Inclusive Design
Healthcare
CAL - INCLUSIVE TECHNOLOGY
research - prototyping
WHAT
Integrated Product Development (IPD) is a cross-disciplinary University of Michigan course. Students from Art & Design, Business, Engineering, and Information form each team works as an independent firm through all the process. The goal is to develop a fully functional active technology product to improve senior health.
WHEN
January - April 2018
ROLE
I was part of a team of 5. We all actively participated in all steps. By the end of the course, I focused more on prototyping instead of costing or coding.
METHODS
How might we, personas & journey maps, concept testing, conjoint analysis, problem identification, aesthetics preferences
Cal: our final product provided a calendar, reminders and relationships support
INTEGRATED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
IPD is an innovative course hosted by the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan.
It is taught jointly by faculty members Eric Svaan of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and Stephanie Tharp from the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.
Student teams are multidisciplinary from the School of Information, Ross School of Business, Stamps School of Art & Design and Michigan Engineering.
CHALLENGE
We were provided initial research and overview of the problem. Our objective was to create a fully functional prototype considering the problem statement and design guidelines.
Problem Statement
Design a product suitable for use by senior adults, incorporating the use of active technology, to improve health maintenance and outcomes.
Design Guidelines
Performance: The product must function reliably.
Target demographics: senior adults, broadly defined.
Target retail price: Not more than $200
Manufacturability: Major touch surfaces must be of materials and shapes that can be fabricated by the team using equipment available in Stamps School workshops.
Testing: Prototypes will be demonstrated at the physical Trade Show for performance assessment by users, and by faculty for assembly and manufacturability compliance.
Competitive advantage: Teams should show that their device has a competitive advantage over competing products, if such products exist, in some dimension valued by target customers.
RESEARCH
Secondary research
Primary research
-
Learnings from VentureWell Hacking Health Charrette
-
Survey for initial pain points and needs identification
-
Informational interviews with potential customers
-
Visits to Atria Park senior center, Ann Arbor, MI
23
Survey
Responses
30+
Internet
Sources
10
Interviews
4
Hours of
observation
100+
pain points identified
Framing the problem
Mission Active technology to maintain senior adults health
Target population Ages 55+
Major concerns identified
Lack of Social Engagement
Pain point identification:
Diet & Nutrition
Body Changes
Memory Loss
body changes & chronic diseases
need help with simple tasks
lack of independence
forgetfulness
pill management
lack of social engagement
Seniors want to continue living their day-to-day lives as long as possible without being restricted by the concerns above. This includes completing daily household tasks, continued exercise and activity, and caregiving for elderly parents.
Based on the pain points identified, we wrote a "how might we" statement:
How might we ensure seniors take care of themselves while aging with vitality?
Body Changes
Diet & Nutrition
Aging with Vitality
Lack of Social Engagement
Personas & Journey Maps
Based on our research and pain points, we created 3 personas to support our ideation process
IDEATION
Brainstorming
Based on pain points initially identified and personas, our team brainstormed more than two hundred ideas.
Concepts
Considering the design guidelines, we came up with many different concepts. Some of the initial concepts can be seen below.
Concepts test
We interviewed 40 people between the ages of 54 to 93.
Seven concepts along with two existing products were tested and listed as followed:
1. Vacuum powered duster
2. Vertically rotating drawer
3. VR brain stimulating game
4. Wall mounted virtual calendar
5. Smart sleep mask
6. Vital tracking shirt
7. Auto buckle shoes
8. Sleep mask (competitor)
9. White noise generator (competitor)
Highest forecasted share
As seen from concept test results tabulated in the table above. Wall Calendar has the highest forecasted share of 30% followed by Auto Buckle Shoes at 27.25% and VR Game at 21.25%. During our interviews, the rotatable drawer unit is very well received, but it has lower forecasted share because most participants gave it a score of 4.
Cultural considerations
We have interviewed people from the age of 53 - 93 (with an average age of 66-year-old) from USA, Thailand, Brazil, and India with a breakdown of 42.5% male and 57.5% female. Participants were told that they can rate the products based on their desirability and assume that they can afford to buy them, but questions concerning price came up frequently.
We have noticed that participant’s gender, age, nationality, and lifestyle have a significant effect on ‘would like to buy’ scores. For example, most female participants gave the vacuum powered duster a higher score than most male participants because they clean their houses on a daily basis. Several participants in Asia and Brazil told us that they do not have a need of the vacuum powered duster and gave it a low score because it is relatively easy and cheap to hire a maid in those countries. A similar trend can be seen across all product concepts in which people who usually play games at home would give the VR Game concept higher scores and people who have trouble falling asleep would give the Smart Sleep Mask concept higher scores.
PROTOTYPES
Wall Calendar
Sketches
Low fidelity prototype
The digital wall calendar was chosen as our main concept after our second design review, where a group of experts evaluated our work during class.
Opportunities we heard during research
"My children have created a dial shortcut but I never find it."
Interview with 92 year old woman
Auto Buckle Shoes
Sketches
Low fidelity working prototype (sketch C)
"I have four children but they are so busy. I always feel I call them when they are busy, and I don't want to bother them".
Interview with 70 year old man
Conjoint analysis
“Conjoint analysis can suggest not just what features consumers might want in a new product, but also how much they are willing to pay for those features.”
(Lovejoy 1998, Appendix W p.1)
Lovejoy, William S. "Integrated operations: a proposal
for operations management teaching and research."
Production and Operations Management 7, no. 2 (1998): 106-124.
Variables considered for the conjoint analysis
Price
$50
$150
Screen
LED Textile
Digital
Calling
Capable
Not capable
Size
Letter (8.5 x 11in)
Poster (2 x 3ft)
The results from conjoint analysis drove prioritization of a simplified, larger-sized calendar made from natural materials with few bells and whistles, low price sensitivity and focus on product features.
$150
LED Textile screen*
Poster size
(2 x 3ft)*
No calling capability
*considering our time and resources for manufacturing, we decided to focus on more "natural feel" materials instead of textiles and use a digital screen (small for cost constraints).
Problem identification
We brainstormed 75 potential problems of the product. Then, we decided what problems were more urgent to be considered during product development.
Aesthetics preferences
We considered different variables of color, materials and shape to create an online survey for the calendars. The survey was sent to our previous survey and interview participants.
Each option had a likert scale for the shape, material, color and position of the screen.
The preferred aesthetics was a clean rectangular shape, white background calendar on light wood color.
Final Prototype
MDF was laser cut. Wood laminate sheets were used for finishing. For the electronics we used LCD screen, Raspberry Pi, speakers and microphones.
TRADE SHOW
Our last presentation happened once we had the fully functional prototype, manufacturing, and costing details. All teams presented their work for visitors at the Stamps Gallery in Ann Arbor, MI, o April 4, 2018.
