This week we were introduced to four guest speakers: Sneha Subramanian from the Illini service dogs, John Hornick author of “ 3D Printing Will Rock the World”, Jeff Ginger from the CU Community Fab lab, and the Illinois Informatics Institute. We began with a brainstorming session with the Illini Service Dogs. We specially were looking at areas of opportunity with improving disabled users independence with service dogs. Ideas bounced around and some really interesting things came from this. After the brainstorming session John Hornick brought so much of the 3D printing industry to our attention. There are so many trends out there, but John emphasised 3 main trends. One of which is that 3D printing spurs innovation, it also increases democratization. Lastly 3D printing is full customizable. I personally really enjoyed all the different innovative projects globally that John mentioned to us.
Jeff from CU community Fab lab gave a very energetic and passionate overview of the lab itself. He told us of all the resources and network we have here on campus. He then went into showing some of his personal projects, all produced at the CU Fablab. He designed this really cool solar power laptop case that charged his laptop. He also created this octopus dongle sort of thing that has every plug in port you could think of. Jeff seems to really be passionate about innovation and I though his overall presentation was inspirational.
After the guest presentation we were given on from our TA Mehmet Aydin on Design Thinking. During his presentation he introduced us to the Design Thinking Modules. You have Inspiration- Ideation- Implementation model. You then have Empathy- Define ( we focus on defining the opportunity from an empathetic standpoint. Then you have Prototype- Test phase. Mehmet also mentioned the idea of diverging, converging and repeating the entire process. You have to just do it. It kind of ties back to last weak guest Mike Henson statement of, “ Fail early, fail often.” The design process is a process of decision making and doing things. You have to ideated on an idea and act on it. Fail and fail and through each failure new innovation ill emerge.
Once Mehmet’s presentation we broke off into our teams to do a “Stories & Experience” exercise. The task of the exercise was for us to look at our interview Q/A and diverge deeper insight from them.We were able to really figure out our users frustrations, emotions, limitations, pretty much the good and bad. Solicestice in particular, was able implement the experiences of the user to create more value with our potential product. It gave us a framework to further structure of customer discovery and validation of the idea itself.
Hi Trevor,
I think your stories & experiences brainstorm looks great. I see a lot of your stories and brainstorms are about Jenna needing a tread for her prosthetic or the experience of her falling on the ice. I think this would be a really cool experience to focus on a design for. Has your team though about a heat element within a tread? So some way that the tread could provide an even greater grip on the ice. Just a thought I had after reading your brainstorm! Good luck!
Hi Trevor,
I was also inspired by both Jeff and John’s presentation. Your personal perspective is great. From Mehmet’s presentation, I also found the importance of “Design thinking”. Sometimes, the process of designing a product involves with similar procedures, but through our efforts, we can make our product better and better. Once we have an idea in our mind, just do it. We should always keep on exploring and never give up. “Fail early, fail often”, eventually, we’ll make some progress in our products. More importantly, the whole designing idea should start with simple purpose, and sometimes you need to think about one question from different perspectives especially from your customer’s side. For example, children are afraid of the MRI machine. Therefore, people come up with different ideas about redesigning the MRI machine and make them look like a pirate ship or something that may attract children’s attention. This whole process is really simple, and it also solved the problem efficiently. Therefore, I think it might be a good example for you to proceed your project.
Hi Trevor,
I think your notes on Jeff were very similar to what I was thinking when he presented! His solar power bag was very interesting and it was clear to see how passionate he was about making things for his everyday life. I also liked your notes on failing. Sometimes it’s hard to fail because you feel unsuccessful, but it’s important to remember that failure can lead to greater success! I think the speakers we have had have all really stressed this point and it definitely has made me more comfortable with the idea. Good luck on your project!