PROJECT iFootprint
CLIENT MIT Sandbox, AgeLab
YEAR 2020-2021
ROLE Design Research, Interview, Workshop Design
COLLABORATOR Sheng-Hung Lee︎︎︎
PUBLICATION Featured by MIT HCIE Group︎︎︎
CHALLENGE
Help iFootprint, an MIT-funded startup, to explore the potentials of footwear experience
POTENTIAL
An preliminary research including experts and extreme user interviews, as well as the co-creation IoT workshop which inspired us of the future of footwear.
AWARDS
MIT Sandbox Innovaiton Prize︎︎︎
How to define “Smart” footwear?
The purpose of the study is to understand people’s ergonomic, health-related, safety-related needs while using in-home footwear through extreme user and expert interviews and participatory design methods. In this way, their key pain points can be identified that help comes up with the footwear by applying a human-centered design approach paired with system design. The study demonstrates the design thinking process from the stage of inspiration, ideation, to that of implementation to illustrate the complete and solid product design and development process. And it concludes with a suggested solution including product design, service model, and user experience and scenarios, as well as a set of principle-level design considerations for the future research of the in-home footwear?
A preliminary Survey
We investigated the product, data, and society dimensions around IoT (Internet of Things) footwear technologies with insights and empirical knowledge from exploratory expert interviews. The purpose is to find implications around future designs of IoT footwear technologies for the extreme users.
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We investigated the product, data, and society dimensions around IoT (Internet of Things) footwear technologies with insights and empirical knowledge from exploratory expert interviews. The purpose is to find implications around future designs of IoT footwear technologies for the extreme users.
Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through in-depth expert interviews and pre-surveys to explore topics and insights related to the design and development of IoT wearable technologies. Through synthesizing findings from expert interviews and pre-surveys, insights and concerning issues were summarized into three dimensions: product, data, and society.
The implications from this research can help overcome the obstacles that impede the inclusiveness and adaptability of IoT wearable technologies. This study concludes that it is essential for designers, engineers, and researchers to consider these non-technological issues when designing and developing future IoT wearable technologies for the extreme users.
