Project Summary

Sandy is 65 years old patient who is suffering from arthritis. She is facing challenges in accomplishing day to day activities such as moving shopping carts at grocery stores, accessing ATMs, typing numbers on keypad, and using pumps in gas stations. Sandy has a hard time holding things with her fingers due to arthritis that makes her difficult to complete the tasks. As a team we implemented the design thinking principles, explored multiple possible solutions to solve any one of her issues with our creative design process.

Specific Problem

Sandy is having hard time holding gas pump because of arthritics. It is important for sandy to satisfy basic needs without depending on others. The gas pump is considered as a major issue because it is associated with high risk.

HMW Statement

Sandy is our specific user who is suffering from arthritis and facing difficulty in accomplishing day today tasks.

Specific solution

Explored possible solution by implementing a design thinking process to create a feasible solution that helps in completing the task at a gas station using a gas pump. We have made a handy device operated using Sandy’s elbow rather than fingers or hand for holding the gas pump while filling the gas.

Methodologies

WWH thinking - Why, who and how thinking, User-centered design, & Intuitive Thinking

Design Process in Detail

As a team we followed the five major design thinking steps, as follows,

1) Problem Framing - Defining the problem

2) Objectives & Constrains - Direction Setting

3) Exploring Alternatives - Functional Analysis (concrete & abstract ideas)

4) Prototype - Morphological Chart

5) Testing

Step 1 : Observe and Empathize

Framing and defining the problem is important in designing a useful product. The better understanding of problem will move closer to user. As shown in the picture below, Sandy is facing problems like,

1. Holding gas pump

2. Inserting the card

3. Typing on keypad

As a first step, to narrow down the focus, we have used the bubble diagram and decided to focus on the major problem "difficult in holding the gas pump"

Bubble Diagram

Defining the problem:
We have defined the problem using why, what and how thinking (WWH Thinking).

Step 3 : Build and Deliver

After defining the objectives, we started exploring the possible designs based on its functionality to achieve the objectives. We did our functional analysis by creating a morphological chart as shown in the figure below

Morphological Chart

Step: 4 - Prototype From Morphological Chart

This is the most interesting part of the process, where we build a multiple prototypes using a different combination of design in morphological chart and explored its level of usability and finally came up with a productive design.

Step: 5 - Testing

During the testing phase, according to the user feedback, we made some changes to the prototype to make it handy

Final Design

Prototype: Handy Device To Hold The Gas Pump

Finally, we came up with a good solution which is simple yet effective and usable. It is also handy so that the user can carry in her car all the time.

My Point of view and mindset while designing the product

I got a great experience while working on the project, brainstorming and team work played a major role. We celebrated our failures, followed "Fail Fast " strategy. We started nowhere and ended with a simple but yet effective design result. I felt throughout our journey there was an equal mix of "AHA- Moment" and "Oh-Crap Moment"

The Intuitive
Design

Timeframe

Team Members

Industrial Collaborators

Project Summary

Specific Problem

HMW Statement

Specific solution

Methodologies

Overview of Design Process