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How It Works (Basics):
The product is designed for the Sony Xperia and is used to make tanning easier for the user. The user can simply slide his/her phone into the right side of the case where it will eventually meet the end of a USB plug. Two holes are located on the back to allow the user to still use the phone's camera system (which is essential). A solar panel is located on the back of the case. The panel can be removed from the case and extended via the wire it is connected on. The panel can do this because it allows the user to put his/her phone out of the sun (e.g. pocket) while still having the panel still outside. It can also be easily clipped back on. The whole product itself comes with a phone app on the Xperia.

Features:
The product uses three features to make the product work.

-Solar Panel: The panel itself is used to measure UV radiation from the sunlight on the particular day the user decided to tan. It is meant to be left out during the whole tan just in case there are any changes, such as clouds passing by. All the measurements it takes is sent to the database inside the phone.

-Camera:The camera is already a feature the Sony Xperia has, however it taken advantage of by the product. Before starting a tan, the user will use the phone app and use the camera to take a square block picture of his/her skin. The photo will then be analysed and result with data. The following data would be based skin sensitivity and pigmentation, which will then also be sent to the database inside the phone.

-Screen: With both two sources of data, the app will come up with a stop watch timer. The timer counts down how long the user can be in the sun. Depending on the data, an average countdown could be from ten to sixty or more minutes. The stop watch will display it's numbers in two certain colours, white and red. The white countdown represents how long the user has to stay in the sun to receive a healthy tan. The red countdown however represents how long it will take for the user to start burning. It is recommended that the user only finishes the white stop watch. At the end of the countdown, the phone will vibrate and sound a customizable alarm
The app also comes with additional features. It can show UV graphs based on the measurements it has made and can also recommend what sun lotion to use based on the user's skin sensitivity. The user can also let the app know what sun lotion he/she is using which will affect the overall stop watch.

 

The task of the project was to create a mobile phone add-on accessory for to benefit user in the health and well-being sector. We were able to choose our own target market; therefore we chose to aim our product at skin damage for sun light intensity. We will Design an app that will work in conjunction to a mobile device. This will help the user to gain the best tan when in the summer sun whilst protecting their skin. We decided to base our mobile device on the Sony Xperia smart phone.

 

Following on from the researched, we have come up with these points:

 

1         Product Requirements

 

1.1   Engage user into a playful experience

1.2   Stimulate safety thinking

1.3   Must be fully functional

1.4   Must show originality

1.5   Product must show innovative qualities

1.6   Must fit the Sony Xperia smartphone

 

2         Materials

 

2.1   Materials used must be able to withstand similar force and wear tests that the xperia goes through.

2.2   Materials must be light weight

2.3   Must be durable as product will be in a harsh environment.

 

3         User Requirements

 

3.1   Products must be easy to operate by learners, in order to save time and reduce costs

3.2   Product must be reusable for other sun seekers

3.3   Must show user the dangers of sun damage

3.4   Must engage user and make them want to use the product.

 

4         Environment

 

4.1   Must be recyclable.

4.2   Materials must be sustainably sourced.

4.3   Must be able to work comfortably between 10-100% humidity.

 

5         Economic

 

5.1   Must be affordable as a mobile accessory for travellers and sun bathers around the world.

6         Aesthetics

6.1   Clean finish with no sharp edges.

6.2   Fit the contemporary style of the Sony Xperia

6.3   Eye catching to the user

 

7         Ergonomics

 

7.1   Be portable so it can be transported in luggage when travelling.

7.2   Must not exceed the standard pocket size

 

8         Safety

 

8.1   Must be reliable to sun bathers to prevent damaging the skin.

8.2   Must have no sharp edges

 

9         Weight

 

9.1 Must not weigh over 500g

 

 

The project set was to create a mobile phone accessory. It must benefit the user/s of the health sector. We were assigned into groups of 4 to work on the project; I started by orgainsing initial group meetings, in order to discuss our ideas, create mood-boards and mind maps. I came up with various ideas such as baby monitors, diabetes kits and pregnancy & ovulation accessories; but we decided to take our favorite idea forward an accessory and app to protect the body against UV sunlight damage to the skin. This would reduce risk of skin cancer, and burning and to get best results when tanning abroad. I created a detailed Specification, in order to work to specific details so we didn’t diversify as a group.

 

The then moved onto drawing concept sketches; using Photoshop to color in the final concept drawings for project to show our ideas, for what we thought would work best for the accessory. Our aim was to create a mobile add-on that would collect data on the UV light intensity from the sun, take a reading of skin tone using the camera on the phone and then inform you of how long you can stay in the sun without damaging the skin using a countdown timer. The product could be used with the normal functions of the phone, but with development we noticed you shouldn’t leave mobile phone in intensive sunlight, as they may shut down. We crossed this hurdle by making the solar data collector pull off the device on a chord, so you could keep the mobile in your pocket or bag and still use the product to measure the sunlight intensity.

 

We carried out our presentation on PowerPoint to later reveal our blog, but the downside to our project was that we didn’t manage to upload the video in time for the presentation due to technical problems. This set us back and if presenting our product to a client, may have lost us the sale. I will work hard to not let technical issues downgrade our project in the future, as it is a poor excuse and shows a lack of communication.

 

In this project I carried out the following tasks alongside my hard working organized team:

 

·         Mind Mapping

·         Initial concept sketching

·         Development Sketches

·         Idea Generation

·         Video

·         Video Scripting & Acting

·         Organized and established the Behance Blog

·         Detailed Specification

 

I feel we all responded well to this project in the time we were given, and have come up with a very good solution to the problem. Our project is very interesting and I fell there is a big market for our product for travelers and beach goers, trying to gain the best tan whilst looking after their body. We worked well as a team and all equally contributed from start to finish making it stress free and easy to get along. As we weren’t elected group leaders I feel I played a big part of this roll organizing meetings, correlating work and motivating everyone to meet our deadlines. The main thing if I could change anything for this project would be prior organization and maybe to rent a camera from the university, as the use of our own equipment gave us some last minute issues with the upload of the video.

 

 

 

The project set was to create a mobile phone accessory. It must benefit the user/s of the health sector. We were assigned into groups of 4 to work on the project; I started by orgainsing initial group meetings, in order to discuss our ideas, create mood-boards and mind maps. I came up with various ideas such as baby monitors, diabetes kits and pregnancy & ovulation accessories; but we decided to take our favorite idea forward an accessory and app to protect the body against UV sunlight damage to the skin. This would reduce risk of skin cancer, and burning and to get best results when tanning abroad. I created a detailed Specification, in order to work to specific details so we didn’t diversify as a group.

 

The then moved onto drawing concept sketches; using Photoshop to color in the final concept drawings for project to show our ideas, for what we thought would work best for the accessory. Our aim was to create a mobile add-on that would collect data on the UV light intensity from the sun, take a reading of skin tone using the camera on the phone and then inform you of how long you can stay in the sun without damaging the skin using a countdown timer. The product could be used with the normal functions of the phone, but with development we noticed you shouldn’t leave mobile phone in intensive sunlight, as they may shut down. We crossed this hurdle by making the solar data collector pull off the device on a chord, so you could keep the mobile in your pocket or bag and still use the product to measure the sunlight intensity.

 

We carried out our presentation on PowerPoint to later reveal our blog, but the downside to our project was that we didn’t manage to upload the video in time for the presentation due to technical problems. This set us back and if presenting our product to a client, may have lost us the sale. I will work hard to not let technical issues downgrade our project in the future, as it is a poor excuse and shows a lack of communication.

 

In this project I carried out the following tasks alongside my hard working organized team:

 

·         Mind Mapping

·         Initial concept sketching

·         Development Sketches

·         Idea Generation

·         Video

·         Video Scripting & Acting

·         Organized and established the Behance Blog

·         Detailed Specification

 

I feel we all responded well to this project in the time we were given, and have come up with a very good solution to the problem. Our project is very interesting and I fell there is a big market for our product for travelers and beach goers, trying to gain the best tan whilst looking after their body. We worked well as a team and all equally contributed from start to finish making it stress free and easy to get along. As we weren’t elected group leaders I feel I played a big part of this roll organizing meetings, correlating work and motivating everyone to meet our deadlines. The main thing if I could change anything for this project would be prior organization and maybe to rent a camera from the university, as the use of our own equipment gave us some last minute issues with the upload of the video.

 

 

 

The project was based on designing a phone “add on” around the user’s health and well being. This was a group project so my class and I were divided into groups of four. Once our group was assigned, we all met up and began discussing our ideas for the project. We started by making mind maps and mood boards to help use understand some key features of what we needed to design and then ultimately decided to design in the field on tanning.

We started drawing some concept ideas of what we thought would make a good design. We wanted a phone add on that measured UV light from the sun during the tan and also somehow combined that data with the specific user’s skin sensitivity. After developing a few concept designs we ultimately came up with a design which we were all happy with. This design involved using the phone’s already existing function, it’s camera, which would take a photo of the user’s skin. From the photo, the phone will then analyze the user’s pigmentation and skin sensitivity. Once combined with the UV data, the phone will then give the user a stop watch countdown of how long the user should be in the sun.

We all contributed quite a bit for the project. My contributions for the group were:

-Idea Generation

-Mind Map

-Original concept sketch

-CAD model

-Written functions of the product

-Video

Overall I thought we were quite a good group. We all met up on time and equally contributed towards the project. We were also very well focused and always managed to get work done on time. The project for me covered creativity, research, and CAD work. I believe my CAD skills have increased a lot through making the CAD model of the product. I find it less challenging to manage and feel as if I can take on more complicated designs. The only flaw of our group was a communication error on the day of the presentation in terms of our video. Our video was handed in quite late because we ran into a few last minute issues with uploading it. Beside that, I am quite happy with our idea and feel as if we had done a good job.

 

In this project, “mobile symbiosis”, I have undertaken several tasks that have included research of similar products, research of similar concept ideas, design sketching, user research, design communicating, prototyping and creating a movie.

I have created a mood board that has enabled me to brainstorm ideas taken from existing products, design styles and concepts. From this my group was able to explore different design ideas that can be incorporated into the existing mobile phone.

I have produced design sketches that have been used to communicate some initial ideas, from which development could be lead from these. The sketches were annotated and detailed to clearly explain how they work and basically what their main functions are.

The user research has involved me producing a persona of a twenty-year old young man who visits Spain a lot and relies on the use of his mobile phone when he is out on the beach and around the resort, I have explained the design problem based on my research being that he is fair-skinned and suffers from sunburns quite often; I have targeted this sort of age group for both males and females.

I have communicated the final design idea using a storyboard that clearly explains an example of how it is used and what it is used for; it shows off that it is used when sunbathing in the beach etc. and it shows that its function is to detect the UV rays from the sun and also sense the user’s skin. And it works by determining how much time the user can spend exposed to the sun before getting burnt on an app that is installed on the phone. This storyboard has used sketches as well as some text to communicate all this.

The prototype was then made from card as well as string. This card model was a non-working prototype that was used just to give an example of the size, form and appearance of the final product. The string was used to represent the retractable cable that extends from the case to the solar panel attachment.

And finally a movie was created that sort of recaps the same story that’s communicated by the storyboard; the video includes a young man (sample from the target market), out on the beach with his mobile phone and how he uses his phone and the designed product attached to it in order to determine how much time he should spend in the sweltering heat from the sun.

Extra-curricular activities have included studies in beaches and other holiday resorts on how many people take their phones with them to the beach when they sunbathe etc. and from this coming out with a survey.

I have also undertaken further research on existing design models of the latest gadgetry that is used with mobile phones nowadays, including headphones, microphones, and other plug-in devices.

And other further research about how UV rays work and how the sun emits UV rays and what the effects are to the human skin, and how it affects different skins.

The following learning goals for this project have included ideas and originality, technology, user focus and usability, modelling and visualisation, design method and practice and self-assessing and criticism.

As an industrial designer, I feel that I have become more competent with videoing skills and the use of technology/software to produce and upload videos to communicate designs, but mainly on the making of the video and the set up that has been involved has given me a bit

of practice with film directing and management which can be a crucial aspect in industrial design for communicating.

I also feel that I have become more understanding about technology that relates to mobile phone technology and the way in which it works; this is important for me to understand when dealing with this market area in design.

The way in which I have developed on the learning goals, starting from the ideas and originality competency, I feel that I have probably stayed the same and am at the same progress as I was during the last project; I feel as though I am still able to use brainstorming (mood-boards) to generate new, unique design ideas.

For the technology competency, I was able to understand the way in which mobile phones work in more depth and apply some of this knowledge into the design process for this project. So I feel that I have developed somewhat reasonably in this competency.

As for the user focus and usability, I feel as though the design that my group had come out with in the end may not have been totally user-centred as we mainly based our research on design styles and existing products, and the research done as extra-curricular activities didn’t involve any focus on a particular user but rather a survey on a greater population out the chosen target market. The persona made however was based on a sample user from the target market that briefly covered their background, and other basic information but didn’t go into great depth.

When it came to design communication, I feel as though I have developed considerably well in this because I managed to direct the making of the video with the help from my group, and as a result we ended up with an inspirational video that was well-communicated and easy to follow although the quality of the filming may not have been up to the highest of standards (because I used my mobile phone to film the video). The prototype was more of a rough version than a full, functioning prototype, although it still worked at representing the form and size but it did lack colour for appearance. The storyboard was the main part of the communication that explained what the final product does, how it works, and how/where it is used, this could’ve included colour to make it more eye-catching but the drawings were detailed and easy to understand.

For the design method and practice, the time planning was a little bit inferior to that of the previous project as some of the processes such as the video-making did not get done when we had planned to get it done and delivered. The tools we had used were also a little bit rash in terms of the choice of tools we chose to use for the video-making as well as the prototyping and this was also probably due to the lack of time we had towards the end of the project.

The self-assessing and criticism I have done in this project is very honest about how I feel about the way in which I have worked as part of a group as well as independently on the tasks that I was set out to do. I feel as though I couldn’t have been more descriptive about my opinion towards my performance.

 

I feel that this project was one of my most successful to date as, in our group, we created an innovative and useful concept that could one day become an everyday healthcare item.We discovered a gap in the market and made use of existing similar products as inspiration to create a much more advanced and usable next generation device.

I believe that the way I carried out my role in the project to be much more professional than in previous work as I carefully planned out each step that we had to take in order to develop our idea to the best of our ability. I took responsibility for combining our individual efforts and organizing them into a logical order for our final presentation. This included learning how to use photoshop in order to edit and colour sketches to create an aesthetically pleasing and easy to follow layout, for the best possible design communication. By doing so, I have developed my skills of using computers to enhance my design work and have learned valuable techniques that I will be able to implement in the future.

Again a Facebook group and chat was used in order to communicate to each member of the group from a distance as well as sending each other work for discussion and review. This was important as it ensured that every member was on the same page in regard to the direction of development and allowed us to keep track of what work had been done and what steps were to be taken next. After I created the final presentation, I was able to use this to send the work to Leon who then used it as a basis for the group blog. This allowed us to keep the style of our work consistent, something that is particularly important when marketing a product through the use of corporate branding. 

The project could have been improved by creating a better prototype that would communicate our design intent more successfully. This however would have taken much longer and having only two weeks for the whole project, was not something that would have been possible this time around.