Development of Chosen Concept

When developing the personal VR social device the need for ergonomics (the interaction between people and products) was massive in comparison to the other ideas. The housing of the technology itself had to easy to clean due to the sterile hospital environment, easy to hold which places limits on the overall dimensions of the product itself, too small and it would be difficult for people with stability issues such as Parkinson’s to utilise, too large and it may be too heavy for those with issues such as muscular dystrophy to hold it. To allow for optimum convince the product itself should come with its own stand or hub to allow the system to be placed near the patients’ bed allowing for access throughout the day without troubling the already overworked staff or possibly irritating other patients during hours of rest/quiet. Items such as headphones and other technical necessities such as wiring should also be contained within the same object as the main screen device, this will reduce the loss of any aspect of the device and allow for a reduction in anxiety and work for the patient who then only needs to remember and hold one product to and from the hub.

From this, investigations were carried out into relatively new aspects of technology including tablets, phones and especially smart home devices – this was conducted due to the hub nature of the designs which allows the devices to be kept at the patient’s side for continuous access throughout day and night, integrating the individualism of the product but could be returned easily to its base for charging or possible syncing with a cloud-based system for new livestreams or updates. Due to its relatively interesting ergonomic style and shape I decided upon placing emphasis on a sphere-type structure as this would allow for an ample sized screen with additional space for motherboards and other essentials such as headphones which could be easily stored within the spherical body for those who don’t wish to hear the sounds for a number of reasons medical or social.

Building upon the base design of the Portable Sphere, digital design for the application utilised also had to be taken into careful consideration:

• Due to the circular nature of the device itself and to keep the circular motif the screen itself had to fit such a shape providing a interesting limitation.
• The screen design itself had to be as sleek as the overall design with motifs and aspects referencing the nature aspect all whilst being simple and uncluttered due to the touch screen.
• Symbols should be used in place of wording for the different screens as a way to overcome language barriers or those with reading impairments. For the latter a use of high contrast and/or complementary colours should be utilised throughout for clarity in the overall design (black shapes on white/lighter backgrounds for contrast, white shapes on patterned backgrounds using the technique of reverse).

Taking the opportunity of design as a way to experience prototype this final design, this design arrangement was recreated in Apple’s Keynote software due to its overall compatibility with iphones which would allow for optimum transportation of the experience prototype and furthermore allow for it to be displayed within a model to create a functioning device for the final display. Through Keynote I was able to create an arrangement of symbols which would then lead to their own perspective slides showcasing videos which represented the livestreams. A separate nurse alert system was also introduced to this application arrangement as it had been in the previous app, although this time would allow for more individualised assistance.

Aspects:

• Colour – red: use of red in the nurses’ alert symbol design and page to indicate the severity of the situation and to provide contrast to the use of green, making the symbol stand out for those in need.
• Proportion: in the side menus on the livestreams, a use of increased proportion can be found in the symbol sizes with the larger button size indicating the screen being shown at the time.
• Alignment: The use of left alignment of the menu button on the livestream page is placed there due to the natural sense of reading left to right making it obvious to seek out.
• Colour: Each symbol has a related coloured background providing context for the scene itself (e.g. red for autumnal trees, yellow for a beach, blue for a waterfall). The use of primary colours also allow for clear distinction between each aspect and emphasises the effect of a known trio.
• Shape – Circles: use of circular borders provides emphasis on the centre of the application and furthermore provides subconscious inclinations to nurturing, completeness, unity and protection (all necessary for healing and a sense of being whole).

Due to the nature aspect of the entire project a need was placed to implement this within the final design. This was developed through the numerous sketches looking into wood grains and textures taken directly from tentsmuir; into leaf patterns and arranging suitable colour palettes resulting in a final design layout:

References: https://learningspaces.dundee.ac.uk/soc-dig18-amaduncan/2019/04/19/references/