The last class for DNB601.

After the short briefing and re-capping of the presentation information, we were able to split into our groups and get into the work that still needed to be done before presentations the following week. We had our scenario script prepared for this class so we were able to head outside and do outdoor scenes to make the most of the provided time. I've included a couple behind the scene shots for your enjoyment.. 

The chips that were left behind.. (the final video will explain all)

Here is a blooper for some laughs.

Stay tuned for the final video !

After we had a couple of shots at each scene we came back to class to view our acting skills. The skills proved to be anything but amazing, but we had captured the scenes that we needed, success!

Week 11 Class

We began with discussions on our model making, and headed over to the workshop to talk with the workshop men about the possibilities of our design. We had decided our material for the fish tank was to be Perspex. We had originally designed the tank to have a curved front and curved edges, however Perspex is very difficult to bend out of shape. From this we decided that the model of our tank was to remain rectangular, where as the actual model we will propose in the presentation will be the curved design. This will be shown by a CAD image of the tank.

In this lesson Yoakim experimented with the LED’s and trying to connect them to the pulsing system. He succeeded with this as he got two of the LED’s connected to the pulsing. Unfortunately Bec and myself have had no experience with this type of prototyping and were unable to provide much assistance. For the wristband we have a piece of silicon, which we plan to combine with the LED’s for our model. Having translucent silicon allows for the LED’s to shine through for the pulsing display.

Advantage of having pulsing LED’s? It provides extra motivation for the user- it allows them to visually see there current heart rate through the pulsing lights. Viewing this action whilst exercising encourages the user to push on.

Workshop !

Bec and myself headed to the workshop today to make our fish tank. Yoakim was busy modelling up the fish in CAD so that they could be 3D printed later in the week. Making the fish tank proved to be more difficult then intended as we hadn’t used the laser cutter before. After drawing our pieces up in CorelDraw we were able to process the cutting of the Perspex with the assistance of the workshop men.

After cutting the pieces we starting mocking up how they fitted together. Bec had to leave so the workshop men helped me with finding the right glue and equipment. Mentholated glue was used to join the pieces together. I used a syringe to use the glue which had a massive poison label on the front.. eek!

 I left the lid unattached in order to put the fish and other pieces in. All in all, it was a fun day at the workshop!

Marianella had a discussion last week with Yoakim about our fish tank design. She proposed the question of why we are having water in it if there are no live fish? This got us thinking about changing the design of the fish tank. We came up with the idea to have our tank wall-mounted and to eliminate water from the design. Having it wall mounted increases the elegance of the design.  The design will also have a curved front and curved edges to reinforce the elegance of the design. We will have the design as thin as possible so it can look sleek and appealing on the wall. The thickness of our real model depends on the thickness of the motor that will be secured on the top of the tank (either underneath the lid or sitting on top). If needed the motor may be able to sit next to the tank, however, it would be more appropriate on top so it can be directly above the fish in order to raise and lower them.

Tank design inspiration:

LOVE these designs especially the interconnecting one. However these are not all relative/possible for the design of our tank for this project.. They were sure fun to look at though!

Tank design progress development sketches:

The final sketch is the design that we went for, it keeps it simple however it is elegant and pleasant at the same time. This appeals to me/ the persona.

Further Possible Personas

Team Coaching

• Where the coach monitors the display tanks to view the performance among the team mates of a particular sport.
• This ensures the coach can view each of the results of his team
• An example persona where this would be effective: A netball team. If there is a specific number of the team members which desire to increase their fitness. The coach would be able to monitor their performance and provide added encouragement!

Elderly Age Group

• Exercise becomes more of a health issue for the elderly. Adaption to our Physical Physh product could result in improving the overall health of this group.
• The Physh system could be altered to measure the heart rate increases during fitness exercises like yoga, pilates and aerobics. These are all sports which the elderly age group are encouraged to participate in. The product system could add an aspect of into their daily routines.

Professional athletes

• This persona could be interested in Physh in order to better their current fitness levels.
• Another benefit would be to view what fitness levels their competitors are at. However, this information may not always want to be shared.

Pregnant Women

• Possibility to focus more on improving and maintaining flexibility rather than exercise
• Added motivation is beneficial for both the baby and the mother
• Motivation for any form of exercise is often difficult whilst pregnant due to the changing hormone levels within the mover

About the Persona

Persona Design

This week had us re-capping on everything we had done in our workshops. We began focussing again on the initial Personas and User Interaction. Google defines a persona like this: As used in the design field, the Persona is an artifact that consists of a narrative relating to a desired user or customer's daily behavior patterns, using specific details, not generalities. 

I decided to do all of the exercises shown in this lecture again for my final design, as it has changed dramatically since the workshops began. I think each of these exercises will be use full in helping to support the Final Design Concept. 

Please click to enlarge

I began by investigating all of the attributes within the topic of 'Measuring Exercise'. Below are the results.

This mind map outlined many of the elements involved in the topic of measuring exercise. These topics were further explored, when they were put into a 'Day in the Life Of' scenario. The following is what I came up with for my user.

Persona: Group of Friends- This group of friends are studying courses at university and are wanting to get fitter and tone up before the end of year uni ball. They are each passionate about outdoor exercise but struggle to put the time aside to complete the exercise. They would like to begin group exercise between the group, but are not always available at the same times each day.

This outlines the persona to be a group of friends and then focusses on a day in one of the friends lives. I concluded that each of the friends days would be fairly similar as they all attend uni, and have part time jobs. The 'Day in the Life Of' scenario highlighted the main point to be these particular users have little time to spare whilst managing uni, work, and a social life all at once. Exercise for many of these people is considered an extra chore/ is time that could be put towards something else. This particular 'day' allowed for exercise in the early morning (just after waking up), but instead the girl wasn't motivated enough to go and put the time towards extra study instead. Another key factor within this group is procrastination. When trying to study it is difficult to remain focussed all throughout the day- exercise can help as proven by scientific research!

These Key Issues were highlighted and explored on another mind map. This reinforced the connection between the Physh Tank Concept and our users. It had the overall outcome achieving motivation to exercise.

I then began combining our concept with various narratives to portray the user behaviour and needs.

Narrative one:

A group of 3 friends Bec, Yoakim and Lisa all want to get fit before their end of year Uni ball. Lisa becomes stressed with uni work and begins to make excuses to not exercise each day. Lisa views her fish tank on the 2^nd day of no exercise and sees her fish at the bottom of the tank and can see Bec and Yoakims fish towards the top, Lisa feels very embarrassed. She immediately moves her goal laser upwards to let Bec and Yoakim know that tomorrow she plans to increase her amount of exercise. Bec and Yoakim enjoy a sigh of relief knowing Lisa is now back in the game.

This narrative showed how our Physh Tank concept can be successful within a group of 3 friends who want to get fit in time for a uni ball. Having the uni ball as a goal, places a demand on the friends as they need to accomplish the fitness level by a certain date. Being able to view what the other friends have achieved, again increases motivation within the friends.

Narrative two:

A coach is training 3 people for the Gold Coast marathon in 4 months and uses the physh tank to monitor and help encourage the efforts of each person. One person takes very well to the exercise challenge and is determine to get their fish above the others. The two other people are slower to take off. The coach encourages one of the lower achieving people to set their laser goal just above the other person. As the other person views this, they become motivated to ensure the other member does not get ahead of them. The coach is happy as he can see each of the physh are back in the game.

This narrative showed how the Physh Tank concept can be successful when there is a coach involved within a group of friends. Although the coach does act as further encouragement for the friends- he needs the Physh Tank to view the progress of each person. 

Group Exercise

Research: Is group exercise more effective than individual exercise?

New research suggests that group exercise unleashes a flood of chemicals in the brain, triggering the same responses that have made collective activities from dancing and laughter to religion itself such enduring aspects of human culture. For some (but not all) people, finding workout buddies could help turn fitness into a pleasant addiction.

Researchers from Oxford's Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology report on a study of the university's famed rowing team. The crew was divided into teams of six, each of which performed a series of identical workouts on rowing machines. The only variable was whether the workouts were performed alone, or in teams with the six machines synchronized by the crew's coxswain.

Results:

After each workout, a blood-pressure cuff was tightened around one arm of each subject until he reported pain, an indirect method of measuring endorphin levels in the brain. Endorphins – the same chemicals that stimulate “runner's high” – produce a mild opiate high and create a sense of well-being as well as blocking pain. Sure enough, the rowers' pain threshold was consistently twice as high after exercising with their teammates compared to exercising alone, even though the intensity of the workouts was identical.

“We also suspect that shared goals – ultimate goals, like winning the big race, and proximate goals, like endeavouring to row together in synch – are at least part of the trigger,” she said by e-mail.

Endorphins are produced by virtually any vigorous physical activity, but group work appears to enhance the effect dramatically – and there's plenty of evidence that exercise classes meet that description. In a series of studies stretching back more than a decade, University of Saskatchewan professor Kevin Spink has found those who feel a greater sense of “groupness” and cohesion within an exercise class are more punctual, have better attendance and even work harder.

Is Group Exercise Better than Working Out Solo? 2010. Accessed 2, October, 2011.

  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/is-group-exercise-better-than-working-out-solo/article1421529/

WHAT does this mean for our project?? This evidence will greatly assist our concept- as we are arguing that our 'exercise motivation' product, will be successful because it allows the users to interact with the results of each others fitness. This article also proves that similar group goals further benefit exercise motivation. This research not only proves the successfulness of group fitness over individual fitness, but also re-confirms the connection between exercise and mood improvement. 

Conclude: Group exercise is more successful than individual exercise !

Laser Goal Development

The main concern derived from our design freeze presentation was that we hadn't focussed on the tangible interaction from the users. We needed to include an aspect of information that acted as a level of communication between the users. The reading of exercise was an automatic input that was shared between the users. In class we began considering what useful information could be communicated for the design.

Our most successful idea was to transfer user goals back and forth to each other. IE. if your friends fish beat you today, you can communicate through the tank display that tomorrow you intend to beat there fish by so much etc. I began looking at possible ways this could be shown through the tank. I firstly considered having two fish for each user (one to display your goal for tomorrow, and one to display your exercise achievement for that day)

After trying different designs for the two fish display, I decided it would get too confusing, as the user would need to manually adjust one of their fish, and evidently would mean each fish would need to be labeled. We discussed the use of lasers in class and how that would be possible for this design. I mocked up some sketches of how I believed this to be possible..

Initial inspiration for the magnet laser design came from a similar system that I used to have with my actual fish tank years ago. It was to clean the glass of the tank on the inside. They were magnetised and had a mesh grip material on one side of the inner tank cleaner. (images below)

Design Freeze

The past week saw significant development on our concept design. We were able to figure out the ins and outs of what we wanted from our design and what it definitely needed. In final the short brief of our design is to display the amount of exercise performed by each person by mechanical fish.

This is our Week 9 Design Brief: (click to enlarge)

Design Narrative: