Week 8

// broad concept ideation

The mid-semester reviews helped us to narrow down the direction we wanted to go in. We then represented our ideals and goal states through VOAs.

Although there are some definitions I am still unsure about, I think that the emotion category is crucial in relation to our goals.

In terms of ideation, we started out with an idea jam to put out a range of different concepts that address the needs identified through research and the goals identified through the VOAs.

We then created shortened VOAs for the ideas that seemed the most promising to see how they compare to one another.

We created quick sketches for each of these ideas and took the opportunity to expand upon them by drawing different variations. The main categories of ideas are:

[1] A virtual interface where patients can interact with each other through existing exam room tech:

[2] A virtual community that exists through a separate screen-based device:

[3] Devices that relay emotional connection signals through non-verbal forms of communication:

[4] Conversational assistants that reduce anxiety by sharing knowledge:

And [5] Participatory design that inspires community building:

Finally, we created an image board of these concept sketches and tagged them according to the needs they addressed. Tags included things like whether or not the product solution enabled patient to patient connection, patient to healthcare system connection, directly or indirectly, and the means of communication used.