Product Psychology: Teaching Students How to Get Inside User's Heads

The process of conducting user research and utilizing that research to drive design is standard curriculum for any industrial design program. It's typically taught as one of the first of many design process steps in project based studio courses. But with equal emphasis on each step, there is little time to learn about the many research and development tools available and how to use them. 

How would learning outcomes be improved if the processes of conducting user research and its utilization were placed under a highly focused microscope, enabling students to learn all of the necessary details?

At Art Institute Hollywood, industrial design students are tasked with developing a new product idea that will be manufactured by a client company, for one or more target user groups. After carefully studying the client company and its products, students focus their microscopes on the target user's lifestyle and daily lives.

As an example, a student with a client company that manufactures quality plastic cases, and target user group that includes teenage girls, developed a new product idea: unique travel make-up cases for women. The student went one step further, and verified the designs by surveying test subjects from the target user group.

My experience is that students that have this focused opportunity - are better designers. And their product designs are better informed as well.

Do Design Students Differ From School to School?

I've taught a wide range of students in a quite a wide range of design schools. In the midst of working with design students, I have found myself wondering whether they differ from one school to the next. Do students at school A have distinct characteristics that set them apart from design students at school B, or school C, or school D?

Why would I even entertain the idea that students from one school might be different from those at another? Here's why: I am constantly told that this is the case by my students, and occasionally by non-students. "The students here are this way...", and "School A students are that way..." goes the usual rant.

So. I set about to take a look at this described "phenomenon" and determine for myself if it was indeed the case. Or not. What I found was this. Design students are both the same, and different - from one design school to the next.

In any design class, in any design school, students appear to be the same. There always seems to be lazy students and ambitious students, spoiled students and humble students, students that can't draw the left side of a barn and students that can render that barn so well you can touch it and feel it.

And at the same time, students in any design class, can be very different. They can be shaped by their design school. By its policies, its support (or lack), the design program itself, by its instructors, and by its administrators.

More importantly, I found that students that are ambitious, that are humble, that even if they can't draw the left side of a barn - want to learn how to render the entire barn (this is a metaphor) tend to overcome any obstacle. And tend to succeed.

Its good news. And its something I mention, whenever I hear the usual rant.

 


 

How to Design a Computer Mouse: The Ultimate Human Factors Exercise for High School Students

What better way could there be to teach human factors, ergonomics, and anthropometrics to high school industrial design students, then to have them design an piece of technology they use every single day? And what better piece of technology to design than a computer mouse?  A computer mouse has to be comfortable. It has to be gripped easily in either hand (right and left). It has to be intuitive. And it has to look great too.

Ensuring a computer mouse is comfortable, and is gripped easily in either hand is not an easy task. Students need to measure key dimensions on their hands and document the extreme large and extreme small sized hands in a given population (in this case their classroom). Since a computer mouse has to be used by everyone within a given population, it needs to be comfortable, and be gripped easily by the largest and smallest hands - as well as every sized hand in between.

Once the extreme large and small hand sizes are documented, students can calculate the median sized hand (seen in the above sketch). Students design to this median sized hand, but each prototype must be tested by the given population and confirmed. Because the mouse is in essence a compromise in size, it isn't perfect for everyone. But it is nearly perfect for everyone, and that is the target.

After the median hand is traced onto paper, students layout a top view, side view, and end view for the mouse - on top of the sketched hand. The length of mouse is roughly the distance from the tip of the middle finger, to the middle of the hand - as this is the working position. Industrial design students must pay close attention to the grip area on the left and right sides of the mouse (top view), and make the design symmetrical, to accommodate left and right handed users. They must also ramp the mouse from the back to the front, to ensure a natural grip and for the fingers to comfortably reach the front buttons.

Next, the top, side, and end views are traced onto a piece of surfboard foam (11-15 pound density) with dimensions of about 4" long x 3" wide x 2" high. The three views are easily transferred to the foam by poking holes through the layout paper, along the lines of the views, into the foam - then connecting the dots on the foam. Once the three views are transferred to the foam, its time to band saw the mouse form - in two steps.

First the top view is cut out. Care must be taken to not remove the cut out piece from the rectangular block. The rectangular block, with the cutout piece still intact (a bit of tape to keep it in place is ok), is then laid on its side and the side view cut out. The result are cuts that combine the top and side views. What's left is for the student to replicate the end view by hand using a sanding block. And wholla! the mouse form is complete.

Finishing steps involve "skinning" the mouse form (but not the bottom) with joining compound (water based and safer), or with thinned Bondo (styrene based and not safer), sanding the final form, and painting the mouse gloss white. The end result are prototype computer mice, based on solid human factor research, and a classroom full of accomplished future industrial designers.   

Industrial Design Education for High School - Breaking the Rules

Traditional industrial design education focuses primarily on creating industrial designers. Competent designers. Innovative designers. Designers that think out of the box. While design programs differ, the focus is essentially the same. Create industrial designers.

School districts are looking at industrial design education for their high school students, but for entirely different reasons. While it would be wonderful for high school students to fall in love with industrial design with the dream of becoming a designer (this does happen), the vast majority do not. But this is not a failure. Quite the contrary.

Industrial design education in high school can be the ultimate motivator. Students that don't engage with traditional curriculum, become extremely engaged with industrial design. Why? Researchers know project based learning engages. And industrial design education is project based learning. How does it go beyond mere project based learning?

In a word, it's cool. In a sea of un-cool subjects and curriculum, designing cool stuff is hard to resist. OK, it should be said that designers do more and should do more than design "stuff". But this is high school. Give the student a break.

For the college student in an industrial design program, problem solving and the creative design process are essential tool box skills to be learned and honed - for the program and for one's career. But for the high school student, in an industrial design program, problem solving and creativity are life skills.

While industrial design programs that teach user-centric design enable the student (and eventually the industrial designer) to engage the user as a key element of the design process with the goal of optimizing user experience, for the high school student, user-centric design teaches empathy.

Math, science, and writing are an essential part of design education, yet their role in college level curriculum is essentially supportive. Designers need to know these skills, but for the high school student, that either lacks this knowledge and ability, or shuns it, industrial design education can "sneak in" these skills and make them relevant.

Industrial design education curriculum for high school and for college are very much the same. But what students take away is very different. In this way high school industrial design education does break the rules. But as high school students might say, some rules are meant to be broken.

Teaching Design in High School: Something More Important Than The Curriculum?

The curriculum developed by the Central Orange County, California ROP (now CTE) for teaching industrial design to high school students, is fantastic. It includes a wide range of projects intended to engage and motivate high school students that includes: a skateboard project, a computer mouse project, a water bottle project, a speaker project, a display design project, and more.

Industrial design is the perfect vehicle for teaching problem solving, critical thinking, and design process to high school students. And industrial design curriculum in high school is the perfect cross-trainer, combining math, science, history, English, and art in every project. The CTE Product Design Studio curriculum is this vehicle, and the vehicle is raring to go. 

Yet, immediately after I started teaching Product Design Studio (in Santa Ana, California), it occurred to me that there was something vastly more important than the curriculum itself. I had initially assumed that high school students would engage industrial design curriculum, much the way I had in college. That is, with a combination of wonder, and a desire to learn the skills I needed to succeed in the profession. But only a small minority of my high school students seemed to think that way.

How could I have expected high school students to engage in this way? Out of control hormones, a million distractions, social interaction and social standing at the top of priorities, tough economic realities, family issues, and a climate of "its not cool to learn", present themselves as just a few of the many obstacles to engagement. College and career seem to be a distant destination, that many do not see a clear path to.

I first had to ask myself, what was it that I wanted my students to learn. Or more precisely, what did I want my students to get out of or come away with, from my course. Was it my love of design? Was it the sense of accomplishment I had discovered in college? Was it the experience I had of realizing I could solve complex problems? It was all of these things and more. And I decided to try to make my passion for design contagious. 

But my display of passion, would not be enough. What did I discover that was vastly more important than the curriculum? Simply put, it was "how I engaged my students". How I engage them, far and away transcends, validates, and authenticates everything I try to teach. And amazingly, the tools of engagement that I employed were incredibly intuitive and natural. A fellow teacher of mine, Don Isbell who has taught in Santa Ana for over 17 years, confirmed my intuitions.

1. It all begins with respect. Respect for students, respect for their current existence and experiences, respect for their being. My training in non-violent communication taught me that respect is a powerful peace maker. How could I expect my students to respect me or what I was trying to teach, if I didn't genuinely respect them?

2. Secondly, respect is derived from a genuine sense of caring. This is not the act of saying "I care about you" to students. Caring is something that I can only communicate to my students through my actions.

3. Thirdly, my respect and caring is driven by a over riding sense of empathy for my students. This is something I also learned from my non-violent communication training. We must empathize with those with which we engage. We must understand that students suffer, feel, are frustrated, are moody, etc. as we are too.

4. Fourthly, I try to use humor as much as I can (even self deprecating humor). Humor lightens the mood, diminishes the seriousness of the moment, and can be a great tool for learning. I have found humor to be an incredibly powerful tool for dissipating otherwise uncomfortable situations. When things don't go quite right, humor is sometimes the only way out.

5. Fifthly, I've discovered that I need to possess an enormous degree of flexibility in my teaching. Sometimes a lesson plan that I've spent an entire prior night developing - doesn't seem quite right the next morning. The students aren't in the mood for the lesson, perhaps I judged their enthusiasm wrong, or perhaps I planned the lesson with myself in mind - and not them. Projects sometimes need to take a necessary twist or turn. I think of every project as an experiment with an unknown outcome.  

These 5 tools of engagement that I am using are just a start for me. I know I will discover many more, as I learn as a teacher myself. I only know that these tools are essential to engage my students, and without them I would stand no chance of reaching them. In the weeks to come, I'll share details about the projects my students have completed, along with examples of how these tools and the Product Design Studio curriculum have helped reveal the inner genius in each and every one of my students.

  

Teaching Industrial Design in High School: Curriculum that can Energize, Inspire and Motivate

I've recently embarked on a new design adventure! While continuing to design body worn products for my many clients, I've taken a day-time gig teaching industrial design to high school students.

Traditionally, industrial design education has begun at the college level. But recently, the principals, skills, and methodologies unique to industrial design have been discovered  by school districts nation wide, as curriculum that can energize, inspire, and motivate high school students as well.

The Regional Occupational Program in Central Orange County, California has begun a pilot program in each of its three school districts (City of Orange, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana) called "Product Design Studio".  A project based learning program, students embark on real world industrial design projects that include: designing for a real client, doing upfront product research, mood boards, concept sketching, model and prototype building, and final presentation to clients.

In the upcoming weeks, I'll describe my new design (teaching) adventure in detail (which takes place at Valley High School, in Santa Ana, California). Spoiler alert: My students are simply amazing!  

How Scuba Diving Equipment is Designed and Developed: A Case Study For Product Success

Have you ever wondered how the diving gear that you own is designed and developed?

The product development process for dive equipment is incredibly creative, exhilarating, and exciting. While dive equipment designs can take on a limitless number of shapes and forms, one must remember that dive equipment is essentially underwater life support equipment. This realization drives a product development process that is not only creative and imaginative, but also serious and rigorous.

The process is essentially the same for every piece of dive equipment I've designed. There are eleven developmental steps. Each step is essential to acheiving product success. To illustrate the process, let's dive into to the one I used for the design of the award winning Impulse 2 Snorkel for U.S. Divers:

Phase 1: Goals and Specs
The design process begins with the creation of a set of goals and specifications. What will the new gear do? How will it be better? Who is the user? What is the cost? What specs need to set the bar for performance, ease of use, and most importantly life support? The goals and specs need to be agreed upon at the highest levels of the manufacturing company.

For the Impulse 2, my goal was to improve on the the success of the original Impulse, designed by Mark Faulconer, and invented by Tony Christensen. The new Impulse had to weigh less, cost less, be more streamlined, be easier to use, look snazzier, and meet or exceed the performance of the original.

Phase 2: Schedule
Here, it is necessary to identify as many tasks in the process as possible, so there are no surprises. Each task is assigned a responsible party. The designer estimates how long each task will take, which can occur at the same time, and which need to be done in succession. Again, this needs to be agreed upon at the highest level.

The schedule for the Impulse 2 needed to be as streamlined as the snorkel itself. The time for the majority of the steps would be limited, because the required time for injection mold tooling was estimated at 16 weeks (4 months)! The mad dash across the water had begun.

Phase 3: Research
Upfront research is a necessary step in product development of any kind. Its here where the designer learns about the product and the user in detail, looks at existing designs and patterns of use, and projects improvements to be made.

For the Impulse 2, I examined every snorkel in the market. I tested the snorkels in the ocean and in the lab, and collected a list of usability and performance data for every competitive model. This "benchmarking" told me what already existed, and set the bar for the new design. By testing users, I learned the experiences they were craving: improved comfort, ease of use, and pride of ownership.

Phase 4: Concept
The concept phase is one of my favorites. Its here where a designer can explore every option. This is where it really gets creative, exhilarating, and exciting! The phase begins with brainstorming - creating as many ideas as possible. Very soon it becomes apparent which ideas are more viable, and those that are not. Usually a minimum of 10 sketches are generated by hand, brought into the computer, and rendered in color.

For the Impulse 2, I needed to maintain a number of design elements established by Mark Faulconer with the earlier Impulse. The "cone" at the top would still be a key element, and some remnant of Mark's famous louvers needed to stay. Everything else was on the table. The result was an "evolutionary" design. After a number of quick foam mock-ups it was on to the next phase.

Phase 5: 3D Modeling
Creating a 3D model of the "concept of choice" in CAD is key to evolving the design, and solving the many fit and function challenges that are part of any design. We modeled the Impulse 2 in Pro-E, but increasingly Solid works has become my software of choice, and I use it exclusively.

The 3D CAD model is the vehicle for communication from design to production. It must include all of the elements necessary to use and to manufacture the product. This is because the 3D model is used to produce rapid prototypes for testing, AND tooling that will be used to mold the product.

It is in this phase that the design process becomes quite serious and rigorous. The designer must balance design creativity with a constant concern for the safety of the diver. The design is no longer conceptual. This is the actual design of the equipment.

Phase 6: Prototypes
Finally, we are able to make parts and assemblies that can be dived. Rapid prototypes are virtually indistinguishable from the eventual production products. The advantage is, they are relatively in expensive, and avoid the time and expense of making a mold to test a design.

For the Impulse 2, I used the SLA (stereo lithography) process for my prototypes, but increasingly, I've used FDM and Objet rapid prototyping. For all of these processes, the parts are laid down in multiple layers. Since my rapid prototypes were rigid, I needed to create molds in which I could cast flexible tubes for testing (for the main tube and flex tube). It was these SLA and cast prototypes that moved on to the next phase.

Phase 7: Laboratory Testing
Phases 7 and 8 are performed at essentially the same time. These two steps are the first time the scuba product can truly be checked in the real world to confirm whether and how they work. Again, the process is both serious and rigorous.

For the Impulse 2, lab tests included inhalation and exhalation testing, pull testing, UV testing, and saltwater testing. It was here that I was able to establish that I had achieved decreased inhalation and exhalation effort - that is, it would be easier to breath through the Impulse 2!

Phase 8: Immerse as User
Scuba diving gear needs to be tested in the laboratory, but it must be tested in actual diving conditions as well. I believe it essential that the designer do the primary test diving, and take on the role of the user, to gain the insight necessary to evaluate scuba design. I call this Immersion as User.

Of course the prototype needs to be dove by others. The U.S Divers / Aqualung test dive team dove Impulse 2 prototypes at Catalina Island in California (on our monthly test dives), and at the company pool for several weeks, before giving the design their thumbs up.

A little know fact: Jacques Cousteau himself, test dove the Impulse 2 Snorkel on one of our Catalina test dives. You can read about my dive with Jacques Cousteau in a previous blog entry.

Phase 9: Detail Drawings
An essential step in communicating the final design to the manufacturer, is providing a set of drawings that identify critical dimensions and specifications. The 3D CAD file includes all of the product's dimensional information, including surfaces - but there dimensions that must be held within specific tolerances, to ensure proper function. For the Impulse 2 a simple two sheet drawing was all that was necessary.

Phase 10: Production

It is in the production phase that an efficient and repeatable manufacturing process is established. The phase begins when the 3D CAD file is finalized by the designer, and it is handed off to the manufacturer.

The designer typically travels to the injection mold maker, and to the factory where the molding and assembly will be performed - to ensure the integrity of the design is maintained. It is only fitting that the designer make these assurances - who has a bigger stake in the success of the design than the designer themselves?

Phase 11: Launch Success
Once a representative sampling is tested again in the lab, and in the ocean - the new scuba product is released for production. If the designer has done his or her job, the result is Launch Success and sales of the new scuba product meet or exceed all expectations.

In the case of the Impulse 2 Snorkel, the result was the largest selling professional snorkel in the world, an IDEA Award (Industrial Design Excellence Award), and safe and fun diving for scuba divers and snorkelers all over the world.