Elderly Challenge reflection

1) What have you learnt?

I learnt that the elderly encounter lots of problems and may cause them harm. This links to one of the 10cs on “Citizenship and ethics” as by doing this “elderly challenge”, we are creating products that will benefit the society. This is also part of “Communication”. Sometimes, we would have to ask the elderly what they actually need and not just base it upon our assumption of what problems we think the elderly face.

I have learnt the importance of prototyping and the need to come up with sketches for the product. And the importance of thinking of design considerations to come up with a better product.
We would need sketches of our products to have a feel of what we are making instead of just having an idea and just trying to make it directly. From our sketches, we can see which parts would need to be fixed or adjusted before building our prototype. Even after we built our prototypes, we would still need to improve on it as we constantly get new ideas and not everything would turn out the way we expect it to. This links to “Critical thinking” and “creativity” as we need to think of innovative products for the elderly and sometimes, not all the solutions we come up with work and we would have to think creatively and critically to work our way around the problem and form a better product.

We would need curiosity when designing our products. Instead of sticking to conventional products, we would have to think out of the box and come up with something that has not been thought of before.

Collaboration was another key part to a good product. We needed to seek feedback from our peers to improve on our products. As everyone has different ways of perceiving problems, we would get more innovative solutions by gathering feedback from others.

I realized the need to think of essential and guiding questions to I realized the importance of writing down our ideas in our journal so we would be able to build on it and constantly generate new ideas. This is part of “Commitment”. We will have to constantly document our ideas and and not be lazy. Once we stop writing down our thoughts, it becomes harder to come up with more products or ideas as we forgot what we were working on.



2)What are the difficulties encountered / how I overcame them.


My ramp was not able to touch the ground at first, then I lengthened the range of the sliding joint. After building my first prototype purely out cardboard, I then realized that I would not be able to fit rubber matting in between the sliding joints. I had to cut the joints apart and then made it higher so there was room to put rubber matting in between the 2 sliding plates. Also, due to this, the ramp was rather flimsy when it was fully extended and it always caused the joints to snap. I had to build a flip-down stand to stabilize the ramp. My biggest problem was that as my ramp was made out of cardboard, it would be impossible to show a person using it in my multi-media presentation. So I had to take a still-image of my ramp and super-impose a person and a wheelchair moving up the ramp.

Ergonomics (Product description and Idea Trigger)

This product is simple, flat, smooth at the edges and symmetrical on the vertical axis. It is rubbery has only one colour. It is used to attach socks to a laundry clip. It has a square hole on both ends where a clip would clip on to the product. There are groves of the side where the socks would be stuffed in.
The design considerations are the size of standard clips, the size of socks and it's compatibility with them.
As this product is flat, so it would be hard for the elderly to pick it up when it is placed on a flat surface as there is no grip. It can be improved if there was a 'ring' at the top so it would not be resting completely flat and it would be easier to pick up.

'Understanding the elderly challenge'

The four key recommendations are:
A better environment for senior citizens to move around with greater ease, cheaper and better health care for the senior citizens, more opportunities for the elderly to lead a healthy lifestyle and build more bonds with the rest of the citizens and community. Finally a family for the elderly to live with.

The report suggest to vary the time spand of land leases so it can stagger the development of retirement housings by the private sector.

We could waive or give a discount on heath cares for the elderly to help them maintain their health. The government also helps the elderly by giving some funds to the elderly in their Medisave account to help them pay for medical fees.

If we see an elderly crossing the street or walking down stairs, we can approach and help them.
We can give our seat up to the older citizens in a train or bus
We can teach the elderly how to use modern day devices such as a computer, handphone or even a gaming console. This would help them stay up-to-date and even enable use to build bonds with them.

Ergonomics II

Ergonomics is the science of the design of equipment, between human operators and their workplace, which can be used to design working environments that maximize user efficiency.

The 5 aspects of Ergonomics are Safety, comfort, ease of use, productivity performance, Aesthetics.

For safety, there are wall-mounted rails to aid the elderly when they are moving around.
For comfort, there are wheelchairs so the elderly can move around with ease.
For ease of use, there are motion activated lights to help the elderly move around at night without having to on the lights.
For productivity performance there are canes to help the elderly walk faster and steadier.
For aesthetics, there is the massage chair, it looks good as a couch as well as massages your back.

Ergonomics I

1. Compare the 2 different workplaces, state your observations.
The chair in work place 1 is stiff, while the one in work place 2 is flexible and can be adjusted to the user's use.
The monitor in work place one is stuck in one position, while the one in work place 2 can be adjusted to the correct distance the user wants to look at it from.
The light in work place 1 is too glaring and hot, while the one in work place 2 can be moved around to point at the item to be illuminated.
The chair in work place 1 restricts the user's movement but the one in work place 2 can be adjusted to allow the user to move freely.
The man in work place one is tired after prolonged use of his laptop but man in work place 2 can work comfortably as there is a holder to tilt the laptop in a more comfortable position.
The desk in work place 1 is cluttered but with a "rail" in work place 2, the items can be suspended off the desk and be organized more easily.
2. Which workplace is preferred? State with reasons why one workplace is preferred over the other.
Work place 2 is more preferred as it is more organized and thus more comfortable and it helps us to concentrate better.
3. What are the considerations that should be taken into account when designing a workplace that is suitable for the user?
4. Why do you think that Ergonomics is important when designing?