1
Critical Justification James Harr
DE1082
Contents
Introduction 01-14
Exploration 15-38
Final Project 39-112
Introduction
Exploration
Navigation 01-02 Timeplan - Expected Timeplan 03-04 Timeplan - Actual Timeplan 05-06 Introduction 07-10 Introduction - Why Bathroom Safety 11-12 bathstore - 3 Month Placement 13-14
Exploration 15-16 Questions - What I Need To Find Out? 17-18 Desk Research - Initial Research 19-20 Research Analysis - Condensing 21-22 Focus & Direction - Key Insights 23-24 Current Market - Moreability Leeds 25-26 Current Market - Invisa 27-28 Case Studies - Aged 65+ 29-30 Current Products - Whats On The Market? 31-32 Smart Technology - Other Fields 33-34 Exploration End - What I Have Found Out 35-36 Reflection - Journey So Far... 37-38
Final Project
Final Project
Final Project 39-40 Mark Bailey - Lecture Quote 41-42 Tutor Meeting - Ian Hewitt 43-44 Exercise - Why Exercise? 45-46 New Brief - Fall Prevention through Exercise 47-48
Story Boarding - Design Ideas 77-78 Sports Science - Dr Gill Berry 79-80
Reflection - Journey so far... 107-108 Service Design - More in Depth 109-110 Computer Science - Sam Bird 111-112
Exploration
Fall Prevention - Who to speak to... 51-52 Peer Group - Peer Group Brainstorming 53-54 Nurses - Exercise and the Elderly 55-56 Age UK - Linda Williams 57-58 Ward Nurse - Kate Metcalfe 59 GP - David Geddes 60 Home Exercising - Why the Home? 61-62 Physio - NSIC Aine 63-64 Initial Ideas - Home Workout Kit 65-66 Staying Steady - Lucy Flannagan 67-68 OTAGO - Will Harr - Personal Trainer 69-70 OTAGO - Broken into sections 71-72 Discussing The Idea - Joan and Richard 73-74 GO!AP - Idea Branding 75-76
Exergaming - PHD Student Arash 83-84 Interim - Ian & Anthony 85-86 New Brief - Exergaming Brief 87-88 Tutor Meeting - David Parkinson 89-90 Nintendo Wii - Testing Wii Fitness 91-92 Nintendo Wii - Testing Wii Balance 93-94 Ideation - Floor Mat 95-96 Computer Science - Sam Bird 97-98 Service Design - Basic Plan 99-100 TEDx - Game Rehabilitation Talks 101-102 Ruce Gaming - Bruce Slater 103-104 Tutor Meeting - Ian Hewitt 105-106
Final Project
Reflection - Journey so far... 49-50
Reflection - Journey so far... 81-82
01
Navigation
Navigation Understanding The Booklet
Reflection
Key Insights
Moving Forward
Design Process
Looking at what activities have told me about my project, how it has helped me focus more.
Key information gained from speaking to people about the project and things that have helped with ideas.
Things that have helped the project and will be moving the project in a certain direction.
Why I did things... I did this to see... This has led me to look at... This was successful because...
Anything written in this font is also reflection
02
Navigation
Peer Group Speaking to people within me peer group or people at university in general that have any useful feedback on my work
Tutors Tutor guidance of feedback from a tutor that has been a particularly helpful insight
Success This highlights when a certain activity within the project has been useful and successful
Failure This highlights when a certain activity within the project has been useless and unsuccessful
03
Timeplan
Timeplan Expected Timeplan...
Exploration
Deciding which brief to do for exploration
Initial Desk Research
November 2015
Exploring information further
Primary Research
Ideation
December 2015
Final concepts for Major
Final
January
04
Project Brief
2016
Timeplan
Final Major Project
February 2016
March 2016
05
Timeplan
Timeplan
My timplan changed a lot with little primary research for Exploration, resulting in a poor exploration booked and further exploration needed.
Actual Timeplan...
Exploration Deciding which brief to do for exploration
Initial Desk Research
November 2015
Exploring information Primary further Research
More Desk Research
December 2015
Final concepts for Major
January
06
Timeplan
Further Exploration
Primary Research
2016
Exploring information further
Ideation
February 2016
Final Project Brief
Final Major Project
March 2016
Intro
07
Introduction
Introduction Briefs
I began my Exploration project in November 2015 and started with 3 brief options, Online Delivery, Food Packaging and Bathroom Safety.
Intro
08
Introduction
Introduction Briefs
Online Delivery - Online delivery is evolving very fast with the likes of Amazon Prime and the use of drones. This was something very current and something that I had an interest in.
Food packaging - This was a good option for me as I had a contact at TetraPak which I thought may be helpful as a collaboration. Packaging is also something that is used everyday so it was something that could have a day to day impact.
Bathroom Safety - My placement was at bathstore so I had a good knowledge of the bathroom so would be comfortable working in this area and also knew they would collaborate.
Intro
09
Introduction
Introduction Choosing A Brief...
When choosing the brief I rushed my choice and ended up choosing the Packaging brief. Once I had started the project I soon realised that this topic didn’t interest me. This led me to change to the Bathroom Safety brief after exploration had started as I believed it would have more scope and I would have better validators and collaborators - due to my time working at bathstore. Looking back I should have taken more time when choosing the brief, I made a bad decision with both briefs which have majorly effected my work for exploration. Bathroom safety seemed like a good idea however the only real reason I chose it was because I thought I would get a lot of help from bathstore which I did but they wanted me to focus on different things to what my research was telling me.
I needed to swap briefs as I was struggling to get anywhere with packaging however when I started bathroom safety I feel as though I hit the same hurdle.
Once I had chosen the brief I started the project however I still had no real idea about what exploration was and what was expected of me. I didn’t look far enough into the topic that I chose and this led to me having to do a mini exploration after the actual exploration project during the start of Final project.
Intro
11
Introduction
Introduction Why Bathroom Safety?
I did some quick background research into the topic to see how much scope there was.
After looking at research online I was overwhelmed with the amount of information I was finding, this made me believe that this project had potential.
This was a good exercise to show me there was scope and a need for safety products in the bathroom
Many articles believed that the bathroom was the most dangerous room in the house, showing me this was a serious problem.
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention had the most of the Information, this came in table form and needed to be easier to read, a lot of the information was also unnecessary.
Big Facts
Centers of Disease Control and Prevention
Nonfatal Bathroom Injuries Among Persons Aged 15+ Years, United States, 2008
235,000
visited the emergency room due to a bathroom related injury in America in 2008
14% hospitalized
over 32,000 people
640
per per dayday
Americans admitted to hospital in 2008
13
bathstore
bathstore 3 Month Placement
“The subject of safety & comfort in the bathroom is very fashionable at this time, many bathroom manufacturers and brands are focusing on“
Every project I worked on was bathroom related, this gave me a vast knowledge of the bathroom and how people interact with it. While I was working for them they were looking at safety products when I began working there so it was something constantly being discussed. Bathroom safety was something that I could see is an issue and is often Stigmatised as something that only disabled people need, this insight was something I thought about a lot during the project. After emailing Phil Allen, Head designer at bathstore, he agreed that they would be happy to collaborate with my project. This is something I thought would be very helpful however I soon found out that it was not. I overlooked the fact that bathstore do not actually make or stock any safety products. I thought they would somehow be able to help anyway and look like a good collaborator, this was not the case.
14
bathstore
Exploration
17
?
Questions
Questions What I Need To Find Out... What products or services already exist to prevent injuries in the bathroom?
What are the main type of injuries sustained in the bathroom and what causes them?
What demographic is most effected with bathroom injuries and why? What makes the bathroom such an injury prone place? What factors make it such a dangerous place?
What companys currently specialise in bathroom safety that I can speak to?
Questions
What do I want to be designing at the end of this project?
Who can I collaborate with on this project?
Is there any of the tutors that have done projects around bathroom safety?
I didn’t plan my questions out well and a lot of them I knew what the answers were going to be before researching, for example “What makes the bathroom such an injury prone place? What factors make it such a dangerous place?” - this was obviously going to be due to the fact or water constantly being used and how it is a slipping and drowning hazard, I backed up with facts however it was obvious, this led to my project just skimming the surface rather than looking into deeper problems.
I planned the questions to help me start my research, however due to the types of questions I was asking myself I was not really looking far enough into the problem, I also found it hard to find information to help answer some questions.
Exploration
18
19
Desk Research
Desk Research Initial Desk Research
After some quick desk research I started to look deeper into the dangers of the bathroom. The Centers of Disease and Prevention was the most useful site for finding out information, however it was information from 2008. After finding out that the most up to date information was 2008 I became worried about how current the problem is. Bathroom safety isn’t like a disease so there is no strong facts that can go along with it. This is something that I struggled with throughout the project as information was hard to get hold of data.
I was looking at data and averages to try and see what the main causes of Injuries were and age ranges in order to try and gain an understanding of what kind of problems need to be delt with. The amount of data was overwhelming and took a lot of time to work through. In the end the data was useful but didn’t give me any more direction, it merely backed up what I thought.
The most common injury is falling 81% and the most effected demographic is 65+
I need to analyse the research and use this to get more direction and focus.
Exploration
Getting information about injuries, age ranges and the causes of injuries was useful.
21
Research Analysis
Research Analysis Condensing the Information
I had a lot of facts and figures so it was important to condense the information to help to provide more focus and direction, I needed to think about where to go next with the project. Due to the vast amount of information I found it hard to focus on one particular section, I was trying to boil the Ocean. At this point in the project I should have had a more focussed direction however my topic was still very broad, something that continued throughout exploration.
It was useful to get all the research I had gathered and all the key insights on the wall as it meant that I could work through them and pick out the key problems that I have found and research into these further.
Exploration Pick out the most important points and research into these further using more Primary research.
23
Focus & Direction
Focus & Direction Key Insights to follow
After looking through the research I took the key insights that I had got and deicide to work from their and explore them further. Falls was the cause of the most bathroom injuries and is something that I was interested at looking into, all I thought in my head when looking into falling was grab rails and non slip mats, that is why I decided to look more into smart technology as it interested me a lot more and I thought I may be able to find a new solution.
This task was done in order to help focus more and add direction to the project instead of just constantly researching into bathroom safety. Adding some more focus and direction was definitely something useful as it meant that I was no longer skimming research but I was looking further into the bigger problems that had been identified.
24
Focus & Direction
More interested in Fall Prevention as I want to look at stopping the fall before they happen.
Exploration
This is the most common cause of injuries and something that I wanted to look into further to see the ways it can be prevented and what can be done afterwards
There is a big stigma around bathroom safety product being hospital like so I need to see what kind of things are being done to remove the stigma.
Looking into other sectors to see if there is smart technology that can be transferred to the bathroom Case studies so I can understand the needs of the user, I am not over 65 so need to speak to people over that age to get their thoughts on bathroom safety and see what they struggle with.
25
Current Market
Current Market Moreability Leeds
Visited a bathroom safety specialist in Leeds to ask questions about product they have and to gain a further knowledge about what is on the market. It was useful to speak to Garry Kirkbright to gain more knowledge. After looking around the showroom it was clear to see how much companies like moreability are working towards removing the stigma of bathroom safety, this is something important to bare in mind when looking at this sector.
There is a strong stigma against bathroom safety products
Look into current smart technology
Look into more discrete bathroom safety
Smart technology has got a lot of potential for use in the bathroom
People aged 50+ will outnumber people under the age of 50 by 2030
This market will continue to grow
Bathroom Designed for a Disabled Person: This is well thought out design and it is hard to see the parts installed for a disabled person.
It was good to speak to a professional in the area however after speaking to Garry and looking around moreability I still had no real idea of where to go with the project which did really panic me!
Exploration
Disabled Bathroom: Found in hospitals, nursing homes and installed in homes by the council, this has strong stigma attached to it.
27
Current Market
Current Market Invisa
“
Safety You’ll Notice But NOT See
”
Looking online I came across a company called Invisa who specialise in bathroom safety products that for into your bathroom unnoticed, looking at their range it was clear to see that safety products don’t have to be ugly.
It was a change to see bathroom safety products as beautifully crafted products that compliment the bathroom rather than the white hospital like products you expect to see. This made me think about the possibility of designing some products for the bathroom that are safety based but not an eye sore.
At this point I should have started sketching down a few ideas and tried to focus more on what I want me end goal to be, however I carried on researching and wanted to look at different routes to go down.
Current Market
Shower shelf as well as a grab rail. Helps to provide people with stability - can hold up to 225kg Exploration
28
29
Case Studies
Case Studies Aged 65+
I spoke to three people who are over the age of 65 and asked them a number of questions in order to gain a better understanding of what they struggle with in the bathroom and what kind of safety equipment they have. This was an Important part of my research for the project as I needed to get an idea of what the user wants but also get some insights of struggles and things they don’t like to see if I can think of any better solutions. Doing these case studies was one of the only bits of primary research I did and I gained a lot of helpful insights from it. Looking back I should have spoken to some more people and for exploration it would have been useful if I had spoken to care home workers and hospital workers, rather than just elderly people, as they all have to come into contact with bathrooms that contain safety products.
This was a very useful exercise for gaining good insights. The insight that was mentioned over and over again was the stigma of many of the products as none of them wanted any hospital style products in their homes.
There is a very strong stigma against bathroom safety products and how they are thought to be for “disabled� people
Need to look at the products that have the stigma and also learn what on the market
Exploration
Ian was happy to see me doing more primary research as I was lacking primary research
31
Current Products
Current Products What’s on the market?
Focussing now more on falls I now needed to look at products that prevent falls and things to help after a fall. I did some research online and some at my case studies houses. Most products for fall prevention came in the form of a zimmer frame, a non slip mat or a grab rail, these are all things that did not interest me and I didnt want to work with. The after fall products were all alarms that sent alerts, this is something I was more interested at looking at. As the fall prevention products now did not interest me I began to think about the after fall alarms and the way they work and whether there I should look at redesigning this?
It was useful to see what there was already on the market and pick apart the products and look at ways they can improve, one example was a fall alarm, they must be pressed of pulled, what if the person is unable to?
Current Products
Exploration
32
33
Smart Technology
Smart Technology Other Fields
The idea was to look into Smart technologys that already exist and see how they can be translated into the bathroom. I was most interested in looking at sensors that could detect a fall. This is something that would not need anything to be pressed or pulled and would be automatically activated. I thought that my final project would be looking into ways to put sensors either in the floor or in the walls of bathrooms that can detect when a person has fallen however once I started working on it it was clear that this has already been done and is it something I shouldnt do, however I carried on working on it and thought I should do it.
Need to look at how this can be translated and speak to Ian about the idea and also James to see how viable the idea is, this is something I thought would work. It was good to see what was already out there and that there was technology that would work in this situation, it was all about translating and testing.
Exploration
35
Exploration End
Exploration End What I found out...
When exploration finished I re-visited the questions I set out to answer and out of the 8 main questions I only really managed to answer about 3, this was due to how hard the information was to get and also how poorly I planned out the project. If I was to do the project again I would take more time choosing a better topic and do more primary research rather than secondary as I believe this project would have benefited with more primary research and insights from real people.
I now have three possible directions to go with this project, based on the research that I have done: 1) A range of discrete bathroom safety products. 2) A smart device triggered by falls to alert carers or relatives 3) The redesign of the bathroom
Exploration End
Exploration
36
37
Reflection
Reflection Journey so far...
I started with packaging which changed early on in the project to Bathroom safety. After research into injuries in the bathroom it was clear that falling was the main cause of injury and the demographic most at risk was the over 65’s. I focussed on Falls by the elderly and looking at ways to prevent this however I found it hard to find information about why falls happened so often and why. Falls isn’t like a disease so trying to get information about it is hard, asking people if they had fallen in the bathroom before too was something that a lot of people were quite uncomfortable with answering. By the end of exploration I still had no real idea where my project was heading, I knew I wanted to look at fall prevention for the elderly but I had no idea what to do. It was at the point I handed in exploration that I realised I hadn’t done as much research for exploration as I should have which resulted in me starting final project behind schedule which is not what I wanted.
No testing was done and the only primary research I did was going to a show room and doing case studies, this showed in the project I produced and the fact I still had 3 broad topics left open at the end of exploration.
38
Reflection
Elderly Falls
Packaging Design
Bathroom Safety
Fall Prevention
Fall Sensors
Smart Technology
Final Project
41
Mark Bailey
Mark Bailey Lecture Quote
A quote from tutor Mark Bailey during a CJ lecture
This made me realise how important the Exploration project was in contributing towards a good final project, This is something I didn’t do well so this motivated me to do a lot more research in order to make sure that whatever I design if well informed.
I found this very useful and a push to do more work on getting better information and research to help contribute to my project
Mark Bailey
“
You MUST have a well informed design solution
”
Final Project
42
43
Tutor Meeting
Tutor Meeting Ian Hewitt
Ian was disappointed in my work for exploration and said I needed to do another mini exploration to get myself to look into problems further as my project was too broad After speaking to Ian I was annoyed as well as disappointed, I was annoyed that I hadn’t grasped the project and understood what to do, as well as being annoyed with how much time I had spent on it, I was then really disappointed in my grade as it now looked to me like this 4 years has been a waste as my average is now a lot lower. This did motivate me for final project as I now need to work a lot harder but the exploration all in all was a kick in the teeth and a waste of time for me.
It was good to motivate me to work harder and ask more about what to do, rather than just doing what I think is right and ending up with a bad grade.
Tutor Meeting
“
You haven’t done as much research for exploration as you needed to and have three broad projects left, you need to go away and have a think about what you want to do.
”
Final Project
44
45
Exercise
Exercise Why Exercise?
Looking further into fall prevention I came across a document from the UK Chief medical inspector which stated that your 30% less likely to fall if you exercise, this inspired me to look at using exercise to help. I was still interested in falls and also have an interest in fitness so this is a project that I knew I would hopefully like more and be able to look deeper into.
Exercise can help reduce the chance of falling by 30% as well as a number of other illnesses - a lack of exercise by the elderly is a genuine problem that needs to be addresses
Write a new brief about looking into fall prevention through the use of exercise.
BENEFITS HEALTH IMPROVES SLEEP MAINTAINS HEALTHY WEIGHT MANAGES STRESS IMPROVES QUALITY OF LIFE
REDUCES YOUR CHANCE OF
Physical activity benefits for adults and older adults
Cancers (Colon and Breast)
UK Chief Medical Officers’ Guidelines 2011 Start Active, Stay Active:
Final Project
What should you do?
47
New Brief
New Brief Fall Prevention through Exercise
I wrote a new brief to outline what I am looking into now as my last brief was based on bathroom safety and I have moved away from this now. It was important to write a new brief and outline what I wanted to do, I then needed to work from the brief and look at certain areas to look into.
Ian was glad that I was focussed and told me changing the brief was something that needed to be changed constantly, it is a living document.
Write a new brief about looking into fall prevention through the use of exercise.
Final Project
I was a lot happier with this brief and I could see there was a lot more scope with it, opposed to my bathroom safety one.
49
Reflection
Reflection Journey so far...
Now I have a more focussed direction looking into exercise, I now need to speak to people who are involved with exercise and also medical professionals that can help me further with research into this and help inform me further with the project I am a lot happier looking into this, it seems to have a lot more scope and there is a number of people I already know who I can ask about the topic. Now that exploration has finished and I am working in final project time it is important for me to as efficient as possible with my time in order to stay on track with my work. Due to the fact that I already know a few people who I cam speak to it is giving me confidence that I can get it done.
A lot of research into specific exercises is important as well as speaking to people who work with the elderly and medical professionals in order to get feedback on the idea and see if they have an insights that I can use.
50
Reflection
Elderly Falls Exercise Packaging Design
Bathroom Safety
Fall Prevention
Fall Sensors
Smart Technology
51
Fall Prevention for the Elderly
Fall Prevention for the Elderly Who I need to speak to...
To make sure I have a well informed design it was clear to me it is very important to speak to a wide range of people in order to gain more knowledge and become more informed.
Using post it notes I put together a number of people I believed would be good to speak to to help inform me further with my project, this would then grow as people suggest me speaking to other people Ian was happy that I was adding more direction to my projects and planning the next steps that I need to make
It was useful to work out the variety of people I need to speak to and create a plan of who to speak to first, rather than researching without a plan.
Final Project
53
Peer Group
Peer Group Peer Group brainstorming
As a peer group we discussed each others projects and looked at any ways we can help each other or help produce ideas further Before the meeting I was still unsure of the direction I was heading in which made it hard to put forward my idea, this in turn meant it was hard for me to communicate exactly what I was planning on doing.
I didn’t find the session useful as I was still trying to catch up from exploration and has no real idea or direction that I was following yet.
Final Project
54 Peer Group
55
Nurses
Nurses Exercise and the Elderly
I spoke to 4 nurses in total, one was a dementia nurse, one worked on an old persons ward and the other two worked with the elderly at the RVI. I needed to find out what kind of exercise people are doing (if any) and what the main problems are with getting elderly people to exercise. Speaking to the nurses was very beneficial as once I began talking to them it was clear that there was no real way to exercise in a hospital and also that if someone over 70 is taken to hospital they will loose 10% of their leg muscle within 10 days, so it is important to exercise.
Motivating elderly people to exercise can be hard so look at a more playful way to do it, you also need to make sure that it can be used by a wide variety of people, some illnesses will make it a lot harder or impossible for some people to do exercises. Was useful to gain some key insights about elderly people which will help to inform my project further
Final Project
56 Nurses
57
Age UK
Age UK Linda Williams Age UK
I visited Age UK in Newcastle to try and see if I could speak to anyone regarding elderly Fitness. I was put in contact with Linda Williams who runs some walking classes and was happy to help with any questions I had with my project, we have been in constant contact with over email. I was invited to attend whatever classes suited me with most of them being in Byker, by going along I could speak to elderly people about fitness and get their opinions on it, as well as finding out how active they are and what they like to do. Linda was really helpful, being able to attend whichever classes I wanted to was something I thought would be very beneficial to my work and be good research for getting first hand information.
I need to find out which classes would be most beneficial to attend and go and speak to elderly people and the people in charge.
Age UK
Speaking to Linda was very helpful and being told I can attend any classes was something that will be beneficial for my research
Final Project
58
59
Ward Nurse
Ward Nurse Kate Metcalfe
Kate works at York District Hospital and is the head of an elderly persons ward, it was important to talk to her as she interacts with elderly nearly people everyday. Hearing that patients don’t have anywhere to exercise got me thinking and she believed that if there was something in hospitals it would be good for the patients.
Kate also told me about the fact that people over 70 loose 10% of leg muscle over 10 days, surely this shows something is needed in hospital, it would need to be designed to be simple and easy but anything to get people moving would work well.
It was good to hear positive feedback from someone who works with elderly people, Kate believed the project had a lot of potential so this gave me confidence.
GP
GP David Geddes
David is a GP as well as Head of NHS England Primary Care Commissioning and works at Clifton Medical Practice in York. He works with all types of patients and has a good knowledge of exercise and the elderly. Speaking to David was interesting, he had a wide range of ideas from using the Zimmer frame to help with exercise to looking at interactive exercise or a home workout kit. One thing that got me thinking was that there are not enough Nurses to go to everyones house to help them with exercise, it is too expensive and there simply isn’t enough people, this is why he thought it would be good if it is something people can do in their own homes and not need to travel or need a nurse at all times, this is what lead me to my two possible outcomes - both focussing on home exercise.
There is not enough nurses to provide exercise help to everyone in the community, the buses cost a lot to run and are inconvenient and take time, a exercising in the home is a good idea as it will help reduce these costs and make exercise more accessible to everybody.
Final Project
60
61
Home Exercising
Home Exercising Why the Home?
Why exercise at home? After speaking to David Geddes and hearing about the lack of nurses and the cost it seemed as though exercise at home seems to be the best way to go about it. While at home people are more confident and won’t be worried about what other people think, along with the added benefit of not having to travel anywhere. I visited St Silas in Byker to speak to some of the elderly people about fitness and what their views on fitness at home are. It was important to speak to the people that I am designing for.
I wanted to visit a class that wasn’t a specific fitness class in order to speak to people who may not do fitness. I wanted to find out if they didn’t why they didn’t and if there was something based in their home would they think about using it...
Home Exercising
Only 3 in 10 of the people I spoke to exercise The three people attended classes, out of the seven who didn’t 2 were unable due to illness and the others either hadn’t thought about it or didn’t want to. People who attended the classes enjoyed the company as much as the exercise.
After speaking to the people who didn’t exercise as well as the people who do, out of ten, seven seemed to be happy with the idea of exercising at home as long as they knew what they were doing and they enjoyed it. It was good to speak to elderly people and understand what fitness is to them and why they do or don’t do it. It was good to hear many would do exercise at home too
Final Project
62
63
Physio
Physio Newcastle Sports Injury Clinic - Aine
Aine works at Newcastle Sports Injury Clinic and is a Physio, it was important for me to speak to her to get an idea of what kind of exercises an elderly person should be doing, along with helping me realise what kind of equipment that they might need. Aine gave me a lot of information on different exercises I should look at using along with what kind of equipment would work well. She also suggested speaking to the RVI who run elderly fitness classes however I have not been able to contact them.
Seated exercises would be good to look at for strength, e.g. Resistance bands around the legs and opening and closing the legs. However if you want to improve balance the person must really be stood up, look at step boxes and stair walking, these are both very useful It was good to learn about some exercises as well as what equipment would be good, this is something I could start designing around.
Final Project
64 Physio
65
Initial Ideas
Initial Idea Home Workout Kit
I had an idea for a home workout kit that would contain all of the equipment you would need along with circuits to follow. It needs to be easy to store away and light weight - this may be hard due to the fact it will have weights in it. The idea of it being a home workout kit I liked, however I was struggling to see how it would fit into the home and how older people would be able to move it about? This is something I needed to look into.
Aine liked the idea and gave me some good tips on exercises, Balls have been included so people can catch and balance as doing two things at once makes it harder, she also said a mat that is interactive would work well. Good to get the ideas out of my head and on to paper, it also meant that I had some design work to show to Ian, he was worried about how far behind I was. It also meant I had something for the upcoming interim.
A birds eye view showing all the pieces of equipment that are included, there is 2 balls, 2 resistance bands, a grab rail, 2 dumbbells, a roll mat. a balance stick and four ankle weights. The box is a step box as stepping up and down is a key movement when improving strength and balance
Final Project
Initial Sketching - This was useful to get some of my ideas down, these were just quick sketches not to be precious about to get ideas to paper as fast as I could.
67
Staying Steady
Staying Steady Lucy Flannagan
I got given a leaflet for Staying Steady from Age UK who told me they are the best exercise group in the North East when focussing on elderly people. I rang Lucy Flannagan from the leaflet to see if I could attend some classes and speak to the instructor as well as participants. Lucy told me to look at the OTAGO Later life training programme which is used by their instructors in their classes. This was useful to look at as I can see the type of exercises that are being used. Make cards with the exercises and speak to a personal trainer about looking to make circuits, also think about what is needed to perform each exercise.
It was really useful to find out about the OTAGO training plan, however it has been frustrating to have appointments constantly cancelled.
Staying Steady
18th FebruarY
25TH FebruarY
15TH MARCH
I have arranged three appointments to attend staying steady’s classes, two have been cancelled by them and I have one set up for March 15th.
Final Project
68
69
OTAGO
OTAGO Will Harr - Personal Trainer
I needed to look through the exercises and understand which were important for strength and which for balance, they came mixed together so I thought making cards and asking a personal trainer would be the best idea
I made cards with each exercise on and asked Will to put them into either categories for Strength, Balance or Strength and Balance. I needed to do this in order to understand which exercises do what and then I can look at circuits. With Wills help I can look at circuits that can be used in the house that can be carried out day to day.
Getting a personal trainer who knows more about exercise was useful to make sure that what I was looking at was correct and he said the exercises were good and he would be happy to make a selection of circuits with me.
Final Project
70 OTAGO
71
OTAGO
OTAGO Broken into sections
Now each section has been broken up, I can choose exercises from each section. Will said that it is important to do all the Warm ups, then choose two from Strength, Two from Balance and one from Strength and Balance. 10 reps of each exercise and do it 4 times a week which means 200 reps a week. I must make sure that all exercises are used throughout the week.
I need to look into the exercises and see what types of equipment is needed in order to perform then and then look at how the equipment could possibly be used for others too. How will I be able to motivate people to do the exercise? and how will I be able to monitor it? Need to look at ways to do this. I am happy with how I can arrange the exercises and know they can work, now it is important to think of ways to make people want to do it and ways to monitor it
OTAGO
All exercises X4 per week
1 exercises X4 per week
Warm Ups:
Strength & Balance:
Head Movements Neck Movements Back Extension Trunk Movements Ankle Movements
Heel Toe Backwards Toe Walking Knee Bends Side Hip Exercise
2 exercises X4 per week
2 exercises X4 per week
Strength:
Balance:
Front Knee Exercise Back Knee Exercise Stair Walking Sit to Stand Calf Raises Toe Raises
Sideways Walking Heel to Toe Walking One Leg Stand Backwards Walking Heel Walking Walking in an 8
Final Project
72
73
Discussing The Idea
Discussing The Idea Joan and Richard
Joan & Richard are 82, they live together and don’t do any exercise. Joan recently hurt her leg making it harder for her to walk.
The idea of a home workout kit is something I thought would work quite well, to see how well the idea is accepted I needed to speak to elderly people who don’t do exercise to get their opinion on the idea. I visited Joan and Richard and talked about the idea and showed them a number of the exercises from the circuits I have made, I also explained how it would come as a kit that would contain all the equipment they need. They liked the idea however they had two concerns, how much space is needed to perform the exercises and where can they store the product? These were both things I didn’t really consider. Elderly people’s houses tend to be more cluttered making space a problem. Storage is also a problem as I don’t know how heavy the product would be, so lugging it about may be hard work. Getting the insights I got was very useful as it made me re-consider my whole idea, it was not something I wanted to hear but it was something that definitely needed looking into.
Final Project
It was very useful to speak to Joan and Richard, they spotted two problems with the design that I hadn’t realised, helping to inform me more on what the users need.
75
GO!AP
GO!AP Idea Branding
GO!ayPee
I came up with the name GO!AP, combining the words GO and OAP. The idea was that the project is focussed towards fitness for OAP’s and it is inspiring them go GO and be active. I thought the name was quite fun and clever so put together some logo ideas on illustrator to prepare for my Interim. I liked some of the logo’s however once I had spoken to Ian I saw that the name was not appropriate.
Ian didn’t like the name as it suggests the only people who can use it are OAP’s and I may end up focussing it on some younger people too. With a name like that too people may not want to use it if they don’t regard themself as an OAP.
This name was not suitable for the project, even though feedback said it was fun and clever.
GO!AP
ap GOoaP
GO!aP
GO GO!ayPee OAP
aypee
GO!ay-Pee
GO!ayPee
This is the logo that I liked the most, It breaks the words GO and OAP up well and also is written how you pronounce it, the weight indicates it is exercise based.
Final Project
76
77
Story Boarding
Story Boarding Design Ideas
The story board was to help communicate my idea to the tutors. I created a persona who I called Joan and explained how falling was a problem for her and how it could be avoided. I thought this would be useful as it was a visual way of communicating my ideas through a character which is much more interesting than just reading text. I was happy with how it looked and how it explained the outline of my idea.
David Parkinson did not like this persona, the age bracket I had was for 65+ and he thought this was not appropriate communication of someone that age - this was quite frustrating but I understood where he was coming from and it was constructive criticism
I believed it was a useful exercise to do however the graphics are not right for the age group I am targeting so they must be changed.
Story Boarding
Joan is 70, she isn’t very active and spends most of her time sat down.
Doing simple exercises in a circuit can improve strength and balance as well as contributing to a more healthy lifestyle
Being inactive reduces strength in Joan’s legs and also means her balance is not what it used to be.
Due to this Joan is more vulnerable to falls due to lower body weakness and a lack of balance
Final Project
78
79
Sports Science
Sports Science Nick Caplan & Dr Gill Barry
I emailed Nick Caplan at Sports science after a course mate told me he had done some work with him that was similar to mine, he they referred me to Dr Gill Barry who works with elderly fitness. Dr Gill knew a lot about elderly fitness, she explained to me what effects balance and why, this was very helpful for my project. I told her about my home workout kit and she was not keen on the idea due to all the moving and chance of falling, she told me to look at exergaming which is exercising while playing an interactive game, this is something that really interested me. She put me in contact with PHD student Arash to talk further about exergaming. Speak to Arash and also look further into exergaming, do some tests and see what possibilitys there are. Dr Gill was very helpful and has come up with a new idea for me in the form of exergaming, she also put me in contact with Arash which I am sure will be helpful.
Sports Science
“Good balance exercises are all about changing the base of support, e.g. Standing on one leg�
proprioception
Visual System
Vestibular system
Balance Exergaming works all of these senses therefore if one is weaker than the other the console can be modified to help this.
USer
Hearing is poor
Game
Volume can be altered or other senses focussed on more to help
Final Project
80
81
Reflection
Reflection Journey so far... I have now focussed one 2 ideas, either a home workout kit or the possibility or using exergaming, both to improve strength and balance for the elderly. My ideas have changed dramatically after speaking to Dr Gill Berry, her suggestion of exergaming is something that I am very interested in looking at, it is something I haven’t don’t before so may be harder, but it seems to have a lot of scope. GP David Geddes thought something in the home would be good and that would fit in with exergaming, Joan and Richard also were worried about the space it would take for a workout kit and where it would be stored. I was quite disappointed to see GO!AP and my story boarding get dismissed so quickly but I now need to look at further branding and character creation as well as exploring further into exergaming. Exergaming is something I am excited about looking at.
A lot more first hand research has been done which has been very beneficial to my project, a big step up from exploration. Look more into exergaming to see how much potential that there is with it, I need to speak to Arash as soon as possible.
82
Reflection
Home Workout Kit
Elderly Falls Exercise Packaging Design
Bathroom Safety
Fall Prevention
Fall Sensors
Exergaming
Smart Technology
83
Exergaming
Exergaming PHD Student Arash Tahmosybayat
Arash is a PHD student who is working on exergaming. I emailed him and met up with him to speak about my project. Arash had a vast knowledge on exergaming so I needed to speak to him to gain a greater understanding and see if the idea had potential Arash knew a lot about gaming and exergaming in particular, he told me to look into the use of a Wii or an Xbox Kinect. These 2 products are the current market leaders and are the things that he works with.
The Kinect is better than the Wii as the Wii uses a balance boards which is a trip hazard. Do some testing on both but the Kinect is definitely best to use. The camera on the Kinect also means that exercise can be monitored! This was useful as it helped me get an understanding of what older people like and how they interact with technology
Key Insights Why is exergaming better than normal exercise? “For a start it is a game, so it is more fun and captivating. It is cheaper, most people think it is more expensive due to the console and software, but they don’t think cost for gym memberships or having physio or a Personal Trainer come to visit you, it is a lot cheaper. For rehabilitation it is more fun, who wants to read a sheet of exercises when you can play a game instead? I would have no motivation to follow a sheet of exercises, but in a game you can get high scores and unlock achievements, this will motivate you to play more, so in terms of rehabilitation it is perfect, the more you put in the more you get out.”
Final Project
Exergaming
85
Interim
Interim Ian Hewitt & Anthony Forsyth
For the interim I presented facts and figures about falls along with the idea of a home workout kit. I put forward the idea of a kit that would be used in the home and also the idea of exergaming, I needed feedback on both ideas. Going into the interim I knew I wanted to do exergaming but felt as though I needed to show the other idea too and explain what I had heard from people like Joan and Richard and David Geddes to explain why I had decided to possibly focus more on exergaming.
Anthony and Ian both liked the idea and liked the idea of exergaming, but wanted me to focus completely on one idea which I was still a bit uncertain about. They liked the idea of technology being involved with the product. Both tutors were concerned about how far behind I was due to my poor exploration work. - I was glad that they liked the idea but knew I still needed to do a lot of work
Make the decision on exergaming and write a new brief, I also need to do some testing and see how older people feel about using this type of technology.
Fall Prevention
Fall
Fear of Falling Again
Less Activity
Decreased Muscle Strength & Balance
Increased Risk of Falling
Final Project
The Fall Cycle
Focussing on people over the age of 65
87
New Brief
New brief Exergaming Brief
I needed to create a new brief so I had something to work too, I needed to specify what I wanted my project to do and what its purpose is. I have outlines a few points however a brief is a living document so I am sure it will change further but so far there is a lot of what I want the outcomes to be, designing the solution to the problems is what I need to do now.
Ian was keen for me to write a new brief so I fully understood and he fully understood what I was doing the project for and what I wanted to get out of it, where it was going and why. Need to begin looking deeper into exergaming, constantly update the brief and begin the design process through using well informed key insights from the users and professionals.
In the home in particular as some people don’t have the confidence to go to classes, some people don’t see the need, some people can’t get to classes, so I have chosen for this to be used in the home. May change the idea slightly and introduce a campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of doing strength and balance exercises. For example, my mum is 57 and doesn’t see the need to do the exercises, however if she began doing them now it would help her in the future. That is why the outcome will be designed for people who need to and people who don’t need to just yet If it isn’t fun and doesn’t make people want to do it it is pointless, just like the sheets given to you by the doctor, I want people to want to use this!
Monitoring the exercises is key to ensure people are doing them and doing them correctly, tailoring the programme is also important as different people have different needs.
Final Project
Due to the target age range it must be easy to set up, anything difficult will not be used.
89
Tutor Meeting
Tutor Meeting David Parkinson
“
The only sense’s not used in UX are smell and taste
”
As I was possibly looking more at a Service design now rather than a Product I needed to speak to David Parkinson as he works more on service design so any ideas on what he thinks I should do would be useful. David thought both the idea of a product or service could be viable. I didn’t think the idea of a product would work very well after some earlier feedback that I had had in regards to moving the product about and the space needed. He seemed to want me to look more at a community based version of the product but the idea I have is for people who don’t feel comfortable enough to join community classes or don’t feel the need to yet so I thought it was going off on a tangent I didn’t want to look at.
Whatever I do must not be patronising, the story board I did was patronising and may put people off. I also need to make sure I hit all three senses of touch, sound and vision if I am looking at UX. The idea of the design being able to be changed to be more tailored to a certain person is also something I liked.
Final Project
91
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii Testing the Wii Fitness
Liz is 83, she lives by herself with two dogs. She is very fit for her age and exercises by walking her dogs and going to town.
I needed to get an idea of how older people interact with technology. I took a Wii to my grandmas house and tried to get her to use it without any help. I set the Wii up for her, explained what she needed to do and let her play along with the game - I thought it would be better for me to set it up for her rather than asking her too otherwise it may over complicate it, using something like a Wii is a hard task if you have never used one before.
This was useful as it helped me get an understanding of what older people like and how they interact with technology as well as getting their views.
Feedback Liz’s thoughts on the Wii
Was it easy to use the Wii? “I found it hard to start with as I have never used anything like it before, however once I got into it and started to understand it more.”
Would you use something like the Wii if it benefited your health? “If it is good for me then yes I would, I enjoyed using it, but I think walking my dogs is better for my health?”
Final Project
Do you think you could have used it by yourself? “Without you with me I would have no idea what to do, I would need Instructions to work it out”
93
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii Testing the Wii Balance Board
Terry is 79, he lives at home with his wife. He is a member of a gym and likes going on walks so he exercises regularly.
I wanted to test the Wii Balance boards as this is something that comes with links to my project well as I am looking into balance. I took a Wii to my girlfriends grandparents house and got her grandad to try it out Once again I set the Wii and explained what he needed to do and let her play along with the game - from what I could see he enjoyed playing the game which was good to see.
The Wii balance board is something that is a trip hazard and something that you can fall off, is there something else that could be used that isn’t as much of a tripping hazard? This was useful as it helped me get an understanding of what older people like and how they interact with technology
Feedback Terry’s thoughts on the Wii Balance Board
Was it easy to use the Wii? “I thought at first i’m not going to be able to do it, however after a few goes I got used to it and I enjoyed playing it.”
Would you use something like the Wii if it benefited your health? “Yes I would, I would still go to the gym but I did enjoy playing it. Maybe they should have them at the gym?”
Final Project
Do you think something like this could work at your gym classes? “It would be interesting to see it at the gym. It would break the classes into sections, so you exercise then play the game, then exercise again. It’s all exercise at the end of the day”
95
Ideation
Light up in a pattern that you must remember and follow
Ideation Floor Mat
After listening to insights I had I got the idea of a floor mat designed to help with balance. Lights would light up and either be stepped on straight away or would light up in an order, the person must then remember the order and step on them in the order, this way it is like a game. It is also getting someone to move about and change their base of support, difficulties could be changed too!
“I liked the Wii but I was a bit concerned that I was going to trip of fall off the board” Terry
“The Kinect is better as the Wii balance board is also a trip hazard” Arash
“The best balance exercises work on changing the base of support” Dr Gill Berry
Ideation
The first basic idea looks like a dance mat and would require the user to move their base of support. It could include music, different levels of difficulty, high scores and light patterns to follow.
Final Project
96
97
Computer Science
Computer Science Sam Bird - Student
Sam Bird studies computer science and is currently working on a project with the Kinect. He is using the coding language C# which is the language that I would need to use in order to create a game that is compatible with a Kinect.
The game he is currently developing is a Simon says game in which Skeletal tracking is used using the Kinect, the user needs to follow the movements. This is the type of tracking that I would need to learn and use in order to create a game so following Sam through his project will be very beneficial to my project
The first meeting was really useful and helped me understand what kind of skills I would need in order to create a game. The coding language is C# which I would not be able to learn in the period of time I have however Sam said he would happy to help out and let me see the work he is doing using the Kinect.
Focus & Direction
Skeletal Tracking uses points on the body which the Kinect follows, this means that exercises can easily be monitored and games can be developed around the skeleton.
Final Project
04
99
Service Design Idea
Service Design Idea Basic Plan
The idea outline is a software package that you are prescribed by a doctor or physio that you have tailor made and follow and play.
A basic start to the type of service design I would be looking into. It consists of a Doctor a Physio and a Patient, it may not always need the doctor if the patient goes straight to the physio. I needed to start to get an idea of how a Service plan works even if it was a very basic one, it was good to see how points cross over however I need to speak to David about this more as it is what he specialises in. It is something I find quite difficult but I will have to get my head around.
Ian told me it was important to begin to look at service plans to plan out how the game or service would work if I chose to go down this route. Begin to look further into service design and try and nail down the service paths, speak to David and try to come up with something that is more detailed.
Service Design Idea
Final Project
100
101
TEDx
TEDx Game Rehabilitation Talks
I wanted to see if there was anything that I can relate to my project rather than Wii and Kinect games. Arash told me about a Ted talks with Justin Tan who owns a company called JinTronix who focus on more rehabilitation so I thought I should look at this to see what kind of things he is doing. This led me to look at a Ted talks by Prof Janet Eyre and Cosmin Mihaiu who both also believe game rehabilitation is beneficial to exercise, this was backed up with facts and figures which is good to back my work up. Seeing companys doing things similar to what I was looking at doing was both good and bad. It was good to see things like the idea I have working and having stats to prove it, however it was bad too as now what I have been doing seems to be quite similar to things already out when I believed it was something new.
It was good to see rehabilitation through gaming is doing but annoying at the same time to see things similar to my idea. I have emailed Janet to try and meet up and have a talk as she is based in Newcastle however have yet to receive a reply from her.
Justin Tan Using video games for better medical rehabilitation
Prof Janet Eyre
Cosmin Mihaiu Physical therapy is boring Play a game instead
Final Project
Brains, Gaming Technology & Rehabilitation
103
Ruce Gaming
Ruce Gaming Bruce Slater - Game Designer
Ruce is a Game Design company in Teeside, I wanted to find out how hard it is to make a game for Kinect along with the costs. After speaking to Bruce it was clear to me that I would not be able to make a game, he estimated the cost of a full working game to be around £20,000 to £50,000 - I thought this was a bit steep but then again I don’t understand the full process that is needed.
Bruce was really helpful and pretty much re-told me what Sam had told me about C# and how I should be looking at skeletal tracking. After speaking to him though it made me worried about what my final outcome could be, it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to make a game so now I need to really think about what to do!
Really need to speak to Ian about what kind of material I should be making for my project as it is looking more like a UX or service design now than Product!
Ruce Gaming
Final Project
104
105
Tutor Meeting
Tutor Meeting Ian Hewitt
Ian told me that I am at a T-Junction with my projects, I can either go one way and do a product which I would be more comfortable with or go down service design and UX design which my research is taking me towards but I will be well out of my comfort zone. As I have designed products nearly the whole time I have been at uni it did seem to be the safe and comfortable option to go with, however, when all your research is pointing you in a direction it would be stupid not to follow it. As I mentioned earlier Mark Bailey said “You must have a well informed design solution�, if I was to choose to design a product I am going against what I have been informed. I have no choice but to go out of my comfort zone and look at Service design or UX. This is something I am very uncomfortable with but need to get comfortable with ASAP.
Need to speak to David Parkinson and see what kind of material to produce for the interim, it is very important I speak to him before the interim.
Tutor Meeting
Very Comfortable
Designing A Product
This was useful to get the push towards a decision as I was putting off the decision.
Very Out Of My Comfort Zone
Designing a Service or UX
Final Project
106
107
Reflection
Reflection Journey so far... After speaking to Ian I have decided to go down the exergaming route, this is very out of my comfort zone however I need to follow my research. Looking over my journey so far it is interesting to see how I have gone from the start of the project and thinking I was doing packaging to now looking at exergaming and the possibility of creating a service which is something I haven’t done before. I am a bit nervous about venturing into the unknown with the project but with the work I have done so far I believe that I am on track to create a well informed design solution. I feel like this is where I should have been at the end of exploration and I am sure Ian would agree with me.
Design wise I need to start looking more into game design and look at what the possibilities are. A lot of design work and iteration needs to be done, along with making sure to stay in constant contact with David Parkinson. A lot more design and research into game design and character creation, I also need to create some more detailed service plans of how the product would work and who would interact with it
108
Reflection
Home Workout Kit
Elderly Falls Exercise Packaging Design
Bathroom Safety
Fall Prevention
Fall Sensors
Exergaming
Smart Technology
109
Service Design Idea
Service Design Idea
Another basic but extended service plan for the Physio, Doctor and User. Still need to get my head around these!
In More Detail
Physio
User Visits
Strength Assesment
Balance Assesment
Plan created using software
Doctor
User Visits
Strength Assesment
Balance Assesment
Info given to a Physio
Physio sends plan
Games given to user
User
Visits the Doctors
Strength Assesment
Balance Assesment
Given Games to Play
Goes Home
Plays Games
Package Created
Games given to user
Service Design Idea
My Idea is to create at home rehabilitation using exergaming on a Kinect linked up to a laptop. A selection of games would be made based on the exercises I have learnt from OTAGO, these will be loaded onto a database where the user can download them. When a user visits the doctors or physio they will be assessed, this assessment will lead to a games package being designed specifically for that person. The user will use the games as many times a week as required and the work they do will be monitored ans sent Game Game data Feedback back through the database to the physio who Updated monitored Given accordingly can check if exercises are being done correctly and how often they are being done. Game data monitored
Data given to Physio
Physio updates accordingly
Strength Improves
Balance Improves
Improves at Games
I am finding it hard to do this service plans, I need to have a sit down with David and go through them!
Likelyhood of a Fall Decreases
Improved Quality of Living
Get better at service maps!
Final Project
110
111
Computer Science
Computer Science Sam Bird - Student
Sam had developed his skeletal tracking programme further so I wanted to go and see what it was like to get an idea of what a game would be like if I was to try produce one which seemed slim due to my lack of coding knowledge.
It was really interesting to try it out and see how it works, it is very very good at tracking, if I was to go further with this I would definitely look at using this type of software. It can pick you up when your stood up and sat down which would make it perfect for what I would be using it for.
Start to think about type of game styles to be making that fit in with the OTAGO training plan, need to make characters as well as speak with David Parkinson.
114
Service Design Idea
I had a go at interacting with the Kinect, the tracking is very good and in a game this skeleton in the green would be replaced by a created character
Final Project
It even picked me up taking the photo behind Sam!