Co-design plans/methods
In this project we got the specific assignment of co-designing with a user. We want to go about this by starting off with an interview to get to know the user better. We want to learn about his day to day life and what he struggles with. After that, we plan on ideating on a product based on the information he provided us and show him immediately when we have something to show. We will keep in contact with him throughout all stages of the project, and keep him informed on what we are and will be working on. We also will make sure he knows we will probably not be able to make a working product for him at the end, as a prototype is usually not a final product. This way his hopes will not be too high. We will make sure we meet him physically where possible, to let him try out our prototypes. At the end of the project we will finalize by a final meeting with our user.
Results
During the project we kept on communicating our work with our user. We met once a week, and asked for feedback via email during the week as well. However, in the middle of our project we developed a prototype and showed it to the user. There ended up being some miscommunication because this concept ended up not being helpful for the user. This meant we had to think of a completely different concept. This is where we found out that communication really is key when co-designing. Thankfully there was still time and the final concept was communicated and evaluated by the user earlier in the process so that we knew before prototyping that we were in the right direction. We were really happy that we ended up with a concept that our user thinks could be useful for him and might help him gain more control of his legs. Sadly we could not test the prototype before the end of the project as we finished the concept in the last week and he could not see us physically at that time. We plan on seeing him physically still, after the project is already finished, as we both want him to still try out the prototype.
Interview participant
During the first meeting with our participant we mainly wanted to focus on getting to know our participant a bit. We wanted to get a feel of his daily life and the obstacles he encounters to be able to empathize more with him.
Therefore we prepared some questions. We first asked him to quickly introduce himself, then we asked some further questions about his daily routine, some obstacles he encounters and some expectations he has.
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Results
Our participant is a 36 year old male who lives on his own in an apartment building in Amsterdam. He grew up in Enschede, where his parents currently still live.
He suffers from a medical condition named Hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSP). Which results in a problem with his nerves on his back on the height of the tailbone. This problem causes the signals from the brain to not pass through the legs. Signals act on their own and give vibrations to his legs. He can still stand up, but his posture is not correct and he can only stand for a maximum of an hour a day.
The disorder is genetic, therefore our participant has had it his whole life. He has been in a wheelchair since age 13, and uses the wheelchair more permanently since the age 17.
As for daily activities, our participant has a job at the municipality and ‘Vervoerregio Amsterdam’. On average he goes to the office 3 times a week. He doesn’t go to the office on a daily basis because working online is much more time efficient, as travelling takes quite some time.
He does go out of his home everyday, he mainly uses his handbike for short distances, which could be attached to his wheelchair. For longer distances he would use the subway.
Furthermore, our participant cooks for himself and tries to train his legs by standing up for a maximum of one hour a day.
As for hobbies, he used to play tennis. He would love to do it again but arranging this is very difficult for him since he needs a specific wheelchair. Furthermore, he really likes traveling and culture. He is also very interested in architecture, as he studied in this field.
Unfortunately our participant also encounters some daily difficulties. Whenever he sits in his wheelchair, his legs will randomly stretch which causes pressure in his toes. He tries to overcome this problem by standing up. So in other words, he tries to do what his legs want, in order for them to get more relaxed.
Another struggle he occasionally has to encounter is entering a building, in this case he does need assistance. Also, whenever there isn’t an elevator, he is still able to walk up the stairs with some help of his arms, though he needs someone to carry the wheelchair for him. For other obstacles he encounters, he would ask other people for help.
Currently his condition hasn’t affected his upper body yet (he uses his arms a lot more to compensate for his legs), though he believes this will eventually happen.
We also asked our participant if he himself already has a vision of a product he might want. Our participant mentioned that he would like something, for example an exoskeleton, that supports horse and/or bike position and which supports his own weight. Furthermore, he would like the distance between his knees to be adapted. He also mentioned that he wants us to keep him involved in the process and he hoped that we would come up with a set-up for a future idea.
Lastly, we discussed our future co-design plans with the participant and how we would keep contact with him. We decided that we want to meet once a week, mostly online. And that we would use Whatsapp for quick communication and would use email to share documents.