{"id":572,"date":"2021-09-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/wilsondesignloop\/?p=572"},"modified":"2022-09-01T10:18:07","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T17:18:07","slug":"behind-the-ice-sar-design-sprint-designing-for-the-search-rescue-community-in-iceland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/wilsondesignloop\/2021\/09\/24\/behind-the-ice-sar-design-sprint-designing-for-the-search-rescue-community-in-iceland\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the ICE-SAR Design Sprint: Designing for the Search & Rescue Community in Iceland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the Wilson School of Design, our intensive hands-on learning experiences aren\u2019t just limited to the classroom. This year, our Product Design students were invited to participate in the ICE-SAR Design Sprint: a four-day workshop focused on designing innovative solutions for the Icelandic Association for Search & Rescue (ICE-SAR). This non-profit organization is comprised of search and rescue volunteers who face rapid weather changes, extreme temperature shifts, and the island\u2019s natural hazards, to prevent accidents and save thousands of human lives every year.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The ICE-SAR Design Sprint was the result of a new collaborative relationship between WSD Faculty, Sue Fairburn, and Susan Christianen of the Icelandic Technology Transfer Office, who share an interest and commitment in design for extremes. Originally, the ICE-SAR Design Sprint was to be hosted in Iceland in May 2020, with Sue as an invited lecturer and panelist. The combined challenges of COVID-19 travel restrictions and an active volcano required the event to be shifted to remote delivery for international participants and in-person for those in Iceland (May 4-7, 2021). The hybrid approach provided an opportunity for designers, engineers, and researchers to work together to address important challenges and problems faced by the ICE-SAR volunteers every day \u200band it meant that a team of WSD design students could participate without leaving home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Faculty and Researcher, Sue Fairburn reached out to her Product Design students about participating in this workshop shortly after the Spring 2021 semester ended. Through lectures, exercises, and feedback from local industry professionals, these multidisciplinary teams were able to develop resilient solutions for key problem areas, such as communication, nutrition, injury, hypothermia and hygiene. This workshop was not only an opportunity to start designing again after a short break, but to collaborate with students from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts, professionals and industry, in small topic-focused teams. On the first day, our students were welcomed by the Icelandic Minister of Industry, Innovation and Tourism, \u00de\u00f3rd\u00eds Kolbr\u00fan Reykfj\u00f6r\u00f0 Gylfad\u00f3ttir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout this workshop, our students showcased an enthusiasm to learn and collaborate, while working remotely in a different timezone and virtual environment. On average, they worked from 2am to 12pm, and during the workshop\u2019s final days, they extended their hours from 3am to 10pm to help finalize their work which was presented in an auditorium for the hosts and other teams. On the final day, our students were given the chance to listen to the Icelandic Minister of Education, Science and Culture, Lilja D\u00f6gg Alfre\u00f0sd\u00f3ttir, provide closing remarks for the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One design team was solely comprised of WSD students from both the Product Design and Technical Apparel Design programs. They were tasked with researching the challenges of emergency shelters for ICE-SAR volunteers and designed an  innovative, lightweight and quick-deploying shelter for victims of hypothermia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the workshop, it was announced that two of our Product Design students and their respective teams were honoured with First Place and Second Place for their innovative design solutions. We are so proud to see our students be recognized for their perseverance, determination, and their passion for problem solving, during this event.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We reached out to these students to learn more about who they are and the work they did in the ICE-SAR Design Sprint:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Rebekah Mercs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

First Place Team<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foundations in Design Graduate. Product Design Student, 2nd Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebekah is a student who originally intended to apply for the Interior Design program, but ended up finding her passion for Product Design through the FIND program. In her all-student team for the ICE-SAR workshop, Rebekah was the only Wilson School of Design student; she had the chance to work with two industrial design students, a programmer, and an engineer. With the other two design students, Rebekah helped with developing the interface and interactivity of their prototype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ICE-SAR Live Feed Interface<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This communication-based solution focused on creating a practical system for relaying messages and visual feedback between the members of the Incident Management Team during Search & Rescue operations. This web-based platform and app allows the user to browse through multiple video livestreams and to request access for specific field pictures instead of relying on emails with attached files. During the design process, Rebekah and her team focused on creating a product that was simple, clean, and functional.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Although this was Rebekah\u2019s first experience with the platform \u201cFigma\u201d, she was able to use her experience with developing websites in Adobe XD during the Product Design program to help design the interface for this prototype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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