Bagmati — The Back Story
Project by: Tejas Sarvankar, Hemantkumar Das, Davis Chris, Rhea Pinto, sonal soni
Design Problem
Poor posture is the posture that results from certain muscles tightening up or shortening while others lengthen and become weak which often occurs as a result of one’s daily activities. There are different factors which can impact on posture and they include occupational activities and biomechanical factors such as force and repetition. Risk factors for poor posture also include psychosocial factors such as job stress and strain. Workers who have higher job stress are more likely to develop neck and shoulder symptoms. Poor posture can give back injuries.
Approach
How did We start?
Millions of Indians (especially in cities where people do have to travel a lot) suffer from Slumped, hunched, or rounded shoulders, protruding abdomen, swayback (an excessive forward curve in the lower back), the caved-in appearance of the chest.
Every fifth Indian in the age group 20–30 are suffering from various type of spinal ailments, which until a decade ago were common among senior citizens. According to doctors, there has been a 60 percent rise in spinal problems among the youth.
A survey of 20k patients who sought help for back or neck problems showed that almost 3/4th patients (73%) had lower back problems. Around 45% of the patients waited for seven weeks before seeking assistance.
Every 5th patient was aged 16–34, indicating that spine-related problems were occurring earlier in people.
We as a team chose and did the inside out process which is mind mapping. The mind map was divided into five major categories i.e Day to Day Activities, Psychological, Medical, Gym, Performances & Home Activities. We divided these categories which affect the body posture of human beings. These activities personally affected our team members this is the reason why we chose poor back postures as our Design Thinking project.
Now that we selected what we wanted to do, we used the design thinking methodology called E-D-I-P-T.
Empathize
What did We do?
Our team spent an entire day with a seventh-grade class at Nehru Nagar Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation School in Kurla in order to understand our problem more. Before entering the class, we noticed that inside other classrooms, it was too overcrowded and they all faced the blackboard of the classroom. But the 7th-grade class that we were spending the day with had a very different seating structure. They were four tables (for them) separated at four corners of the class and students sat around it. Those who were facing the back of the class had to turn around and copy the notes that were written on the blackboard and projector and hear their teacher talk.
We used the A.E.I.O.U framework to better understand the user’s (student’s) ecosystem.
We gathered materials via ethnographic methods: notes, photos, videos, interviews, field observations, etc. During field observations, we used the AEIOU lens to observe the surrounding environment.
At the end of the day, we recorded the observations under the appropriate headings and supplemented direct observations with photos or videotapes.
We measured each student with and without carrying their schoolbags and found out that most of them who carried 4 kgs or more didn’t like to use the table given to them in class and would rather write on their laps.
From the table (AEIOU) our team came up with two fundamental problems that not only affect a student’s back posture but also his/her ability to learn in a comfortable environment.
The bags that students were carrying were not only heavy but were big enough for an adult.
The above picture gives us clear insights on three things children slouch as their benches aren’t comfortable, the table assigned to the teacher to use is also given to students to write, and their bags are big enough to occupy most of the space on the bench. When they put their bags down, they find it uncomfortable enough to shift their legs and this leads to a bad back posture.
Now that we have analyzed the problem and did our primary research, we move to the next stage of the methodology, which is the Define stage.
Define
To drive the design decisions by taking common user needs and bringing them to the forefront of defining, Personas were developed which provided a shared understanding of students.
Problem Statement
“HMW design a product, system or service that can evoke interest in good posture and help them explore the same as a tangible product”
Ideate
We used to brainstorm, braindump, and brain write as the methods of ideation and came up with a number of ideas, in which some were ridiculous, as well as a tad funny.
Prototype
It was time for us to bring our ideas to life and hence we started with low fidelity prototypes.
We decided to go ahead with the Modular bag. We were quite interested in the concept and if a bag could also help correct the user’s posture then there’s nothing like it.
The above image was a second dirty prototype which was made within 4 hours which was called the PD4.
We added a little more detail to the already existing prototypes. We wanted to make it more interactive and also wanted to put a body posture corrector for the back straps so that it improves the user’s posture while carrying the load.
But we also realized that the belt buckle won’t be used by students (some of us don’t use it either) and decided against it. Our high fidelity prototype was made of pure leather, as the person, we went to make the bag only that leather.
Features of our high fidelity prototype:
The main element of the modular bag is the bag-strap that keeps the body posture right while walking. The bag strap is made out of neoprene and holds and pulls your shoulders back firmly, preventing rounding of shoulders.
This bag comes with five detachable modular bags which can be used five days of the week. In this way, they don’t carry extra books and can organize their bags on the weekend. The bag also comes with the backrest.
Since in the empathize stage we noticed that students like putting their bags at the back, the backrest will help them straighten their back and use the table.
Are back posture straps good for developing children?
A back posture corrector helps people to prevent hunchback, kyphosis, lordosis, winged scapula, round shoulders, regardless of the user’s age. Establishing a good posture in adolescence helps a child grow healthy and confidently.
Testing
Once the bg was ready, we took it out for testing and the children were happy with the results. They found the compact bag easy to carry and the benches were now comfortable to sit on because of the added backrest.
Bagmati — Features
Learnings
Identifying pain points was a challenge and spending a whole day with the students and keeping ourselves in their shoes helped better with the identification.
What’s Next?
The next step would be to test the bag more for a defined period, make the necessary changes based on the feedback from the students, and make the bag again with better material.
Thank You.
