BRIEF

‘design for an underserved user group of your choice and use your findings to develop a suite of products that will fulfil some unmet needs. You should also develop a brand identity to encompass all of these products and design a business strategy to best help your users’

June 2018

SKILLS

This project was done as a group. We developed the brand identity as a team and then individually designed a product within that identity. I was key in performing the user research and helped form the strong bond we had with the stroke rehabilitation group.

We developed a brand and a suite of products to help with stroke rehabilitation. As part of our research we formed very close ties with a physio therapy group in Notting Hill called LEGS. We attended several group physiotherapy sessions with people who had undergone a range of debilitating strokes, and tried to work out how we could improve their lives.

Returning to them with our prototypes was one of the most rewarding design experiences I have ever had.

Being able to listen to someone’s problems and then on paper and in the workshop, turn that knowledge into something that can actual help them is why I love design.

 I designed a device to help stroke survivors become more independent in the home, by allowing them to overcome some of the difficulties with asymmetrical paralysis. In particular I wanted to focus on helping them carry objects around their home. As a brand, we wanted to make disability products that didn’t look like disability products. We wanted something that people would be proud to own.

Working so closely with a specific underserved user group was one of the key achievements of this project. We built up complex relationships with the members of the LEGS physio therapy group, and this emotional attachment is what made the design so rewarding. I greatly improved my prototyping skills across a range of techniques, from vacuum forming to metal work. My approach to human centred design and user research methodology also highly evolved.