My first week in Paris was relatively eventful in regards to the ENGI 200 course. As the first week of the course, there was much introductory information to get through, such as an overview of the design process, some prototyping warm-ups, and being introduced to and starting our projects. While I had some personal interruptions to the first pair of days of the course, I managed to bounce back and get an alright start to the week.
I love playing basketball!
One course activity to highlight from the first week was the scavenger hunt. In a group of three, we explored the city while attempting to find directions with clues from Dr. Wettergreen. From what I perceived, our team got to experience more of the artistic and craft-oriented life of Paris as we explored much of the artistic 4th Arrondissement, and book and craft stores as per our prototyping supply list. We even managed to find a place to have a 3-course meal for lunch, which turned out to be a neat meal. Finally, we concluded our trip with a picnic at the gardens of the Louvre. Personally, I was really not fond of the city of Paris the last time I visited in 2017. The place felt pretty dirty and uncomfortable, especially the touristy spots. Since then, that has stayed with my perception of the city, even more so given that all of my friends from France share the same opinions of the city. However, the scavenger hunt did manage to change my perception of the city, as I found some pretty neat architecture and vibes in and around the 4th Arrondissement, so that did finally provide me with a positive outlook on parts of the city.
Art Nouveau architecture
Plaza at the Centre Pompidou
A key moment of the week was our first meeting with Yousra, a power wheelchair user. Hearing her speak about her life and the ways she has worked around the lack of accessible features in the world through design was very inspiring, and made me feel more aware of what could be done. From there, our design group was formed. Maximillian, Justine, and I would be working to develop an accessible beverage holder for Yousra.
For our first set of prototypes, we looked to develop improved versions of everyday cup holders for wheel chairs. This included finding better attachment mechanisms with straps or innovating on the holder itself. From that, we developed 3 low-fidelity prototypes. Another important meeting we had during our was with Jamie Santillo, an adventurous power wheelchair user with a travel agency. From her, we learned valuable information on how to improve our designs, mainly how many cup holders are not placed directly in front of users. As such, we improved the design with the straps to add new features, such as a collapsible holder for compatibility, and a scrunchy top for cup stability and cleanliness.
Low-fidelity prototype: Side storage
Low-fidelity prototype: Cup holder
Low-fidelity prototype: Strapped holder
I felt an important contribution to the project from me was helping to outline our design criteria and developing some prototypes. I think helping to outline our design criteria was important in helping to guide our group through the. Since features of the design were dependent on parameters of Yousra’s mobility and her aesthetic requests, they were quantifiable either with measurements or with user-defined scales (UDS), so it helped to develop the criteria. This were things such as reach to the holder, ability to hold a variety of cup sizes, and aesthetics. My personal struggle through this process was orienting myself with how certain features of a design would work. Since many feature mechanisms and functions are yet to be visualized, having to explain them, as someone who needs visual cues, was very difficult for me. This was notable with the design review, as it was difficult to explain how a mechanism is going to develop moving forward with the design.
Iterated prototype: Strapped holder
Sketch of planned mechanism
After our design review, we look forward to design a smoother surface for the attachment piece for the comfort of the user, and to also add slot opening for drinks to be more accessible from the holder as to account for the specific mobility of the user. These parts are planned to be visualized with CAD models and 3D printed for higher prototype fidelity.
My highlight of the first week was actually a day trip to Metz. Originally, I had a plan to go to Luxembourg with my friend, but plans had changed due to one of the personal issues I had. Still though, we managed to find the opportunity to visit Metz, and it was still exciting as it would be the first time for both of us visiting the northeast region of France. After the comfortable TGV ride, we walked around the quaint city (benefiting from it being a quiet Sunday), and we visited sites such as the beautiful Cathédrale Saint-Etienne de Metz, the Temple Neuf, and the Porte des Allemands. As per my personal project, I also managed to capture many photographs and Super 8 scenes with my cameras, and had a fantastic chorizo crêpe and ice cream. Overall, I was very satisfied that I was able to discover a new city in France.
Cathédrale Saint-Etienne de Metz
Temple Neuf
Porte des Allemands
On reflection for this week, some pieces of advice that I would give to future iSEED students is to continue to follow their passions, interests, and creativity while taking the course or on excursions. Creativity and interests often proved to be a major key in guiding what I found interesting in Paris and around France, so I made sure to follow that to lead me to interesting places. Furthermore, relying on creativity and problem-solving is key in the design process, so these are still concepts that carry into the ENGI 200 course. Overall, I find it very important to have creativity at hand as it can take you pretty far.