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DESIGN PROCESS

A

Designing a product that keeps the

co-designer’s attention towards properly executing an athletics exercise"

First iteration design challenge

After the analysis phase that resulted in a first version of the requirement list, the design phase started. The design process is divided into ideation, concepts, final design, and prototype.  Market research and ergonomic research are done in between, in order to make a more suitable design for the user.

Ideation

First stage ideation

Possible design challenges

  1. “Designing a product that keeps the co-designer’s attention towards properly executing the high jump or long jump”

  2. “Designing a product that keeps the co-designer focused during the explanation of an exercise”

  3. “Designing a product that helps the co-designer de-stress after being triggered.”

The first ideation session was necessary to get a more precise idea of what goal we are working towards and see what direction we were heading. While discussing the wide variety of sketches that were made we concluded that the design challenge was too broad (Designing a product that keeps the co-designer’s attention towards properly executing an athletics exercise). The design challenge was still very focused on learning the right technique for athletics. The ideas were too broad to get one product out of this. So the sketches resulted in a few new design challenges. The directions were balancing, jumping and his focus on the training. It resulted in 3 new design challenges. 

During the second session, we got ideas for a solution to the design challenge, aimed at improving the focus of Tim during the explanation of the trainer(s). This design direction was chosen because attention is the single biggest issue for Tim during training. We ideated on four different topics within the design challenge. The topics were: fidgeting, letting force out, challenging and calming. These topics were chosen as it is known from the conducted research that this can help a person focus for longer with ADHD. Within the directions, we got a variety of solutions, which helped us to create four different concepts

Second stage ideation

​“Designing a product that keeps the co-designer focused during the explanation of an exercise”

Four concepts

Concept 1

The first concept consists of a water bottle with soft padding on one of the sides. The idea is that Tim can squish the padding when he is stressed, which might help him cool down.

Concept 3

The third concept makes use of two stationary pedals that Tim can move around on. This helps him let out his energy while he is staying in the same place. It would also be possible to add an extra reward to the pedalling, for example, a counter or an image that lights up.

Concept 2

The second concept consists of a balance board. To add an extra dimension to the product., the balance board can be used in two different ways. The idea is that Tim stands on the balance board uring an explanation, which might help him focus better, according to the research.

Concept 4

The fourth concept is a Pokémon ball that fits Tim's hobbies. The idea is that Tim can apply force on it by turning the two sides. To add an extra reward, different coloured light up when reaching different twisting forces. This keeps the product interesting and challenging for a longer period of time.

Prototyping

Phase 1 prototyping

Based on the list of requirements, we chose the two concepts that we saw the most potential in concept 2 and concept 4.

This first phase of prototyping was mainly meant to see how Tim, the other kids and trainer Aiko would react to the two concepts.

Balance boards

For the balance board, we started with a simple rectangular wooden prototype with only one unstable direction. This balance board turned out to work fine, but was not very challenging. Therefore, we decided to make an extra, square, balance board that has two different unstable directions and turned out to be much more challenging.

 

Reactions

Before the training had started, Tim already jumped on the balance board. He found the first one to be way too easy and jumped straight to the second one. He was not really trying to balance the board, but rather dancing around on it. During Aiko's explanation,, Tim was noticeably more focused which is a very positive result. 

Aiko was very positive about the balance boards as well and told us he had already hoped we would try something with balance. He however stated that only time could tell if Tim would stay interested in the product.

Pokéball

For the Pókeball concept, we carved two half-spheres out of hard foam and laser-cut different wooden planks. We used a coil spring to make the Pokeball twistable with a certain force and connected all the parts together.

 

Reactions

Tim was less interested in this concept. He immediately tried turning it as far as possible but it did not really help him with his focus. Sadly, the product broke quite quickly. It is hard to tell if this concept would have been more successful with added electronics and aesthetics. 

 

Final Design choice

Based on the prototype testing, we chose the balance board as a concept to develop further.

For the further development, there were a few focus points:

  • Keeping the balance board challenging and interesting for a long time

  • Motivating Tim to really "balance", instead of moving around

  • Adapting a more user-friendly design and incorporating Tim's design preferences.

 

The solutions for these problems and a full explanation of the final product are to be found under the "Final design" tab.

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