Design Project Assignment 3: Research

The work done for this project will be divided up into multiple pages that mirror the rubric. 

Understanding the Challenge:

Before we decided on our topiMindmapc and constraints, just like any other good design project, we started to brainstorm ideas and activities that might be challenging for people with one arm.

We used the in-class time to create a mindmap and connect relevant topics and activities that fell in similar categories.
At the end of the process, we decided to focus on the challenges everyday health and wellness activities might bring to people who had their entire non-dominant hand amputated.


Immersion and Shadowing: 

With our population’s condition in mind, all five members decided on 4 different health & wellness everyday activities that could potentially pose a challenge if done with one arm. The goal of this exploration was to find pain-points in activities that able-bodied people take for granted.
Because of conflicting schedules, we weren’t able to shadow each other. Our solution to that was to record ourselves performing the tasks and later reflect on the experience in a summary statement attached to the video.

Immersion tasks were divided in the following order:

Christian: Putting on deodorant; Putting on a bandaid; Styling hair (blow drying and brushing); Plucking eyebrows with tweezers.
Ivan: Tying shoes; Opening medicine pill bottles; Tidying up a bed.
Jack: Refilling a water bottle; Getting ready for class; Vacuuming; Making a snack.
James: Brushing teeth; Putting on moisturizer; Shaving, Zipping up a jacket.
Ross: Folding clothes; Clipping fingernails; Washing hands.

All videos and summary statements are available on the Immersion and Shadowing page.

Background Research:

By the time we were done with our background research we wanted to better empathize with our target group, understand their pain-points in everyday activities, identify potential design solutions, and know the products and technology available on the market that help these people get through their day. Our topics of research were inspired by the suggestions in the assignment prompt but weren’t limited to them.

Research topics were divided in the following order:

Christian: Current Events
Ivan: First-hand experiences and design solutions
Jack: Standards & Best Practices
James: Current Products
Ross: Statistics and Demographics 

Some findings and conclusions are unique in their own right and others overlap. All are available on the Background Research page.

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