Final Project

Project Overview

As part of week01's assignment for Principles and Practices, part one involves sketching and discussing ideas for a potential project.

Here's where I stand: I'm excited to be here and eager to bring the ideas in my mind to life. Coming here was the right choice—a chance to challenge myself and push my boundaries.

I'm full of ideas, but I've never drawn anything in my life or used design or technical tools. Unlike my incredibly talented classmates, I'm starting from scratch. Because of that, I'm committing to documenting everything in detail, hoping it'll help future beginners. Wish me luck!

Time Management

Unfortunately, I've been down with a heavy flu and only started the assignment on Saturday. I managed to work half to three-quarters of the day planning how I'd tackle it on Sunday. Now it's 6 PM on Sunday, and the Monday morning deadline is staring me down.

They weren't kidding when they said at bootcamp: "WATCH YOUR TIME! However much time you think you need—double or triple it!" I thought I needed 2–3 days to finish parts 1 and 2, but realistically, unless you're already skilled in drawing and building websites, you'll need a lot more time.

Take it from me: ALWAYS plan for more time. Seriously, always more!

Since I am short on time. I will just focus on this one idea and add another two or three when I have more time on Tuesday. Daniel, our lead instructor will listen to our ideas and give us feedback, so that is pretty exciting.

Background to the Idea

I used to live in Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia lying on Java Island). It is the largest metropolis in South East Asia and like other cities in South East Asia suffers from extremely bad air pollution. It is not something that I ever thought about in my life, but I noticed that certain parts of the year just 'felt' unhealthy.

The graphics below show that January and February are the least polluted, driest months. From March to December, pollution levels rise to hazardous levels, worsened when garbage is burned on nearby islands like Sumatra, and winds carry the smoke eastward.

Read the Air Quality Report (Page 8)

Minimum Viable Product

My idea is simple: create clothing with built-in pollution sensors connected to an LED display. Powered by wireless charging, the LED changes color or gives auditory warnings when pollution exceeds safe limits. This is the MVP. If time allows, I'd like to add more sensor capabilities.

Design Sketches

My sketching skills are currently stick-figure level, but I'm working on improving. I've experimented with ideas from ChatGPT and Grok, tracing rough outlines over my laptop screen. While the results weren't inspiring, I know what I like when I see it and will keep refining the design.

Target Audience

This product is for health-conscious individuals who want to stay fit and monitor air quality without the hassle of carrying a phone. The MVP focuses on pollution, but future versions could track other metrics too!

24th February Update on Final Project

I am very interested in the above project idea about the Health & Fitness wearable technology and there are a number of other ideas that I will describe soon, but I have chosen to do something a lamp which is both interactive design and smart home technology. I will think of a name for it. Today, I presented it to Daniel Mateos and Didac Torrent.

In the second and third slide is a curated selection of avant-garde designs, showcasing an interplay of form, materiality, and conceptual innovation that i liked. It encapsulates a range of expressions from minimalist to intricate by some renowned designers.

I have also included my own design on the third slide. While it is not yet finalised, there is a strong likelihood that the final version will closely resemble this initial concept. My immediate focus is on developing a Fusion 360 model, as the sooner I complete it, the faster I can create a laser printed mock-up in cardboard to evaluate its feasibility.

I anticipate that the Fusion 360 stage—my greatest weakness—will be the most challenging aspect of the project. However, once I overcome this hurdle, I expect programming to be relatively straightforward for the demands of this project and hopefully next week in Electronics Production i can create a PCB design to be used.

I am one of those people who needs a tangible goal - something to chase, which I do with the persistence of a bloodhound on a scent. I can handle learning about other things along the way, but without a specific target to keep working on and sink my teeth into, i start to feel untethered.

My secret hope is that, against all odds, I manage to complete this lamp ahead of schedule. And by the time I finish, I will have inevitably learned about things I never anticipated, potentially inspiring me to embark on a second project rather than complicating this one further.

This is a nice design it seems, and was quite well received and the course of action is clearly defined now. If i had been able to create another project I think the most useful one to the world would probably be the capacative touch keypad that I had in mind which would avoid 90% of the pain/pressure on the joints from typing.

I started having pain from typing in 2020 and sometimes need to take a break from it. I have tried so many 'solutions' none of which really worked. More to come on this topic!