iLeanDesigns

DesignStudio. Spring 2015.

[ileandesigns]

I decided to make a website, but I wasn’t sure what type of website I should make.

While talking to my friend, I realized I could make a website for his newly formed club, the Khmer Student Association at Brown. So the website could actually be useful. Here are some screenshots, and the basic wireframe of my first iteration..

[ileandesigns]

Light project based on the triforce. Made as a gift for my boyfriend, who loves zelda. My original idea was to glue triangles straight to each other, but there was not enough surface area to have it stick very well. Therefore, I redesigned it to have a frame overlay on top of the acrylic.

[ileandesigns]

Pictured above: A screenshot of our final website, www.rattylove.com, and our initial wireframe.

Based on the interviews and information we gathered for the Ratty Human Centered Design project, we decided to work on re-designing students’ experiences with the Refectory. We decided to do this by sharing what we learned, hoping that students would be able to empathize with the workers.

I learned about how GitHub works and gained some experience with building webpages.

http://www.rattylove.com

[thinkmandithink]

Our final light project photographed! I primed the base pieces with black spray paint, sanded it when dry, and applied a coat of black enamel paint. The black paint works well in this lamp because the cities appear to be floating when the lamp is used in a dark room. After priming the base pieces, I assembled them using wood glue. When the wood glue dried, I painted black paint on the whole base. When that dried, I got to glueing the panels onto the outside boundary of the bottom shelf. These photos show the lamp in normal light and in an pitch black environment. The effect is actually rather nice; it looks as though the city is being lit from within. It truly imitates what a city looks like at night/during the day. 

Next time I would definitely make everything out of better materials, put the lamp together before painting, and glue the edges of the bottom to the second shelf more accurately. 

[thinkmandithink]

Today we printed a new base with a second shelf to increase surface area of contact between panel and base. The tolerance was a bit loose between the triangular shelf and the square base but we figured it would stick together fine with some wood glue. We had a bit of trouble getting the dimensions right for the base because it had to have a tight fit. It was also hard assembling the pieces into a base because they kept on slipping in and out. I would definitely use masking tape next time to hold the pieces together. This type of plywood came out quite charred from the laser cutting, but it was scrap wood so perhaps in another iteration we would buy better quality plywood or use MDF/acrylic. 

[ileandesigns]

[thinkmandithink]

I sprayed white primer on the base to test the look of it with the panels. 

[thinkmandithink]

For the next iteration, our group cut sturdier panels out of plywood to have it look more polished. Unfortunately, pieces of the plywood chipped off from the Eiffel tower in the Paris panel, forcing us to simplify the design to only a silhouette of the tower. We had to make an adjustment due to a faulty material, so material considerations are definitely very crucial when laser-cutting. We also had problems with the middle pieces in the letters “B”, “O”, and “R” because they would sometimes fall out if the piece connecting them to the panel didn’t cut properly. It is important to thicken that connecting piece for future panels.

We also wanted to test out a triangular arrangement for the panels versus a square base with panel-holding frames. This triangular figuration would make attaching the panels together more difficult, so we considered created a triangular base to stick them to. 

[thinkmandithink]

We lasercut panels for Tokyo, Paris, and Boston out of chipboard. This version of the lamp depicts what the final product would look like with removable panels that the user could swap out as they wished. 

[thinkmandithink]

[ileandesigns]

[arjundesigns]

We noticed that the workflow at the dirty dish return station was unsystematic, inefficient, and unintuitive, so we decided to make a timelapse video of the station to better assess the situation.

Students often paused to figure out where to put each item and moved back and forth between the disposal area and drop-off area. The disposal area is for trash and food disposal. The disposal area is separate from the drop-off area, where cleared dishes, bowls, silverware, and cups are placed. Students often crossed each other’s paths when traveling between these areas.

Students also sometimes mistakenly put their trash into the wrong bin. This is an easy mistake since the two trash bins are nearly identical, except for their signs. Perhaps the bins can be properly designed so that it is more intuitive where everything goes.

Overall, the workflow in the dish drop-off area could be improved so that it is more effective and efficient.

[arjundesigns]

We did several impromptu interviews with a couple of students as well as with Ratty employees at the omelette station and the dirty dish return station.

The students we spoke to had retreated to the edges of the Ratty in order to charge their laptops (see pictures). They agreed with our...

[arjundesigns]

We started out by taking in some observations before diving into questions or photos. While we had to try not to make assumptions, we also had to try to break down existing assumptions we may have had about the space to let the observations speak for themselves. We made all sorts of observations...

[arjundesigns]

The Rattytouille team wearing chef hats and our photo essay.

Aside from general use, the act of taking photos actually helped us make more observations. For example, in the vegetarian line, there are 3 nice canvas paintings that together say “eat good food,” that are hardly noticed because they are positioned on a wall behind a person getting food.  Also, an observation that we noticed at the end of the exercise was that the 12:00 rush is no joke – the line to get into the Ratty backed up fast – at least 50 people long by just after 12.  Surely there are many people who are dissuaded from going to the Ratty because of the wait to just get in the doors.  What happens to students who are in a rush?

In order to complement and detail the observations we made with the Fly on the Wall method, we decided to walk through the Ratty and take some photos.  Some of these photos demonstrate the observations that had been made, and others demonstrate new observations.  We took photos of the locations of outlets (and people using them), several of the stations, and general layout photos to return back to later.  Some of the things in the Ratty are so familiar to us, having the photos to refer back to later will help us really scrutinize what is happening in each photo.  The fruit bowls, the typical grilled cheese sandwiches, the table slips – these are all areas that we can dive into to do a little more research for next time if we want, or they can complement the information we already have.  Having the photos will help us down the line either way.

[ileandesigns]

Strive Ad. Iteration 1.

[ileandesigns]

For our pencil augmentation project, we were to create a 3D printed object that would augment the use of a pencil. I brainstormed several ideas including tool tips (e.g. screwdriver), pliers, a protractor, and an eraser holder. I thought the eraser holder was very practical and something that I really could use, so I explored that idea.

Here is my first and second prototype. The first prototype exhibited some challenges when it came to printing such small and hollow parts which were meant to be inserted inside of a mechanical pencil. The second iteration was used to augment a normal pencil, and was much more successful.

[ileandesigns]

FIctional Tech STRIVE Sports Trainer Iteration 2 Video

[ileandesigns]

Sci Fi Tech Design 2: Holographic sports trainer, STRIVE Iteration 1