Cardboard Prototype

I finished my cardboard prototype, and found out that cutting cardboard is a whole lot harder to cut than wood! I tried a tapered shape with the cardboard, and I really like how it came out, minus the rather shaky cuts. I think the tapered box will reflect the shape of the wands much better than the plain rectangle would have. Now on to gluing more wood! (I can't wait to see this walnut when it's all done, it'll be beautiful!)

Prototype Box

I decided to make a prototype box just so I could work out any kinks in construction, and also to see how I liked the shape, or how I should change it. For my first box, I think it came out pretty good. I definitely learned a lot from making this box, and found out that the ideal order to cut the pieces was not what I had originally thought.

For my next (and final) box, I'm gonna change up the shape to make the box a bit more interesting, and also reflect the object better. I'm also going to get a bit more wood to use so I've got a little bit more leeway for mistakes on my final box.

Testing out the bandsaw

I was actually surprised by how easy the bandsaw was to use. I thought that curves were just a tad harder to cut as you had to constantly keep moving, and that made keeping the shape you wanted a bit difficult. Cutting straight was no problem at all with the guide. I was really scared to make the small cuts, but quickly found even that was pretty easy with the right techniques and pieces of scrap wood to keep your fingers safe :)

Testing

In order to test our solutions we decided to first have people we knew look at our solutions . After they drove through the garage and made their way to the destination we interviewed them on their thoughts. 

After testing people we knew we decided to ask others entering and exiting the garage what they thought about the signage as well. We wanted to interview both people who knew what the project was and those who didn’t, so that we could get a full overview of impressions both from people being told to look and analyze the signage and those just passing through. 

For the most part we heard very similar things from users after the first test. The most common issue we found users had with the original solutions testing was visibility. Both those who were on the look out for the signs and those who were not had problems seeing certain markings. The biggest visibility problems were with the markings in the road and on the staircase, as people noted they were hard to see or just overall unnoticeable.

People Also noted it would be very helpful to add signs that indicated lanes to help find parking. Most mentioned how the signs already in the garage directing between floors were okay, but that there was no noting to differentiate one lane of parking from the other and that got confusing. 

Almost everyone we talked to noted that they really liked the markings around the elevators in the circulation tower, and that while they were very simple markings they helped one orient themselves between floors along with the help of the directory on the wall.

Re Testing

Upon making the lines on the floor thicker and re-testing we found that users founf the new lines much easier to see and no longer had any problem noticing and understanding the lines that sperated the lanes throughout the parking garage. 

We went ahead and tested the transition lines on the floor of the garage again also. Most people did not note that the color change had any influence on them unless they directly new about the color system that the garage directory used.

Lastly we improved on the markings in the circulation tower, making the markings on the stairs more pronounced, and connecting the lines all the way around so they’d be more visible. Users noted that these lines were very easy to see and definitely helped orient between floors as the colors corresponded with colors around elevators.

Design Moves Summary

Design Moves by Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl presents an interesting way to approach design broken into very specific steps of proceeding. She starts out explaining how her method is focused on best designing for the user by incorporating a lot of user interaction and testing, rather than trying to find solutions based on science or studies without actually acting and testing the group one is designing for. She discusses "design's hidden moves" explains that design is envisioning for the future by doing some specific things all of which are tailored to utilizing the user to bring new and useful ideas to life in the best way possible for the user. As she begins talking about the second move she takes the user interactivity even further talking how design doesn't need science, but instead needs to learn from real life users by testing things out in real situations. In the third and final move she discusses four types of prototyping which are conceptual, behavioral, procedural, and appearance. She explains and uses very examples to illustrate what each type of prototype is meant to do and how this can be best utilized to efficiently problem solve for the best way to design a product. Overall, she presents a very through way to go about designing that focuses on the user and creating the best product through the use of real situation testing.

Tim Brown TED Talk

In Tim Brown’s TED Talk the first thing that really caught my attention was when he began talking about how design was once a huge thing that has recently become much smaller.  He brought up a bunch of pictures showing objects that sort of reflected what is considered design today to illustrate just how small things have gotten, and when I saw these images I completely understood and agreed with what he was saying. He went on to discuss ways in which design is growing gain and how design and design thinking can best be approached to facilitate some of the regrowth designers are facing. 

I really enjoyed the way Tim Brown talked about design thinking because I personally think that design thinking can be such an effective tool and is greatly under used. Tim talks about how design thinking doesn’t look at just what’s at the surface but delves much deeper into design, and this is what I think is so great about design thinking. Design thinking shows designers so much than they would normally see by just glancing at a problem and getting started. 

Brown also talks about prototyping for a bit, and this was my favorite part of the entire talk. He talks about how prototyping can speed up the design process and the ways it is effective, and the reason I liked this part so much was because of how I connected with it. In my own projects I have found that prototyping is essential, and really the only way to see if something is really going to work. I’m also the kind of person who likes to do in order to solve problems rather than just sit around thinking about possible solutions. I like to test and retest to find the best solution and prototyping right from the beginning allows for this. 

Tim Brown’s approach to design is a very encompassing one in my opinion as his broad way of thinking and ideas allows for the incorporation and oversight of not just one part of design, but the overall.