Project Overview
We had the chance of working hand and hand with Beverley School located in Downtown Toronto. Beverley School is a public institution that delivers educational services to students with a developmental or physical disability. The teachers and staff all have a certification in special education, the school offers a wide range of activities geared to this population.
Timeline:
12 weeks
Team:
Adam Ashton - Industrial Designer
Skills
User Research
Design Research
Design Development
Prototyping
Tools
Adobe Ilustrator
Rhino
Studio Time
💡 Background
We were assigned a class at Beverley School with kids with different skills and disabilities. Our classroom was specifically the Art Class where kids where able to explore their abilities in a creative manner, this made it very fun to work with. Most of the children in our assigned class were aged between 5 -7 years old. The project goal was to focus on the user research and try to tackle whichever children inability we wanted to direct our attention towards.
We both were interested to tackle the children's inability to focus targeting the stillness and calmness during their inattention spans
Design Goals
- Make the child feel secure
- Some children dislike physical touch so we had to find a balance between human - physical touch and the child
- Be able to use the product while the teacher is giving classes
- Don't act as a distraction
- Tackle problems such as anxiety , stress and ADHD
🛠 Ideation and Prototyping
During the 12 week period we had several meetings with our assigned teachers at the Beverley School in which we asked many questions which we had prepared beforehand to help guide us through our design development process. Each week they gave us feedback based around our prototype process and ideations.
We ended up iterating the idea of a weighted blanket /vest in which we focused on the measurements and the overall shape to start with, moving forward after we had our dimensions we started brainstorming while iterating ideas of what the vest/blanket would be filled with; what would actually create the feeling of a soft weight over the child's body making them feel safe and secure.
Prototype #1
Using similar materials as the once we ended up selecting for the final prototype we created the first iteration of how the vest/blanket could look like
Amoeba the weighted vest/blanket started growing from then. Our idea was to create a kids friendly design connecting it to a fun and friendly amoeba. The vest would be based as a shape of an amoeba adding some extra design characteristics which would benefit the children experience while using it.
🔑 Key Takeaways
Lessons Learned
- How to communicate with a client on a weekly basis. Iterating the prototype as we go to benefit the user
- Identifying a detailed user problem and working around it
Where is "Amoeba" Now?
About one month ago (December 2020) we received the notification that "Amoeba" was being used at Beverley School and that it had been of great help and created quite an impact.
