From November 2013 till January 2014 a minor ‘Smart Life Rhythms’ was taught at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. In the minor students used service design methods to develop solutions for improving life rhythms. Reflection on the minor produced the insight that building physical prototypes early on in the design process was key to success. Further discussions with colleagues and a literature review gave more arguments for the motto ‘Just build it’ – an encouragement to build simple physical models in the early stages of the service design process. Building these simple physical models is not just advocated by educators and in line with service design principles such as being iterative and user-centered. In his book ‘the Craftsman’ (Sennett, 2009) Richard Sennett provides us with more fundamental arguments regarding the value of ‘making things’. On top of the added value to the design process in itself, simple physical models are a tool for engaging both clients, users and students in the design process. So get out your glue gun and start building!
The scope of technology has expanded towards areas such as sports and vitality, offering significant challenges for engineering designers. However, only little is known about the underlying design and engineering processes used within these fields. Therefore, this paper aims to get an indepth understanding of these type of processes. During a three-day design competition (Hackathon), three groups of engineers were challenged to develop experience-able prototypes in the field of sports and vitality. Their process was monitored based on the Reflective Transformative Design process (RTD-process) framework, describing the various activities part of the design process. Groups had to keep track of their activities, and six group reflection-sessions were held. Results show that all groups used an open and explorative approach, they frequently swapped between activities, making them able to reflect on their actions. While spending more time on envisioning and creating a clear vision seem to relate to the quality of the design concept.
Wearable technologies are being implemented in the health and medical context with increasing frequency. Such technologies offer valuable opportunities to stimulate self-management in these domains. In this context, engagement plays a crucial role. An engaged patient is a patient who is emotionally involved and committed to the therapy or care process. Particularly for children who have to follow some sort of therapy, engagement is important to ensure a successful outcome of the therapy. To design for engagement, a framework based on theories of motivation in child therapy was developed. This framework was applied to the design of a wearable breathing trainer for children with asthma and dysfunctional breathing. As such, the present paper provides knowledge about the implementation of theory on engagement and motivation in design. Expert and first user evaluations found that the resulting prototype is appealing, perceived as useful, and may engage children in breathing training and stimulate self-management. CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
MULTIFILE
