Hello! It has officially been one week in Paris, and it’s been a crazy experience. Paris is pretty much what I expected it to be, as I’ve been here before. I think I’ve gotten to see a few more things by looking at the city from a perspective of living here rather than being a tourist. I still am not entirely comfortable with the city, but I am getting there. Three highlights from my past week are arriving in Paris, buying prototyping materials, and our first weekend. Arriving in Paris was an experience because none of us knew how the city worked, but we were 45 minutes away from the hotel and had to just figure it out. We got on the metro without tickets somehow and managed to lug our bags all the way to the hotel without a problem. Buying prototyping materials was a cool experience because we got to learn about creating a makerspace in another country and using what you have access to so you can continue designing. Finally, I thought it was really cool that we were here for the weekend of the music festival in Paris and the international Paris air show. Both events were super awesome to experience and I had an awesome time. Our group also got to experience Paris all together by going to different events and places together, which will definitely be a significant memory from my time here.
In terms of my time in the classroom, I have learned a lot about how to design and prototype with limited time and limited materials. I think it’s very important to be flexible with the process and work on what parts of the process are super important. I’m very excited to start the prototyping process and see what we can make in the next week. My team is working on creating a cup holder for Yousra, our client. In order to start making our prototype, we would like to ask what kinds of bottles and cups she uses and ask some clarifying questions about what features and functions she wants for the cup holder. A very important thing I learned in the Amsterdam course was to not make solutions that people don’t need, and to really analyze the problem before you jump into the solution. I definitely don’t want to make something Yousra won’t use or enjoy, so we want to show her an initial design before we really get into building.
If this project were to go forward, I think it would be awesome product for people in wheelchairs in general, as there are plenty of complaints about current cup holders. I think it would allow a lot of people to be more independent and live their daily lives a little easier. I also think it would just be a cool project to finish and have someone use.
So far, I think I’ve been doing a good job of keeping everyone organized and working on research within my team. I’ve enjoyed working through the first half of the EDP in a really sped up way. I think everyone has appreciated the organization and it helps keep the team on track. I have struggled in ignoring parts of the process, as I find it hard to jump to prototyping when there may be ambiguity or issues with the design. I think I am very stuck to processes and love following each step to create a product, which makes this harder for me. The highlight of the week was being with the iSEED group and experiencing the city with them. I’m so glad I got to make good friends here and I’d advise future students to do the same.