Tag: week 7

Last week, we went to Fablab and learned some technical skills in designing and laser cutting. I was impressed by the Fablab, since it has so many different materials and machines for people to design their products. They also have fabrics product which is really cool. They first showed us some products they made on the desk an then led us take a tour of the Fablab.

After the tour, we’re separated into two groups. I was assigned in a group designing a watch. The other group was doing something related to circuit I think. Then our instructor teach us step by step in how to design in the face of the watch. The software is kind of professional. I got lost a few times throughout the whole process.

After finishing the design, we continued to do our TA’s statement. This time is designing our products. He asked us to draw down our ideas related to our desired products. I first thought it’s hard to come up with one. After doing some sketch on the paper, I then started getting into the brainstorming mode. My teammates are also really creative. Based on our designs, I found out that we all focused on the holder we talked about in our project. The main point is to help people hold something.

We had different ideas related to different situation: design for kids, design for elderly, design with lots of budgets and limited budgets. Instead of thinning about getting a backup camera for our target customers, using a holder which can hold a mirror would be more efficient and affordable. After the voting, at last we all agreed on a foldable holder attached on the wheelchair which have multiple uses such as hold a mirror, hold a cup, hold a phone, and so on, since this idea is the most affordable and the most feasible one. Saloni mentioned that there is one material that we can utilize but I forgot what it is. Anyway, we found that material in Fablab and use them did two small sample models for our design.

On Friday, I spent some of my free time going back to the Fablab and laser-cut my design for the watch. I got some help from the people who worked there. I really appreciate their patience, since I knew nothing about the machine. They showed me each preparing steps for the machine. Finally, I got my watch face cut out from a wood board.

Hopefully, we can learn more technical skills in next week. I realize the Fablab is a really great place for us to explore the designing world. More importantly, we can make our products come to real with the help of those fantastic machines in the Fablab.

This week we went to the Fab Lab!! It was super exciting because I really enjoy going to the fab lab, and have made several laptop stickers there. It’s always nice to go there because if you could define creativity by a building, the fab lab encompasses it. Everywhere you look you can get inspired by the many things created within the space.

We started off with a general tour, and then we split up into groups to learn different things. My group worked on learning Inkscape, which is a great program to design in. While we were designing a watch, we learned how to use different tools in the program. I had fun playing around with all the colors and shapes and made the image below.

After coming together, we had a quick paced brainstorming session with our team. It was cool because Mehmet lead us through an exercise where we looking 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.

Originally to help a user see behind them, I had thought about a video camera attached to the top of the wheelchair facing back, and a phone app allowing the user to see what is going on. When thinking about designing for someone older, I though that maybe they won’t use technology so I thought of attaching a mirror to one of the arm chairs looking back. Then when he told us to design for kids we were thinking and conversing when he came by. He said “think of designing for your niece or something.”

That made me think of my young cousin and how little she is, so she might need an attachable arm that can go up and down and hold the mirror so it is more at her height. It was really cool to see how thinking about designing for a specific person really helped me come up with something. This is the design that my team decided to prototype this week, which is really exciting as well.

To the left is a pipe cleaner prototype of the model, with the cardboard piece acting as a placeholder for a mirror. We think the pipe cleaners show the flexibility of the design and how it can expand to a higher level as well as collapse all the way down. Ultimately we think this flexible attachment might be able to hold more that just a mirror as well.

We are meeting my friend Brandon who works in Beckwith later today, so I am excited to see what he has to say about our ideas.