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Design Reflection 3

November 24, 2020 / Xavier Drysdale / 0 Comments

Throughout the past weeks, i have received much feedback about the layout and communication effectiveness of my wordpress blog. I spend quite a while trying to figure out ways of expressing my work in a way that both is easily understandable to new reader, and that can work for my though process. i have made the blog more streamlined and have decided to go with short edited videos to explain key segments in my process (the first if which is now on the front page).

through my research i have noticed a strong pattern of trackball mice being used amongst my target demographic. I have begun to look into the track ball mouse and am currently trying to extract key insights as to the key components that make them so ergonomically viable for use; I am also trying to get more hard statistics and numbers on things like this to back up my findings.

I have also decided to go more with a physical application and building/ideation approach to learn things rather than spending the majority of my time sketching and ideating on paper as this is the medium that generates the most creativity for me. I have now put a page on my blog for this purpose and will be populated shortly.

Side note insight:

I have been thinking about an interesting concept of providing more control over the mouse, yet supplying this feeling of freedom, where your hand is not constrained to one plane of motion.

Research Presentation feedback analysis

October 22, 2020 / Xavier Drysdale / 0 Comments

I made a research presentation communication piece to my audience in order to gain some feedback on my design possibilities. this site is https://w1w1w1w1.wixsite.com/website-2

I then downloaded the feedback form onto my computer to analysis the results.

feedback table Download

Some of the most repeated things were:
small, cheap, long hours, comfort, function

Some of the main points that persisted were that:
1) there may be a market for a hybrid of efficiency, comfort and functionality instead of improving only one
2)small, cheap, and wireless were among the most important features when looking for a mouse
3) hand size was pointed out as important
4)shallow mice are not good for long hours

[interesting insight is that a lot of people mentioned comfort as one if the top things they look for in a mouse, yet they value the efficiency and functionality as possibilities for this project. – maybe this mean that comfort is just a design requirement but doesn’t need to be necessarily improved. ]

This feedback is prompting me to possibly find a hybrid between some aspects of my design possibilities.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrom

September 24, 2020 / Xavier Drysdale / 0 Comments

“Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by pressure on the median nerve. The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway surrounded by bones and ligaments on the palm side of your hand. When the median nerve is compressed, the symptoms can include numbness, tingling and weakness in the hand and arm….Proper treatment usually relieves the tingling and numbness and restores wrist and hand function.” -MayoClinic

“Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most important disorders
for computer users. Nearly 260000 carpal tunnel syndrome surgeries happening in a year [,] 47% of that is associated with users job”. -Faraji, A., & Farahmand, M. R. (2013)

Hand major motions and its relation with CTS
Faraji & Farahmand express four motions that are predictable within an interaction between a user’s hand and a regular computer mouse:
• Pronation of forearm;
• Ulnar and radial deviation of wrist;
• Dorsi flexion of wrist;
• Extension, bending and lateral motions of fingers.

“If these motions exceed the excessive values, it leads to WMSDs in upper limbs. In fact these excessive situations will increase the carpal tunnel pressure”. -Faraji, A., & Farahmand, M. R. (2013).

References

Faraji, A., & Farahmand, M. R. (2013). “An ergonomic computer mouse for professional designers.” Applied Mechanics and Materials, 440, 194. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.kpu.ca:2080/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.440.194

MayoClinic. (2020, February 01). “Carpal tunnel syndrome.” Retrieved September 24, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20355603

Initial Direction

September 18, 2020 / Xavier Drysdale / 0 Comments

Reason

This topic is of interest because from personal experience, computer mice are generally not cohesive with the working environment, and their traditional shape is not comfortable to work with on a consistent basis. ” According to a report by Forrester Research, there were over one billion PCs in use worldwide by the end of 2008, and over 2 billion by the year 2015.”(Worldometer, 2020). Especially now with Covid-19, more people are working from home on their computers. Carpal tunnel has been combatted with new designs, however newer more ergonomically designed mice although minimalistic, tend to be quite bulky and/or cannot be easily transported in a seamlessly portable manner. Another issue that mice seem to have is that as a mouse becomes increasingly ergonomic, the presence of secondary features and functions is likely to also increase; most of which are normally non-intuitive and require long manual reads to utilize.

SCOPE:

Focus
- To find a computer mouse design solution that is more ergonomic, efficient, effective, and low profile.
Industry
- Creative industry/tech industry

Target Market (this may change)
- Primary Focus: Creative industry users who spend long hours on a set few of applications including: Video Editing, Visual Effects, Graphic Design, and CAD software.
- Secondary focus: everyday users / general public Individuals who use computers on a daily or frequent enough basis (at
Exclusions
- Most computer mouse designs that are at market stage have specifically designed PCBs (printed circuit boards) that are small enough to fit into the enclosure. Although my research will ensure that it would fit, this project will not be finalized with a functioning PCB. Instead I will likely be using Arduino.
- A base level and/ or a steak holder taught level of coding will likely be utilized, however very high levels of coding will be considered out of the scope of this project.

Methodology

I intend to use the school library online database, along with the internet and primary observation to accumulate the initial bit of research. I will then conduct user interviews with some friends that are within my target demographic, and then with other users (drafting a form 7 if necessary).Eventually I will transition into ongoing user consultation with some of the more experienced users. After the bulk of my research is collected, I will analyse the data using a series of tables and graphs. I will then synthesize this data using a list of pros& cons and with a table of product requirements that I will develop over the course of the project. After my research and data is synthesized, I will then begin initial concepts based on the requirement and pros & cons lists. I will subsequently produce many iterative designs, models, and prototypes (much of which will likely be lightly tested). once I have some concepts that are to full scale, I will begin full testing. I will then go back and forth between revisions to come up with a final working model. This model will not include a PCB and will instead be utilizing Arduino or another coding device such as raspberry pi. I will then produce a series of posters and video demonstrative elements to showcase the full conceptual design.

Anticipated Obstacles

one obstacle I may face is if the design solution includes secondary mouse functions, some of these may require a high level of coding that is outside the scope of this project.

References

“How many computers are there in the world?”, Worlometer, 2020, worldometr, retrieved from https://www.worldometers.info/computers/#:~:text=The%20second%20billion%20mark%20was,billion%20by%20the%20year%20201.

SEE DESIGN PROCESS

SEE FINAL DESIGN