Steve Nicholsindustrial designerinteraction designer . design research . design thinker

Convoy - laundry basket Innovative problem solving Applying appropriate technology User research

Teacher’s Pet - 48:2 design Team leadership Time management

Medbox - medical product rental service System/service design Design research Empathic research Concepting Prototyping and testing Social impact

Ribbon - hand shower Relationship between form and function

Copula - future home phone system Interaction design Human factors and the interface

Contents

Convoy Improving the laundry basket

Problem Doing laundry is a frustrating process. What are the most common issues, and how can they be resolved?

Identifying problems - what’s wrong? Clothes are not the only thing involved in the process of doing laundry

Lack of portability is a major problem in areas of both convenience and safety

What about the people who need to travel to a laundromat to do laundry?

Quantitative study - “survey says...” Most people are unhappy with the performance of their laundry basket.

Carrying a full laundry basket down the stairs is a difficult task (especially for females)

Of all surveys conducted, females were overrepresented in the “dissatisfied with your laundry basket” category

Interview 1 “My old laundry basket had wheels, but they broke.”

“The shape of my laundry basket cuts into my hands. It has no handles.”

She has to carry her laundry from the second floor of her house, to the basement every time she does laundry

Interview 2 “My laundry basket is half my size.”

“I wish my laundry basket could walk itself down the stairs.”

“I wish my laundry basket had some sort of detachable timer. I always forget about my laundry, and leave it sitting in the washer or dryer for too long.”

Laundry basket explorationwith a focus on portability, versatility, and ease of use

Innovation born out of necessityIn some of the developing world, it has long been a common practice to transport water in a small barrel balanced on the top of ones’ head. This method is inefficient, difficult for the carrier, and can also cause long-term damage to the neck and spine. The Hippo water roller was an invention that solved this problem with an innovative application of appropriate technology. A simple handle attached the the axis of a barrel is what makes up one Hippo water roller. The right application of appropriate technology is what inspired the form and function of the Convoy laundry basket.

Inspiration Hippo water roller: by Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker

Convoy Portable laundry basket

How to use Convoy

Handles on ends allows for lifting and quick moving

Safe for use on stairs Walk your loads of laundry to the laundromat with a free hand

How Convoy works

Handle nests into the basket’s body

Tow handle rotates freely around a track mechanism in the body, allowing Convoy to roll as you pull.

Polyester mesh top

Rubber rolling pad

Aluminum zipper

Polymer wheels

Injection molded polymer body

Polymer tow rings

Polymer wheels

Polymer tracks

Plastic co-molded handle

Parts assembly

Teacher’s Pet/48:2 Sponsored team design competition48 hours to design 24 concepts

48:2 Team design competition

Sponsor: HON Office Furniture

Team name: Design Intervention

9 Members: 3 Senior leaders, 3 Junior helpers, 2 eager Sophomores, 1 graduate student

Design Brief: 48 hours to design 24 different concepts for educational furniture of the future. These furniture concepts are to enhance the education experience for both students and teachers. Each concept board should contain a digitally rendered sketch along with supporting illustrations and text to help tell the story. 24 concept boards are to be 11”x14” printed and mounted on foam board.

Weekend Schedule

We have 48 hours... let’s begin

We begin with a team meeting and establish a plan of attack. Defining our goals, strategy, and our individual roles within the design team.

We have a quick brainstorming session while the initial briefing is fresh in our minds. We exchange ideas and search for inspiration.

Divide into smaller groups and do some active research. Travel to office supply stores, take pictures, interview students, teachers, and janitors.

Review ideas and select some concepts to further refine. We continue to brainstorm, but always keep our end goal in mind.

Hours of sketching and concept refining. Sleep is on the schedule, but not for Seniors tonight. We push through the night.

With everyone working in their team role, we get on pace to finish our concept boards right on time.

48 hours, and 24 concepts later...

The representatives from our sponsor show up for a quick presentation of our progress, and to give some feedback.

After some great feedback, it’s back to work for the team. With some new found inspiration and direction, the end is in sight.

A last minute check to make sure no concept is left out. It’s time for the finishing touches before printing.

The 24 concept boards are printed, mounted and ready for HON. Of the 24 concepts, I chose the Teacher’s Pet concept to further develop on my own.

24 Concept boards

Teacher’s PetThe solution for today’s mobile teacher

In today’s education system, budget cuts are forcing schools to make sacrifices. Many teachers are being forced to share classrooms with other teachers. Teachers aren’t given their own classrom, they have to move from room to room. A teacher’s desk is like their own personal filing cabinet. Without a personal desk, the teacher has to carry everything they need from one classroom to another. Teacher’s Pet allows each teacher to have their own personal podium with plenty of storage space that can move from classroom to classroom. The podium can connect to a desk to form their personal work station.

The “Mobile Teacher”Teacher’s podium can be taken from one classroom to another. Once there, the teacher can dock the podium to the desk in the room to form a teacher’s station.

Once the podium and desk are connected, the podium drawers slide over to make them easier to reach, and create more storage space.

G.E. Healthcare sponsored project

Sponsor: G.E. Healthcare

Insight: The project will begin with groups of 4. Each group will compose research related to a specific medical disorder. After the research phase, the groups of 4 will be broken down into groups of 2. Each group of 2 will continue the design process to form their own design solutions.

Brief: The medical disorder my group was assigned was multiple sclerosis. We were to use design as a tool to better the lives of people affected by multiple sclerosis.

Design process:

Group Research Concepting Prototyping Refinement Solution1 2 3 4 5• What is MS?

• History

• Epidemiology

• How does it affect

the body?

• How is it treated?

• Empathic research

• Synthesize research

• Brainstorm/ideate

• Create 12 refined

concepts for

G.E. critique and

feedback

• Mock up at least 3

concepts

• Proof of concept

• Final concept

selection for

refinement

• Work out final

concept selection

• Revised problem

statement

• User scenario

• Concept execution

• What?

• How?

• Why?

• Social impact

Phase 1: Understanding Multiple Sclerosis

History of MS Epidemiology Who is most at risk?

So what?Multiple sclerosis has been around for a long time. It statistically affects more people who live in certain geographic locations. The relation of who it affects and for what reason remains inconclusive.

Phase 1: Understanding Multiple Sclerosis

What is multiple sclerosis? How does MS affect the body? It affects more than just the body

So what?Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks the central nervous system. The side effects have an almost unlimited range of symptoms. One of the most dangerous side effect of MS is the psychological damage.

Phase 1: Understanding Multiple Sclerosis

Steady progession of symptoms Unsteady progression Unsteady with relapses

So what?Multiple sclerosis has shown many different trends of progression. Each type of progression differs on a case basis. The type of symptom progression may be different from case to case, but the results are often the same.

Phase 1: Understanding Multiple Sclerosis

Relapsing and remitting progression How to detect MS? How to treat MS?

So what?Detecting multiple sclerosis is not easy or cheap, and sometimes painful. Treating MS can be performed through chemical injections and various physical therapy exercises.

Symptoms before treatment:Loss of coordination - led to difficulty in running as she had beforeMore exaggerated reflexes - common reflex tests yielded over reactive movementsNaystagmus - rapid, involuntary eye movements prevented focusingNumbness - total body numbness that felt like when your limbs fall asleepDropfoot - inability to lift the front of her foot upwards when walking, the result was the front of her foot dragging on the groundDifficulty speaking - loss of coordination in her tongue and throat caused slurred speech

Treatment:Betaseron shots every other day. Each time the medicine is administered, Dana uses a bliter pack containing all of the necessary elements to the process. Betaseron is one of the only treatments that does not require refrigeration, because she mixes the solution immediately prior to taking the shot. A vile of powder is screwed onto one end of the syringe, which contains a saline solution and the needle is placed onto the other end. An injector shoots the needle into her skin. Several different injection sites are used: upper thighs, stomach, beside belly button, lower back, and back of arms. There is a calendar Dana uses to keep track of rotating her sites to avoid irritation. She has had virtually no complications with the process of administering her medicine.

Symptoms after treatment:residual numbness- there is still some hint of numbness in here fingertips and her limbs fall asleep more quickly than average.

Additional Complications:Airplane Travel- Betaseron cannot fall below or rise above certain temperatures, so it has to be a carry on and can’t be valet checked. This has led to complications when Dana is at the end of the boarding line.Blood Donation- Dana can no longer give blood because she injects her medicine with a needle.

Diagnosis:A car accident in the summer of 2008 led to her diagnosis. After the accident she had a loss of coordination on the right side of her body which led to physical therapy sessions. When physical therapy didn’t help, a series of CAT scans were done and returned no information leading to explaining her symptoms. The next step was seeing a neurologist who decided on performing an MRI. Lesions on the front of Dana’s brain were discovered and was the first evidence that led to a diagnosis. When a second opinion was saught and additional MRI’s showed even more lesions the official diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was made.

MS is life changing

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that can strike a person very severely. The symptoms are wide spread from cognitive to physical disorders. The disease cannot be detected with simple technology. Although with current research and therapy, the disease can be slowed down. The symptoms can be treated, but unfortunately, it cannot be cured.

Phase 1: Understanding Multiple Sclerosis (Interview)

Dana Lindauer22 years oldDiagnosed with MS in the summer of 2008

Phase 1: Understanding Multiple Sclerosis through Empathic Research

Experiencing blurry vision Blindness in one eye Pain and numbness in extremities

So what?In order for us to better understand what it’s like living with MS, we inflicted handicaps related to MS on ourselves and tried to perform everyday tasks. We recorded difficulties and carefully documented our experience.

Steve N. experiences blurry vision Rakpong experiences blindness in one eye Steve D. experiences pain and coordination loss

Phase 2: Synthesize research and develop 12 concepts

Phase 2: Synthesize research and develop 12 concepts

Phase 3: Prototyping

To prove the concept, we constructed a working prototype of the “Poofer” concept. To better understand the “Mobile Support” concept, we prototyped interfaces onto a foam mock-up.

First we needed to construct manifolds

We built the manifolds from vacuum formed polystyrene

The manifolds were connected to a belt, with 3 electronic fans and batteries

While wearing the mock-up, the fans displace air into the wearer’s shirt, effectively “poofing” the shirt, and cooling the skin.

To mock-up the “Mobile Support” concept, we created a foam model and a series of interface paper print-outs. We learned scale, proportion, and usability of this concept.

From this, we learned that the interface may be too small for the user to see and navigate if their symptoms include vision impairment.

Phase 4: Final concept selection and revision

We sent our twelve concepts to our sponsor (GE Healthcare) for their feedback, and input on a final concept selection. To our surprise, the concept they selected was Medbox. We were surprised because this concept is not a product at all. It is a service/system design. It is an example of an idea that was designed to help a specific demographic, but could end up benefitting many others. So we changed our focus from M.S. sufferers to everyone who might benefit from the Medbox concept. This would require a revised problem statement, and a new end goal.

Phase 4: Revised problem statement and concept execution

ProblemMedical products and assistive devices can be very expensive and the cost can be prohibitive to both the person in need and his or her insurance provider. This can become an even bigger issue when the ailment that causes a need for the product is temporary, transient, or the duration is unknown. No one wants to spend thousands of dollars on a specialty device that they will only use for a brief period and then be unable to sell.

Phase 5: Solution

Medbox is the solution for patients who need expensive assistive devices or hard-to-find medical products either temporarily or permanently

medical product rental service

Medbox system model The key benefits of the Medbox system lie in the payment and delivery/return of medical and assistive pruducts.

• The user can rent a produce for an indefinite time. The user pays a small daily fee while they use the product. When they no longer need the product, they can sent it back.

• If the user is done renting a product, he or she can either drop it off at a Medbox participating pharmacy or hospital, or request a pick-up by phone or online.

• If the user’s ailment or symptoms do not subside, he or she can continue making payments until the product has been paid for in full, at which point they will permanently own it.

User scenario

Handicap accessible kiosk

Interface examples

Example of the Medbox home screen. The user will either create their own Medbox account, or select ‘member’ to continue to the log in screen.

If the user is already a member, they will simply swipe their membership card to log in.

After a member logs in, they will have the option to view their account, or rent. When renting, the member can search for products according to symptoms, brands, or device categories.

While searching for products, Medbox automatically saves previously viewed products to help the member make comparisons and to pick the right product at the right price.

Ribbon Hand-held shower with a focus on the relationship between form and function

Brief: Design a hand-held shower that is not another “chrome lollipop” Prototyping

Foam models

Rapid prototype

Sand and prime

Assembly

Form enhances function

Ribbon Hand-held shower

Position 1 for normal showering

Position 2 for hard-to-reach areas

Ribbon twists at the center to shift orientation

Prototype to study scale and ergonomics

Copula Home phone system centered around an evolving market and user experience

Problem Is a landline home phone still relevant in today’s “cell phone” dominated society?

Trends and statistics

Since the beginning

Innovations in phone technology since the beginning Evolution of the physical object

So what?The rate of telephone communication technology has increased exponentially over the past 2 decades. The trend is showing that cell phones are becoming the main choice for consumers, yet it seems that the landline phone isn’t leaving. Can the cell phone and landline phone have an effective future together?

Understanding Human Computer Interaction

Functional considerations Human factors and the interface

Design goal:To design a product that utilizes touchscreen and analog buttons to create a positive user experience and an easily navigable interface.

Sketch exploration/digital prototyping

CopulaHome phone system that links and syncs with cell phones

System linking cell phones and home phones Each family member can create a profile. You can transfer information from your cell phone to the central hub. Copula can be used as an extension of your cell phone when your cell phone is linked.

The combination of physical buttons beneath the touch-screen user interface makes Copula efficient to navigate and user friendly.

Graphical User InterfaceEach button is mapped to a different touch-screen interface

Dial menu allows the user to manually dial a phone number to make a call

Message menu allows the user to check voice mail messages and missed calls.

Search menu allows the user to search contacts and other information on the system.

User menu will automatically appear if a cell phone is linked, and allows the user view and edit their contacts or profile.

Home menu is the default screen, and allows the user to view recent calls, the address book, or calendar.

T h a n k - Yo u

Steve Nicholsindustrial designerstephenn37@gmail.com - 317.440.1695