IDEO: Day 2 (Brainstorming and Rapid Prototyping)

After our user studies yesterday, we summarized our findings of major findings and presented them to the other groups. The resulting list of 11 design aspects helped to inform the other work that we did throughout the day.

A quick presentation introduced the key IDEO brainstorming guidelines:

1. Defer Judgment
   
2. Encourage Wild Ideas
   
3. Build on the Ideas of Others
   
4. Stay Focused on Topic
   
5. One Conversation at a Time
   
6. Be Visual
   
7. Go for Quantity
   

With that, we were off. Our group (an amalgamation of people who had participated in each of the 3 user studies) came up with more than 50 ideas in about 45 minutes, and I think each of the other groups generated even more.

After lunch, we moved from brainstorm mode into prototyping, where the watch words are "Rapid", "Rough", "Relevant" and "Repeat". The idea, of course, being to get user feedback as quickly as possible on key design considerations, prove the feasibility of proposed designs and try out different "high risk" alternatives to test different points in the search space and narrow in on the most promising ones. IDEO is well stocked to support that, so they had all sorts of materials and tools to build prototypes quickly.

Our design focus furthered the medicine prescription compliance problem that we'd been working with so far. Our subject was a 42-year old rheumatoid arthritic woman, with interests in her kids and exercise. The design goals were:

1. Maintain a connection with the doctor
   
2. Keep a regimen
   
3. Be portable
   
4. Respect privacy
   

Our group produced a prototype of a pillbox integrated with a water bottle carrier. It wrapped around a drinking water bottle as an insulating sleeve, but had a timer / alarm device (with voice recorder so the trigger could be the patient's daughter plaintively asking Mommy whether she had taken her pill). Higher tech options involved a "silent" mode where the alarm triggered a flashing light that illuminated the water; a "smart dosage" mode where the appropriate medications dropped into a chamber; and a "compliance monitoring" mode where the door used to get the meds out triggered a time stamp, recorded by the device and uploaded (via either bluetooth or a code displayed on the device's LCD that could be submitted via web form at a later date). This compliance record was sent to the patient's doctor and HMO, where she receives a discount off her premium if she maintains full compliance.

It was fun to see what other ideas had emerged as well:

• Internet-enabled picture frame that had reminders at apporpriate times
  
• A stylish brooch that acted as a pillbox
  
• A bracelet equipped with alarm
  
• A medicine "advent calendar"
  
• A pez dispenser with your doctor's head
  

All in all, a fun, instructive couple of days that were good for getting us to work together as a group, think creatively, and impart some useful tools and processes.