MODUS
Introduction
PROMPT
MISSION STATEMENT
For this project, we were instructed to create a product that would fit into one of the categories of Emily Pilloton’s “Design Revolution”. Our team chose the category of “wellbeing”.
In latin, “modus” means “the way in which anything is done”. MODUS allows people with busy lives to make time for ANYTHING.
WHAT IS IT? MODUS is a backpack that promotes healthy living, with many different functions of multiple bags fit into one convenient space.
With its convenient and portable design, MODUS lets its user be flexible with their schedule and do whatever they need to during the day.
Research
...on wellbeing MIND MAPPING Our group decided to sit together and create a mind map to assess what needs we could focus on. We wanted to make sure our design was human-centered, so we began with the person and brainstormed what problems could affect a person’s wellbeing: for example, inaccessible treatment, illnesses/disease, and emotional consequences of poor health.
EXISTING PRODUCTS 1. Home Hero Fire Extinguisher: a redesigned fire extinguisher to make it more user friendly and comfortable to hold. We drew inspiration from this by redesigning an already existing item to make it more user friendly and convenient for the consumer. 2. Jaipur foot: a low-cost prosthesis for people who lost their limbs due to accidents. In a similar way, our product makes day-to-day living much easier with simpl changes to a person’s life.
3. Target Pharmacy Bottle: another redesigning, this time of a medication bottle, to solve the problem of mixing up pills and prescriptions. In the same way, our product is not innovation itself, but an innovative design that can make a great impact on our consumers’ way of living.
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...on audience IDENTIFYING AN AUDIENCE We wanted the audience to be college students because we, as college students, could more easily relate and more easily know how effective our product would be. After all, design begins with personal experience. It’s hard, with the resources we have, to greatly impact our consumers’ lives. We decided to focus on more social and success needs rather than survival needs. As college students, we know how hard it is to take care of your body with so many things to do. We thought it would be a lot easier to accomplish things like a healthy diet and incorporate exercise if things were more convenient for us. Thus, our product idea was born, for us, and the students of UC Davis.
What do college students need to stay healthy and academically active? food, water, sleep, exercise, electronics (laptop, phone)
Which ones are the most necessary? Which ones do we have the skills to accommodate to? food!
exercise!
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electronics!
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SURVEY To better understand the needs of our audience, we created a survey and asked college students to rate their agreement (1=disagree, 5=agree) with different statements. And, according to our results, our backpack fits our audience’s needs very well, since there are more people agreeing with our statements than disagreeing.
I don’t exercise because I don’t have time.
I would remember to eat if it was convenient to carry food around with me.
I don’t like to put food in my backpack because of one of the following reasons: getting squished, smelly, food won’t stay cool/hot, etc.
...on materials We wanted to use cheap, durable material that would be easily recognizable and work the way that we wanted it to. We decided to use canvas for most of the backpack and compartments and nylon for any inside lining.
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possible materials neoprene, memory foam, regular foam, styrofoam construction layer of nylon on outside, layer of foam on inside, zipper closure possible materials odor repellent / breathable material, sports nylon / polyester, canvas
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possible things to include/features insulated fabric for the inside, double zipper opening, extra padding on bottom, sturdy base and sides to avoid collapsing
...on back support To incorporate more “wellbeing” into our backpack, we decided to do some research on back support to include into the structure of our backpack. Here is the research we did. We tried to incorporate the first bullet point into our backpack, measuring according to our backpacks and bodies.
1. backpacks should extend from approximately 2 inches below the shoulder blades to waist/slightly below waist 2. shift weight from upper back and shoulders to lower back 3. backpacks should weigh no more than 10% of a child’s weight, with the maximum being 15% 4. pack heavier things low and towards the back, closer to the body
Design Process
timeline (11/5)
all members make product drafts and submit them to the entire group by 6:30
(11/6)
finalize design of the project, decide on budget, drive to Joann’s to find materials
(11/11)
construction of rapid prototype
(11/17)
present rapid prototype, begin work on working prototype, order all materials
(11/20)
work on working prototype (2 hours)
(11/21)
work on working prototype (8 hours)
(11/23)
work on working prototype (7 hours)
product drafts To start our design process, we decided that what would be most effective is for each group member to come up with their own design iteration, then convene to decide which parts of everybody’s design we liked the best, and create a final design based off of that. From left to right, top to bottom:
Dana Timothea Emily Jhon
DANA
TIMOTHEA
PROS: good dimensions, reuse straps, accordion compartments, padded back, using neoprene or memory foam CONS: compartments might be non-user friendly, how to access pockets, difference b/w this and just using pockets?
EMILY
PROS: logo design, taking apart compartments can make it more compact, pockets on straps CONS: attach by velcro: not sturdy enough, backpack not big enough for laptop case, how to access each bag?
PROS: detachable, sturdy food compartment on the bottom, use canvas for backpack, pockets on straps, shock absorbent (padding) CONS: attach compartments with velcro not secure, distracting extras
JHON
PROS: items can be used on own, compactable (put away if not in use), accent colors (unifying element) CONS: how to hold everything together?, possibly confusing, water bottle might get squished, zippers hard to put on
final draft In the end, we decided to center our design around Timothea’s iteration. We decided the accordion pockets from my design was a good idea, but we scrapped it due to lack of knowing where to incorporate it. We did the same thing with Jhon’s and Emily’s idea. In finalizing the draft, we tried modifying it to make it as easy and user-friendly as possible and minimizing any unnecessary details.
final design The actual backpack, without any of the compartments, imitates the shape of an average backpack. We didn’t want to drastically change the look of the backpack so that the consumer would still instinctively know how to use it and keep the user-friendliness of our product.
Even though each compartment is completely unique and can be used on its own, we wanted the feel of the backpack to be unified. We did that by making sure each compartment had equal importance in the overall design of the backpack, and designing it so that they can work as one.
As stated before, our backpack comes with a lunchbox compartment, a laptop compartment, and a sports bag. The sports bag is a classic drawstring bag shape, to make it easily recognizable, and again, user friendly. The laptop case fits an average 15 inch laptop (we measured around a MacBook Pro). The lunchbox has a double zipper to keep it insulated and both the sides of the backpack as well as straps have elastic pockets.
Another way we ensured unity was in the shape of the backpack and compartments. Each compartment has its own individual shape (for variety), but none of them (including the backpack) has rounded edges. All shapes in our design are either rectangular or triangular. It gives our backpack a sharp and clean look that really ties everything together.
We decided, for the finished prototype, to have 2 base colors (black or white), and the consumer could choose an accent color (outlined by the white on this backpack sketch).
note: for our working prototype, some elements of the final design could not be included (ex double zipper on the lunchbox) because of lack of technical skill or time
logo
The main concept we wanted to represent in our logo was the idea of unity and variety simultaneously existing in one design. This design has various lines and shapes that can all work separately, but when put together, they form one unique, unified logo.
Construction
rapid prototype For the rapid prototype, we were most concerned with emulating the compartments and seeing how they would all work and fit together. We concentrated our efforts on the lunchbox (created by Emily) while I made the drawstring bag. Timothea admitted to not doing so well with hands-on work, so she worked on the sketches for the final result and also kept a log of what we needed to do/already did.
For the base, we used a paper bag. We used a ziploc bag to emulate the drawstring bag, and cardstock to emulate the lunchbox. We also used cardstock to emulate the laptop case. By making this rapid prototype, we find that securing the strings on the sports bag behind the bag would be the best, and also that securing the lunchbox by hooks or clasps would be ideal.
roles
Being the only one who knew how to sew, a lot of the work on the working prototype had to be done/ orchestrated by me. I had never worked with a team in sewing before, so our process was a little bit all over the place. Whoever was free to cut and measure cut and measured, whoever was free to glue, glued.
DANA TIA
pattern making and sewing artist, documentation (photos, scanning)
EMILY
research (brochure & back support)
JHON
cut/measure, surveys & graphs
steps Most work days began with sketches like this, where I would write down the pieces needed and the measurements for them and show them to Jhon to cut out. It was a little all over the place because they would often cut out faster than I could pin together the pieces and sew, and we had a lot of mishaps in cutting pieces. This was the basic process:
1. Jhon cut out the pieces 2. I pin together pieces 3. I sew them together 4. Timothea takes pictures of the process 5. Jhon edits the photos 6. Emily/Timothea/Jhon glues together pieces that need to be glued 7. REPEAT!
Sources 1. “Designing Dementia.” ColorMute RSS. N.p., 2013. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. 2. “Jaipur foot and below-knee prosthesis.” RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. 3. “Target turns old pill bottle design on its head.” NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 26 Apr. 2005. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. 4. “SheIn.com - Contemporary Women’s Fashion at Affordable Prices.” SheIn.com - Contemporary Women’s Fashion at Affordable Prices. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. 5. “Nike Black Nylon Drawstring Gymsack.UKSize1.” EBay. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. 6. “Our Favorite Laptop Sleeves and Cases.” The Wirecutter. N.p., 11 Jan. 2017. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. 7. Final sketches, designs, and photographs courtesy of Timothea Wang