User Centred Design
The aim of this project was to understand the problems a user living with a disability may face and design a product which took their specific needs into account. This involved working alongside a company called Designability.
Skills Developed
- Design thinking Techniques
- Rapid prototyping cycles
- Ergonomic Design
Team Size
3
project Length
4 weeks
Year
2018
This project was an introduction to design thinking. The techniques we used in this project were the user centred design cycle and the double-diamond model. These techniques are now a core part of my design thinking.
The project started with an introduction and interview to our user. She had suffered from a stroke and had very limited movement in her left arm and leg. During the interview we narrowed down the actions the user had trouble with and would like to perform again.
Ideate
From the problem actions discovered possible solutions were brainstormed. Early ideation sketches were then completed
Concepts
Using the information gained from the interview and ideation phase concepts were drawn from
Final Concept
A pugh matrix was used on all of the drawn concepts and with added comments from our user a final concept was drawn up. The final concept selected was a conglomerate of the initial concepts. A modular chopping board that allowed one handed chopping along with a grating attachment.
User testing and Iteration
The iteration process, rapid prototyping and user testing allowed the faults of the final concept to be ironed out. For example the user couldn’t lift the board with one hand therefore a handle feature was added.
Final Design
The CAD renders show the final design of the prototype.
