutions that I found were usually too complicated, or I myself didn’t have the technical skill to realize them. Seeing the simple solutions in the examples, I reflected on my way of thinking. In the future, I should try harder to pinpoint the core of the problem so that I can come up with more affordable and more accessible solutions.

Another activity that led to many thoughts was writing the opportunity statement. This is related to the defining stage in the design thinking process. Two new words that I learned was analysis and synthesis. The analysis is breaking down complex problems into smaller, easier to understand pieces. The synthesis is combining small insights into whole ideas. We applied those two concepts when we created the opportunity statement. Filling in the statement, we sparked ideas that we didn’t consider before. Previously when we prepared the presentation slides, we had more plans for Ron and only a vague direction for Ryan. As we brainstormed the opportunity we could have with Ryan, we realized “improving the ability to multitask for people with limited mobility” would be an area with great potential. This idea could benefit not only people with limited mobility when they do tasks such as filming and drawing, but also the general public who may need to accomplish tasks with fewer limbs. In the class, we didn’t have the opportunity to talk with our mentor. Later, I plan to interview him in more depth. One technique that I think would be helpful is the conversation starter which we studied in the reading. I believe this would be an excellent way for us to see how our mentor reacts and we can identify more possibilities.

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Milestone Labs Reflection

Week 3 had a much different look to it as we were iced in due to abnormally horrible winter conditions, but fortunately Milestone Labs and Professor Sachdev were still able to get together and video stream the course. All in all, it was a very enlightening experience which forced us to think about how to approach the design thinking process in accordance with the scope of DRES. This directly tied in with the videos we watched on human centered design.

Milestone ultimately pushed to make decisions – which is huge. Ideation can be an everlasting process, but if there is no action taken, then it will be difficult to see the fruits of your labor. Our collaborative activity brought an additional level of clarity to our project scope. It forced us to brainstorm and prioritize our ideas based on feasibility and look at the impact each could make. We do not want to make flashy devices; we want to make utilitarian products.


Ultimately, I think we moved from the design challenge phase and began planning early stage research methods. Through the guidance and discussion, our group decided that it would be best to pursue the IKEA styled model for wheelchairs. We figured that the best entry point would be to find whichever component is either most frequently or most expensive to replace as this will provide the most lucrative business opportunity while having the biggest impact.

After the online seminar, we are now more confident going forward and can delve right into our work next week. Ron will need to help us in discussing the consistency of wheelchair parts, however if we can find a component which is consistent throughout all models, then that will probably be the better we will attempt to model and 3D print.

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Week 2 Reflection

Visiting DRES was a very cool experience. As a former student of Dr. McDonagh’s Disability + Relevant Design course, I have heard a lot about DRES, as well as Coach Adam’s space. It was exciting to be able to visualize the space I had heard so much about. But an even more exciting experience was being able to meet the athletes and students that we had discussed often in that class as well.

I have always been inspired by Arielle’s success, as she was the person who first had success in this pipeline of courses. To see someone, and not necessarily even a designer, create a product and then profit from its creation is just so exciting for me to see. She really found an area that needed improvement, no matter the scale, and took off with it. I would love to talk to her further about how she runs her company now and how it’s affected her day to day life.

Hearing Ron speak was also another enlightening experience. I feel like we were so fortunate to have him come in to speak because he was an excellent story teller that really captivated the room. Ron seems to be a person that allows for nothing to stop him, and if something gets in his way, he finds a way to fix it. I was so impressed by his solutions he created, as well as the fact that he continues to find creative solutions to the challenges that come up in his daily life.

At this point I have a few inspirations for projects that might be good opportunities to tackle. I’m looking forward to meeting with my team to hear their ideas as well.


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Inspired at DRES

The Building

I have never been to DRES before, so it was great to have the opportunity to visit. Seeing the training facilities and all the different chairs downstairs gave me a small glimpse into the life of a wheel chair athlete, and how it has changed over the years with all the iterations of the wheelchairs. It was cool to see how the athletes were working out on their machines, and I wonder if these athletes train in the ARC/CRCE as well or have everything they need to use in this facility.

The People

It was great to be able to sit down and hear each of the experts stories, because they were all so unique and different. Here are a few things I got from each of the experts:

A quote that I got out of this meeting that I believe Ron said was:

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

I think this in away makes the idea of designing something a lot less intimating because it is a humbling reminder that we don’t need to create anything new. We already have so many resources, we just need to be creative in thinking about what else their usability could be. The added benefit to using what already exists in the world comes means there is a greater chance of low cost and accessibility since no new technology is required.

I thought it was really eye opening to hear about Ryan’s experience playing in the parade and the different adjustments that needed to be made to make that happen. Playing an instrument while in a wheelchair during a parade is something I have never thought of before.

After hearing all the stories and learning more about the experts I am most interested in working with either Jenna or Ryan on their student experience. Since I feel I can relate to them on the struggles of being a student, I am curious to learn more about what can add joy/value to their student life. I was a little nervous to ask any questions because I didn’t want to ask anything off putting or sound offensive or knowledgeable. It is a little intimidating to ask questions in a group setting especially because I wasn’t 100% sure on what was appropriate to ask. Going forward I hope to share ideas with my group and build the confidence to ask the experts more about their life.

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Finding Creative Confidence and Inspiration

Finding Creative Confidence

One of my biggest concerns of taking the Digital Making Course is my ability to be creative. There is so much fuss around the world about needing to be innovative; about how we should be changing the world. However, I never truly believed that I have the ability to leave such an impact through a creative idea. This lack of confidence caused me to feel nervous about the course. Yes, I wanted to learn about the overall process of designing a product. Yes, I wanted to learn how to use computer-aided design (CAD) software. Yes, I wanted to learn how to use a 3D printer and successfully be able to print an object. But I wanted to do more. With the help of the mentors, the professor, and the fellow students, I wanted to design a product that will bring a positive impact on someone else’s life. Yet, how am I supposed to do that when I do not even believe in my ability to do so?

Thankfully, the course began with learning about different mindsets necessary to be a successful designer, one of which was “Creative Confidence.” The concept of this mindset is that a designer needs to believe in oneself’s ability to have big ideas and act on them. Throughout the journey of designing, there will be many ambiguity and failure, but that doesn’t mean I should give up. I just need to continue to explore different ideas and learn from the failures. It may be easier said than done, but learning about such mindsets allowed me to be less nervous and be more excited about the journey.

Finding Inspiration

With my upgraded mindsets, I was eager to meet the mentors and learn about their stories. I was ready to be inspired. The meeting began with Adam, who showed the class around the Disability Resources & Educational Services (DRES) facility.

At DRES facility, you can find a wall of Paralympians who have competed in wheelchair racing.

It was amazing to see the training equipment that is used, a timeline of racing wheelchairs showing the evolution hanging from the ceiling, and a workshop where innovative ideas to help the athletes come to a reality. Along the tour, we were introduced to Ariel, who shared her story of 3D printing the wheelchair racing gloves and distributing them around the world at a more affordable price for the customers. Afterward, we were introduced to Ryan, Jenna, and Ron, who openly shared about their experiences with wheelchairs, prosthetic legs, and meeting others with similar experiences.

Even before meeting them, I knew that I would gain inspiration from them. But they surpassed my expectations. I wasn’t aware how much of an inspiration they would provide. I felt that every single experience that they shared were valuable, leaving me frantically taking notes throughout the whole session. One of the most important points that were brought up during the conversation was the problem of affordability. It is mostly not the technology or the idea that is lacking in today’s word, but it is more so that these innovative products are not really affordable right now to the majority of the people who they are created for.

From the conversation, I was able to immediately come up with several ideas that I would like to explore down the road. Not only did it raise my eagerness to dive into the project, but it also raised my confidence. Unlike my worry before, I was already developing multiple ideas, demonstrating that I am more creative than I think.

The conversation also changed my perspective about innovation. It’s not about changing the world. Rather, it’s about improving someone else’s world. Even if it makes a difference in a few people’s lives, that is completely fine. As long as you design for the people and create an idea or a product for them to improve an aspect of their lives, you are an innovator. After all, isn’t that what human-centered design is all about?