Design Project: IGlove
A project done in collaboration with Allyson Aberg, Avik Hasija, Melody Liu, Robbie Meyer
In my design course, we were prompted to create a product that would help older adults with their every day life. My group and I looked at different physical constraints seniors may have in their daily lives. Through some research we decided to tackle the issue of hand tremors since they affect a large population of seniors. From there, we proceeded to do some research on our users and how issues they may have. Using the data we collected, we created primary, secondary and tertiary personas to help us understand the needs, requirements and restraints of the problem.
Personas: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
From the user research and further research, we created a QFD chart to show the target thresholds of each category to further determine the priorities of constraints, needs and requirements based on our different users. We also compared these to the data of existing products.
Next, using a morphological chart and listing the sub-systems we wanted for our product to have, we came up with different methods of addressing each field. For a device that is to help with hand tremors, it must stay on the hand and reduce tremors or increase hand stability. We also wanted the device to be aesthetic, comfortable and hopefully increase grip.
We took the each highlighted grouping and created three low fidelity prototypes based on what we thought would be the best combinations and solutions. These are what we called the brace, the tension glove, and the weighted hand wrap.
After analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of each prototype, we decided to further improve our third design, the weighted hand wrap. To improve the functionality of it, we used an actual glove with weights inside, and athletic wrap since it is sticks to itself to be the wrist wrap to create our medium fidelity prototype. Any issues that arose from this prototype during user testing were assessed and improved in the final high fidelity prototype.
Certain issues we found were that:
- the weights were digging into the skin
- the glove was very tight and often too small for certain users
- the wrapping was quite complex and took a long time
Our final high fidelity prototype was designed by having an inner layer with a compression wristband, removable, adjustable weights and an outer shell to allow for customization. This helped address each issue we found during the MFP user testing.
This was the final HFP that we created with to solve our initial problem for older adults with hand tremors but we wanted to create designs that would be even easier for the user to use. In the ideal design, we would have the outer shell attached with the inner glove with weights and bands on the inner core. Finally, the weights would be magnetic to allow for easy adjustments.
