Home Ergonomics

Read a recent piece I'm quoted in discussing ergonomics for the home. Most of us don't realize just how much of an impact simple adjustments can make.
http://gettysburgtimes.ctwfeatures.com/home/home_20111012_ergonomics.html

To read the rest click the url above!

Evening at NYC Resistor

Tonight I went to Craft Night at NYC resistor to get some technical advice for the scale I've been developing as part of thesis. I've designed a scale that is extremely flat, almost level with the floor, to be effortlessly accessed by stepping or rolling onto. The design considers that not everyone weighs themselves standing, and that most bathroom scales are not useful to those using a wheelchair. Also, since not everyone is able view the floor display, a wireless display is visible from the wall or counter.

So after studying varied user needs, the next step was to hack a scale I bought on Amazon...

The very helpful group at NYC resistor offered some suggestions for making a working prototype.

      

So the next step is finding either a solution with piezo conductive fabric, or flat load cells, or both?

More to come...

Asking the people

People have different ideas about what constitutes universal design (as demonstrated Left).


Since perception plays a powerful role in shaping both understanding and acceptance (or rejection) of ideas, I frequently ask people what their thoughts are on universal design, including whether they can think of any universally designed products they own.


The responses are varied, and sometimes entertaining. As Arnold pointed out upon explaining the "universal design" behind his monster lighter pictured Left, "this design will allow all people to smoke easier even in old age."


What more could you ask for?

Pratt Thesis Projects

http://prattmid.blogspot.com/2011/10/carla-jaspers.html
Learn about the initiatives of current Pratt students with future goals!
Presentations are December 9, 2011 in Pratt Studios Rm 43.

Design fail!

Ugh! The dreaded tennis ball on the legs of a walker. Words cannot describe how unhappy this makes me. Its the quintessential example of a design fail, but ask anyone who's suffered through dragging the standard rubber walker feet around and they'll tell you what a great little trick the tennis ball idea is.

What's worse is that now manufacturers have made this phenomenon commonplace by making actual tennis ball attachments instead of improving the design of the initial object. This, to me = lame. At least cutting a tennis ball open with a utility knife and jamming it on the leg of a walker demonstrates that someone was resourceful enough at some point to fix a problem with a familiar household object, like sitting a kid on a phone book so they can reach the table at dinner when a booster seat isn't available...but "designing" and manufacturing and selling a product that is no more evolved and adds a bunch of unnecessary plastic is a step in the wrong direction. Not to mention that the design language continues to communicate that industry really isn't interested in providing the population who uses this product with a more sophisticated design solution.


When I came across this work, featured at the Conner Contemporary Gallery in Washington DC and posted on the BYT website, I had to smile. The statement is probably made better with this one image than with anything else I could write.