Feeoonah

quick fridge probe

feeoonah — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:35:14 +0000

This might sounds rather peculiar but recently I have asked my friends around me if they could send me pictures from inside their fridges! Why? well for my ‘milk bottle’ idea I want to have an insight into other people’s fridges to judge what shapes were found where in the fridge and where the lights are positioned.

sketching, prototyping, thinking

feeoonah — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:23:14 +0000

First Week back

My first week back at uni after the Christmas holidays and I feel changes are being made. Before this week I just couldn’t make my mind up about what idea to go with, but after conversations and sketching I want to go forward with the milk idea. Other ideas just didn’t stand out for me. I am just a bit worried about the technology side for this idea and also how to be original in aesthetics, over the last week I have continued to sketch and made a few prototypes, even though most are the classic shapes of milk bottles/ jars this doesn’t worry me at the minute because each model made me think about my idea in more depth. I have been thinking about where the product my be placed, ideally beside the light if I am to use a LDR but I have to think about accessibility for the user- would beside the fridge light be too tall for the user to reach? I have also been thinking about the interactions between the two communication devices and how user a and user b might interpret the device or bottle or whatever it ends up looking like! For the users family which i referred to as middle agers I don’t think the device needs to be restricted to the fridge, I need to be clear that this product isn’t replacing a care call package (which is costly) and it is a device that the family or friend of the elderly male/female would have in their home if they wanted a quite reassurance that he/she was mobile I do however want the device to beep or somehow signal if the device was unable to work until say midday, but due to this being in addition to a care call package the family/friends would already be notified if there was a problem.

I have also been sketching a lot but i am still not really convinced by my attempts so far, I want a lot to happen within the device electronics wise and that will subsequently alter and challenge the aesthetics and form of my product. I need to think about my electronics ability and be realistic about the functions of the product. At this stage, I would quite like to have the device light in different colours depending on the usage that day, I like for the user to be able to move the device to trigger responses form the other device using a form of tilt switch, and I’d like to use a LDR as explained previously to sit beside the light source in the fridge.

Click to view slideshow.

Understanding my users- work shadowing

feeoonah — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:02:58 +0000

Last semester I was a little worried because I didn’t set up a focus group, I think it is achievable this month providing I work hard with the electronics and have a clear idea about the ins and out of my idea. I did feel that I was lacking some user input, I had great responses from ‘the middle agers’ some nice interactions between family members for instance notes to one another, coming round for meals on a particularly day and sms texting. This holidays I have arranged to try to understand from the professionals point of view what is needed for people leading independent lives and how they go about understanding what they need. To understand I spent the morning last Thursday shadowing an occupational therapist at the Cumberland hospital, I have signed the privacy forms and can’t say too much about my experience but it did give me another perspective on how to design for people who are needing extra help, obviously because it was a hospital the patients have been ill and may not cope as well as they previously did. I was able to witness what types of assessment patients were given to judge how independently they will live outside of hospital.

It made me think about my project and how it might be suitable for those just out of hospital, those people who were needing maybe that little bit of reassurance as well as the other care call style devices that can be fitted throughout the home. I would like my product to be more like a personal style care product.

sticking with the fridge idea

feeoonah — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:34:30 +0000

Here are some notes I have made from my sketch pad relating to the milk bottle idea;

- easy access into fridge to gain reassurance at both ends

- colours indicate usage for the day, red being little

- By 12 noon if no light has been detected on the device the bottle will beep

- Bottle sites beside fridge light to work with the light sensor on the device

- Possible silicone material

- Message recording available on device for family to keep in touch

week before uni

feeoonah — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:48:41 +0000

I am quite dissapointed that I haven’t made a start on electronics, I hope there will be some help at uni when we are back next week (16th) because I am so not confident in my ability. My overall moral about my project just now is quite low, I think I should have taken advantage of the tutors time when he was in the studio but in late nov/ early dec I had my dissertation head on and felt guilty about not doing alot with my product project. This can’t be helped now so I better move on!

This week I have been focusing on how to take my ‘milk bottle’ idea forward but I’ve also been thinking of other ideas.

One was a silly idea but an idea none the less, a plant pot placed on a kitchen window ledge that pours water into the plant pot when someone is nearby triggers to a plantpot at a family members (yes silly)

Another idea was to think about how a pill box might help familys to make sure their relative is living safe idependently, the pill box would buzz or contact families if a pill hadn’t been taken

update

feeoonah — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:31:44 +0000

I am still unsure what idea I want to take forward, in my past few posts I have been looking at designing for people with dementia, but I don’t want to limit my self designing for a niche area. Over the holidays I have spoken to nurses, carers, and occupational therapists. I have discussed when them what I intend my project to be like. The underlying big word that keeps coming up is ‘safety’ safety is seen as paramount and understandably when caring for the elderly. The other areas discussed are making sure people who live independently can live an easy life, and that may mean extra help is required. From last semesters discussion with a district nurse she explained that she often checks her patients fridge to make sure they are not only eating, but are eating well as this can dramatically affect their overall health.

Speaking to a nurse who works at a care home this month about my idea from ideas day the ‘milk bottle idea’ she liked the concept behind the idea but wondered how the family knew they were eating and how would the device distinguished between the primary user and other people using his/her fridge. These are very good points and I have to agree, when I initially thought about the idea it was more of a subtle device to make sure the user was active around the house, and a device like this wouldn’t feel so intrusive to their home. Now I am thinking more in-depth about the idea;

will it work at fridge temperature?
How will I distinguish between people?
does this matter?
how do I make sure they are eating what’s in their fridge?
Would there be some kind of weighing scales to act as the shelf to work out a weight difference of food before to after?
What do the families/friends want their device to do? light at specific times of weight change?
How might the device be powered?
Would the device be the same in both areas?

independence video from Alzheimer’s Society UK

feeoonah — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:13:12 +0000

“There are more than 750,000 people in the UK affected by dementia with numbers set to rise to 1 million by 2021. More than half of these have Alzheimer’s disease” -Alzheimer’s Society UK

Some more links

feeoonah — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:06:20 +0000

links

feeoonah — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:03:37 +0000

I’d like my product to sit in this list

http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=109

paper prototyping

feeoonah — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:10:12 +0000