#project3process

[designumn2015]

Project 3 Process: Post #4

Once we came up with the basic ideas, each member of our 5 person group was assigned a specific area to talk about in the powerpoint presentation. We included information about the problem of shoes causing discomfort, our project’s goal, inspiration for the idea, our primary target audience, how we planned on connecting with the audience, research on other shoe comfort products, our experimenting with different materials, and what we asked people about to gain insight from others. The written submittal included similar elements that we broke off into different sections and had one person or two people do each part. I think it went pretty well overall, and we worked together in a good way!

[designumn2015]

Project 3 Process: Post #3

After figuring out a good material for our blister protecting comfort product, we needed to figure out how it was going to be sold, and how we were going to market it. Our primary audience was decided to be business women who spend a lot of time in heels and other uncomfortable professional footwear, and athletes, such as runners, who can be hindered in performance quality when their shoes cause discomfort. Of course, this product can really be for anyone, since everybody wears shoes, but we thought the largest group represented would be business women and athletes. We also decided to come up with the idea for a website that allows consumers to customize the product to meet their needs according to size, shoe use, etc. Another online tool we wanted to take advantage of was social media. We wanted to have a twitter and instagram in order to share information, spread awareness of our product, and receive feedback from users of the product. 

[designumn2015]

Project 3 Process: Post #2

After coming up with our concept, but looked into different design ideas and ways to make our product come to life. We needed to check out different materials, and we thought of a few that may be soft enough and moldable enough for our blister pad. Yoga mat material, foam, and gel material were all options. We then tested these out for durability, comfort, and how well they held their shape. We found that gel held up the best as it was durable, comfortable, and retained it shape rather than flattening like the other materials. 

[designumn2015]

Project 3 Process: Post #1

We started out our project by brainstorming problems that are common in our everyday lives. As a group of girls, we realized that we all hate when cute shoes give us blisters or cause discomfort. Our project idea is to create a sort of moldable, removable pad to prevent blisters that seem to come with every pair of new shoes and ease discomfort. We want the product to be usable for a variety of different people, including business professionals, athletes, and more. We decided to start off by setting our mission statement or goal: “Our group’s goal is to create a solution to the problem of blisters, pain, and discomfort when wearing cute shoes. We want to eliminate the notion that “pain is beauty.”

[designumn2015]

Project 3 Process Post 3

Even with a great system to reduce food waste, food will still end up going bad. There are some interesting things the food could be used for still. There are two options that are viable, composting and anaerobic digestion. Composting is used as a way of recycling and to keep food out of the landfill. This also helps the soil because of the nutrients from the food. The other option anaerobic digestion uses microbes to break the food down into biogas. This gas can be used as a renewable energy source. There is also a solid residual that can be composted. So there are options for food waste even after it cannot be consumed.

http://www.epa.gov/foodrecovery/fd-service.htm

[designumn2015]

Project 3 Process Post 2

 From Business Insider, they state there is many reasons why grocery stores throw away food. The link is given below.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-grocery-stores-throw-out-so-much-food-2014-10

The biggest fact that stuck out to me was that 133 billion pounds of food is thrown out yearly. The leading reasons are overstocking, slightly damaged food, and passing sell-by dates. There was actually a company called Stop and Shop, which stopped overstocking displays and the customer experience was better as were sales.

[fokingprocess-blog]

Project 3

The following project will involve the design of a unique and engaging mobile app, focusing on the planning and conceptual stage. The challenge of this project is to focus on one of the following:

An interface that can accesses a large catalogue or library of information

OR

Somehow enhance, augment or 'gamify' real-world environments, interactions or experiences.

All process work for this project is documented here