After receiving feedback from our Five Solution Ideas Presentation, we decided to iterate and further develop our concepts. We used “77-Cards,” a deck of creative ideas, to ideate new concepts. Our top 11 improvements are shown below:
After a few days of rest and thinking, our team examined all of our new solution improvements. We carefully considered which ideas would best help our persona, and be the most feasible to eventually prototype.
All of us chose ONE idea to explore further. Ethan chose the mesh insert for any pot, Armaan chose the squeezable bowl, Matt chose the bottom-screw bowl, Bryan chose the push-to-chop mechanism, and Gabby chose the concave cutting board. We each took our concept and detailed it with sketches and notes before prototyping. Check out our prototype blueprints below:
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- Concave cutting board prototype details
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- Concave cutting board usage details
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- Push-to-chop prototype details
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- EZbowl prototype details
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- EZbowl usage details
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- Push-to-chop usage details
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- Squeeze-a-bowl prototype details
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- Squeeze-a-bowl usage details
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- Mesh Strainer prototype & usage details
Activity Reflection
This phase of our project was difficult at first. During the ideation process, we were able to fully explore solutions. The “77 cards” were extremely helpful since we found it hard to expand our creativity on the ideas that we had already presented as “final” solutions. It helped us to look back at our ideas that didn’t make the cut and use this creative card deck to enhance our previous solutions into better variations.
We found that working as a team promoted more creativity and allowed us to better ideate on our solutions. One example is our final version of the “Squeeze-a-bowl.” This solution was a combination of ideas from three different people. The first idea being a malleable bowl that would make it easier to pour with one hand, another was a bowl with a suction cup on the bottom, and the last idea was a squeeze jar to avoid the issue of scraping out a bowl with two hands. Without the team-dynamic and ideation activity, these ideas wouldn’t have merged together for this specific final solution.
Peer feedback also helped us to shape our solutions. An example of this is our mesh strainer idea. For this solution, we used peer-feedback to explore products that are already on the market to help shape our design. We then found ways to design it in a more user friendly manner. This wouldn’t have been possible without an entire team focusing on research and innovation. The final concept seems to be one that could work very well for all individuals, especially those with one arm. By balancing weight and creating a more usable product, we have constructed a design that will flourish.
Overall, this project allowed us to build upon previous iterations of ideas, and put our design thinking skills to the test. In order to succeed, we had no choice but to work as a team, and truly dive deep into what specific things we could change to make our design ideas even better. This phase of our project ultimately fostered a culture of greater collaboration and made our redesigns even stronger. We are satisfied with our final five detailed product solutions.