The six methodologies of design thinking are defined on a mural in the 10th grade art classroom as follows: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test, and Revise, in that order. The first step in the design process, Empathize, refers to the problem at hand that a design group is attempting to solve. The group needs to look at the problem and its effects from the perspectives of the product's potential consumers. The next step, Define, refers to the group's understanding of the problem; the group needs to narrow down the problem to one or two concrete issues that can be directly discussed. The third step, Ideate, simply refers to a phase in which all members of the group throw out ideas for products that could solve the defined problem. These ideas should not be constrained, period; an idea might be thrown out onto the table that sounds impossible or impractical, and perhaps it is, but it could give someone else an idea that could work that might not have been thought of otherwise. The final three steps, Prototyping, Testing, and Revising, come after an idea, or multiple ideas, have been decided upon that the entire group agrees could work. Prototypes are made to find out which one actually works the best, and to find out how to make the best design ergonomic and practical. These prototypes are tested and revised until one design is finalized.
We went through this process in the Backpack Redesign mini-project, albeit compressed into about a day-and-a-half. In this mini-project, we did exactly what the title implies: we designed a better backpack. As students and backpack consumers ourselves, it was easy to empathize with the demographic of potential consumers, and to come up with a list of defined problems. In this activity, the ideation phase was made easier by the lack of constraints such as cost and physics. We came up with a list of ideas, and selected the best ones from our list. The lists of problems and solutions can be found in the left-most picture at the top of this page; they appear less like actual lists and more like collages of phrases. In this mini-project, the prototyping phase was shrunk to mere drawings of our redesigned backpack from three angles; there were no testing or revising phases. These drawings are shown in the right-most picture at the top of this page. At the end of this process, our group presented our design to the class, along with the other three groups.
It was shocking how different the various designs were. Our design was fairly simple compared to many of the others. We designed the aesthetics of the backpack to change with the weather; that is, changes in air temperature and humidity would cause changes in the backpack's color and pattern. As far as bulk and weight was concerned, we built the backpack with two layers: the outside layer was a skin of this color-changing fabric. Underneath this, we had a layer of artificial muscle – that is, an aerogel that expands when a current is run through it. The idea is that the backpack is baggy and bulky when one's books and papers are dropped into it, and when the magnetic strip that serves as a zipper at the top is sealed, this aerogel on the inside expands, both shrinking the backpack as much as possible around its contents and applying upward pressure to bottom of its contents, thereby raising the backpack's center of mass and causing it to feel lighter on one's shoulders and back. We also included pockets for a laptop and phone with built-in chargers, a refrigerated lunch pouch. Ideas from other groups included a pouch that one could fit anything and everything into (similarly to the trunk of the Weasleys' car in Harry Potter), built-in refrigerators, microwaves, and computers, and autonomous backpacks that could be programmed to follow one around on wheels or a hover board. Of course, with ideas such as these, true prototyping, testing, and revision phases would have been impossible.
Considering the constraints of the mini-project (which were next to none) and the goal of the mini-project (which was to gain experience with the designing methodologies), I don't think that I would change anything about what I did during the project. There was one idea that I proposed that did not go into effect - using an electronic design for the backpack's skin similar to that of a cuttlefish to essentially give the backpack programmable aesthetics - but I think the idea of using the weather to change the backpack's aesthetics is a good one, and I think that if I was to do this project again, it would end up virtually identical to this one. Everything went well.
We went through this process in the Backpack Redesign mini-project, albeit compressed into about a day-and-a-half. In this mini-project, we did exactly what the title implies: we designed a better backpack. As students and backpack consumers ourselves, it was easy to empathize with the demographic of potential consumers, and to come up with a list of defined problems. In this activity, the ideation phase was made easier by the lack of constraints such as cost and physics. We came up with a list of ideas, and selected the best ones from our list. The lists of problems and solutions can be found in the left-most picture at the top of this page; they appear less like actual lists and more like collages of phrases. In this mini-project, the prototyping phase was shrunk to mere drawings of our redesigned backpack from three angles; there were no testing or revising phases. These drawings are shown in the right-most picture at the top of this page. At the end of this process, our group presented our design to the class, along with the other three groups.
It was shocking how different the various designs were. Our design was fairly simple compared to many of the others. We designed the aesthetics of the backpack to change with the weather; that is, changes in air temperature and humidity would cause changes in the backpack's color and pattern. As far as bulk and weight was concerned, we built the backpack with two layers: the outside layer was a skin of this color-changing fabric. Underneath this, we had a layer of artificial muscle – that is, an aerogel that expands when a current is run through it. The idea is that the backpack is baggy and bulky when one's books and papers are dropped into it, and when the magnetic strip that serves as a zipper at the top is sealed, this aerogel on the inside expands, both shrinking the backpack as much as possible around its contents and applying upward pressure to bottom of its contents, thereby raising the backpack's center of mass and causing it to feel lighter on one's shoulders and back. We also included pockets for a laptop and phone with built-in chargers, a refrigerated lunch pouch. Ideas from other groups included a pouch that one could fit anything and everything into (similarly to the trunk of the Weasleys' car in Harry Potter), built-in refrigerators, microwaves, and computers, and autonomous backpacks that could be programmed to follow one around on wheels or a hover board. Of course, with ideas such as these, true prototyping, testing, and revision phases would have been impossible.
Considering the constraints of the mini-project (which were next to none) and the goal of the mini-project (which was to gain experience with the designing methodologies), I don't think that I would change anything about what I did during the project. There was one idea that I proposed that did not go into effect - using an electronic design for the backpack's skin similar to that of a cuttlefish to essentially give the backpack programmable aesthetics - but I think the idea of using the weather to change the backpack's aesthetics is a good one, and I think that if I was to do this project again, it would end up virtually identical to this one. Everything went well.