This will be an ongoing series for my design assignment. The purpose of this series is to serve as an online repository for my thoughts on-the-go.
How do we harness our everyday motion/movement and put it to good use?
When we are awake, we spend the bulk of our time walking (in motion) or sitting (in semi-motion).
As an avid reader, I spend a considerable time sitting down (or just lying on my bed) reading. The best reading experience I figure i will have is a rocking chair with nice comfy cushions; now wouldn’t it be nice if the rocking motion can be used to electricity
Things to consider:
- What are the existing designs? This is an important consideration because as innovators we want to solve real problems by identifying design gaps and closing the gaps between design and practice. The most fundamental step i would say is to cross the if it’s not broken, why fix it chasm.
- What are the needs/requirements of the users? Generally there are two kinds of needs – salient, explicit needs & subtle, implicit needs. Subtle needs are more difficult to identify because most of the time it is not explicitly stated or even realized by users. It is the designers’ job to recognize these needs and translate them into forms, specifications and functions.
- Compatibility in both the technical & non-technical sense. Technically how easy and/or expensive is it for users to maintain & change out the parts? Will it be standardized and compatible with off-the-shelf parts? On the other hand, will it be obtrusive to the users’ current lifestyle/habits? If so how far or comfortable will the user compromise with your product?
I figure each of these points will warrant write-ups on itself so i’ll stop here for now. Comments welcome of course!
