This weeks class was very exciting and informative. I really enjoyed visiting the DRES building and I am hoping to be given a project working with one of the mentors that I met on Wednesday. When the Illini Service Dogs visited us during the first class it was really exciting. But I struggled trying to come up with ideas for potential design projects. I have never had a dog or an animal so it was hard to me to empathize and think creatively with respect to potential products.
The visit on Wednesday to DRES helped me to start coming up with tangible ideas for our prototyping, design project. For example, we were able to see gloves that were designed by Arielle for athletes in the paralympic sport of wheelchair racing. Arielle created a company that now sells the gloves to athletes all over the world and she is able to customize them for many different hand sizes. It was really interesting to hear how the gloves are ordered and made. To order the gloves, customers scan pictures of their hands and email them to Arielle. Arielle then puts the pictures into a software where she can easily customize and then print the gloves. The gloves also have a rubber part that is glued on and can be easily changed by the customers.
I was excited to hear about the another idea she has for her company where the gloves could interact with a casing on the wheel of the chair. This glove would then be able to provide statistics and data for the athletes that could help them to train.
Another idea would be to create an app that would help customers when they are submitting an order. The app could have an outline to show customers how to take pictures of their hand.
I also was thinking a lot about the videos we watched for class and this visit helped me with empathy. The video mentioned how for human centered design, it is helpful to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and understand their perspective. This visit helped me to understand the perspectives of the athlete’s and I think this will help me immensely in the future when designing for our project. Empathy however is still something that I am working on. The video mentioned leaving behind “preconceived ideas” and this is one part that I believe will be difficult. Sometimes when I am given the idea for a project, I start to brainstorm design ideas and I find it really easy to become attached to an idea. However, I am realizing during this process that it is better to be open to possibilities rather than to hone in on a specific design idea.
Gies College of Business || May 2019
Supply Chain Management & Information Systems/Information Technology
I definitely agree with you that it can be difficult to leave behind your preconceived ideas when brainstorming solutions. In one of my organizations, we have a huge problem with “solution matching,” which is essentially finding a solution first and then attempting to fit it to a problem. These projects invariably fail because the solution doesn’t always fit the specific needs of the people we are trying to help.
I agree with you, Maryam. I also think that the best way to learn empathy is to put yourself in other people’s shoe. Last year, I got this privilege to take a class by Professor Dr. Mc Donagh. And I walked from the art and design building to the BIFF, blindfolded. Of course, I had a assistant, but this made me further understand how it feels to be visually impaired.
Thank you for sharing Maryum. Really appreciate your perspective and I really agree with what you’re saying. It was incredibly difficult for my group as well to leave behind our preconceived notions as well. I really like your approach and I hope it leads to great ideas in your project.