FLOATING GARDEN

Project which explores the interaction between people and plants, in a healthcare environment, especially in the rehabilitative array.

Horticulture is common in a lot of hospitals these days but is suited only to patients who can leave their beds, wards and come to the hospital garden, if there is one…
Patient don’t take part in the horticulture sessions in the garden for many different reasons, problems in physically getting to the garden, shyness and delicate emotional state, fear to go out of a familiar place, language and basic communication problems, etc.
The challenge was to bring the nature to the people.
This project brings in nature into the different wards in the hospital, near the bed-sides of the patients.
This “floating garden” enables to conduct an occupational therapy with plants near the bed- side, in an environment that is more suitable and comfortable for different types of patients.
All of the gardening tools that are needed during the session are hidden underneath the “garden” And are easy to access, in this way you see only the plants without the massy tools.
The floating garden allows touching, smelling and exploring with the therapist all the different plants that are in it.

The project was done in collaboration with the Reuth Medical Center & university hospital which provides medical, rehabilitative, chronic care & nursing care to adults, the elderly, children and infants. Israel.

(via: https://vimeo.com/35059292)

My mind is developed a new area by this video, it’s not just design a product for these patients, actually a great service will also help them to feel happy. Maybe I can use such a service way to develop my project.

50 ideas

I separated my 50 ideas in 4 parts: Nature, Activity, Communication and Equipment.

This is the idea packages, i will give them to the participant after they finished the board. i’ll give them one package which depends on the result  of the idea boards they have done. Like if it is high rate on communication parts, i’ll give them this  package, and let them choose which ideas they prefer. It help me to develop the ideas.

 

Hospital Ward Experience Prototype

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tse said :” What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand!” 

Experience prototyping allow designers, clients or users to “experience it themselves” rather than witnessing a demonstration or someone else’s experience.

In order to understand existing user patients’ experiences and feeling, explore and evaluate the design ideas and test whether the idea works or not through comparing the first experience prototype and the 2ed prototype. I did the ward experience prototype in a small room. I used different kinds of materials to decorate the room and let it look like  a hospital ward.

And that is the time line of my prototype.

I began at 2 to 5, it’s 3 hours. the nurse took me to the hospital. and i took the drip. At 3:15, the nurse came to check me, and gave my medicine. Then I began to sleep, but the light is too bright and straight so I can’t fall sleep. So I call the nurse to close the light. After a little while sleep I began to listen to the music and go to the bathroom. At 4:30 my friend came to see me and we had a chat. Then I began to read book. At 5, I leave this room, feel fresh!! I want to experience different things, so i have the friend visiting, the night, the drip, the medicine and also the toilet as well.

After the project’s idea come out,  I will test it in the 2ed experience prototype and compare the results with the 1st experience prototype, through this I can know whether the idea works or not.

More thoughts on the question board

Today, I gathered up the information I’ve already done, and try to improve them. I found the 1st kit board still has some problems and not reasonable for participant to fill it. Like people probably choose the drip part, because they don’t actually want to that, but it’s necessary. Make another board, which is for the things they don’t want in hospital can solve this problem. Another problem is, like the word ‘exercise’, it is not good for people realize what the exactly meaning it is, so it will make them confused to fill the board. I try to restart the brain storming about the word in the board from four aspects: COMMUNICATION, NATURE, ACTIVITY and EQUIPMENT. And also try to clarify what the things are.

To make  sure what’s the equipment in the hospital ward,  I contact a nurse who has worked in Victorial Hospital.  Regarding   equipment  etc. each hospital now is usualy  built with certain criteria in place, beds are designed in such a way , that they help the patients to rest and also help the nurses  to manoeuvre the patient without any problems i.e. basicaly health and safety.  Most beds are designed to raise up and lower with the patient in bed so as to prevent back problems with the staff and patient themselves . Also each bed has its own bed table which loops over the end of the bed  easy axcess for each patient . And for the nursing staff  so you usualy find that the patients files are clipped on to the end of the  bed to make it easy for the nurses to update there treatment as required when necessary .

Now at each bedside each patient has a call system which incorporates as  a buzzer to call the nurses  when a patient needs help  ie to get help to assist them to the bathroom or if they require help over to the shower. Also incorporated  within  the handset  is  switch to put on a bedside  light which is above the patients head there is sometimes found a headset  with a dial which is linked to the hospitals  radio station  and volunteers come round at least once a week to talk with the patients to choose a song they would like to hear on the radio  as a request.

Most modern hospitals are designed in such a way  each ward would have  about six  single rooms with ensuite toilets and hand basins . The main ward would consist of four five bedded bays, the only problem with that is each patient whose bed is in a bay you do not have the same privacy  as if you were in a single room which has a door the only means of seperating  each bed is by  a very large curtain  which pull around each bed on a single track the other problem being  is, that every time that the doctors come into the main ward to discuss your ongoing treatment every one within the bay no matter how quiet the doctor  tries to speak your medical history is known to all the patients in your close vicinity. not the ideal situation .

DAY4 Playful prototyping

This morning we had a lecture with undergraduate students. Nicholas introduced some projects to us. The most impressed me is the squirrel, they use their little hands to hold a little sign. Really lovely!!! Actually they use some food like peanut to spread on the back of sign, then waiting for the squirrel coming and hold the sign. Which is brilliant and playful!

What I learned from this lecture:

Never worry about people do.

JUST PLAY! Play in design is more like self directed exploration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon, we met with Tom Inn. We learned how to use prototype to plan a workshop. We can use brief, storyboard, warmup activities…And also we knew some details from Ton，just like we need to think about the space we are in, and how to catch everyone’s attention.

 

Tom showed us his formal workshop sheets to us. He let people to sketch their business as a tree. What are its roots? What are the branches of activity? What business offerings (fruits) do you produce? What are the buds of future business? And what do you need to sustain your tree?

They can find who interested in his business tree, and find their business information. Which established a network between different business.

I feel I learned a lot to run a workshop after class. And I began to think about how to run the workshop of my project. I don’t know what it exactly is, but one thing I know it will be playful!

 

Day2 Security Prototype

Busy but interesting day!

We did the prototyping exercise today, Jamie, Sara, Jie and I are in the same team. We had 2 projects, one is SECURITY, another is FLEXIBLE PLACE. we need to choose one to do.

That is the process we did:

choose the project—> map: different kind of security—> everyone pick one: we pick the public security—> map: what’s the problems in the public security?—> Everyone pick one way: I pick the damage the public facilities—> draw a story board about what you pick—>share everyone’s story board and think the ideas—> everyone pick the favorite idea—> PROTOTYPING!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through this exercise, I realize how the prototypes come out, what the process of the prototyping is. I really enjoy this process, every step is clean and efficiency.

What Angela’s team did was totally different with us, but also great as well, the short movie engaged me a lot. It is so funny and meanwhile it demonstrated the problems of security very well.

Prototyping has many kinds style, Role play, storyboard, sketches, modeling, movie and so on. All these can help me find out the problems. It’s used for UNDERSTANDING, LEARNING, MILESTONES and INTEGRATING.

It’s a good and useful exercise before I prototype my final project!

 

Day1 Pre- production to innovation& Story Shaping

The prototyping module start today. This morning we met with Fraser, he gave us the lecture about the prototyping. It’s really engaged me because we have a lot of fun to draw and play the plasticine. What I learned from the class:1. Nowadays, Prototyping is professional, playful and a way to research. 2. Creativity+play+prototypes  3. Next time to show my projects to others, it is better to use the some  prototypes to explain it than the sketches or notes. It will lead different effect to use the prototype! 4. Quickly to do the prototype, it doesn’t matter whatever it look like is, the quality is important.

This is a task sheet , we need to draw all the 30 circles in 30 seconds. I just finished 6… I have big room to improve my speed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 2:00 this afternoon, Christine Kingsley teach us to explore visual prototypes. There are 3 kind of person, yellow pen person, red pen person and black pen person. Yellow pen person is good at highlighting, red pen person is good at conclusion, black pen person is good at drawing. I think I’m the red pen person? Not sure…

I quite like the SQVID. S is sample, Q is quality and quantity, V is vision, I is individual attribute, D is Delta and change. Dan Rome use drawing apples to show us what it means. It is all in this amazing book that Christine recommended us ‘THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The visual thinking goal is to make complex understandable by making it visible – not by make it simple.

I use what we leaned this afternoon to draw the method I will use in my final project. It is a good beginning of the module, and just keep drawing!! And don’t afraid to show the things you draw, we should be naive like a child.

TALKING WITH JEANETTE

Today, I told with my advisor to introduce my project “An Illusion Of Space”, it is about how to change the temporary environment in hospital ward and improve the wellbeing of long-term patients. And show the rough ideas about how to change the environment. The problem is I can’t touch with the patients and see the ward in hospital, so what I need to do next step is to interview other people who is related to the hospital, maybe I can get some useful information from them.

-WHAT I TOOK AWAY…

Initial research is necessary for me, why people don’t like in hospital, what’s the problems in hospital. There are many individual opinions, such as a lot of people don’t like the smell in hospital, the quality of light, up lighting, the curtain around them is not useful for reducing the noise. Actually lots of people feel the same.

Having use of nature can be very beneficial. In this country, they don’t like plant in hospital, because lots of nasty bugs, they are difficulty to kill and get rid of them, people can died because of the bugs, so it’s a very serious problem. Recently, they have stopped people to bring the plants and flowers into patients when they visiting, because they are worrying spreading them.

Here is a news about this problem.

“Rat eats away at terrified patient as he lay in his hospital bed”

(via: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/rat-eats-away-at-terrified-patient-744392)

In terms of ethics, need to be careful to talk with patients, what is allowed to do. We need to respect other people, because research maybe has bad effect on people. It will take 3-4 months to get the ethics, so talk to the people who is recovered. Spoken to the nurse in the hospital. Does it need to be in a specific hospital? Define the long time, is that 2-3 days or 2-3 months?

Officer working environment , just through a painting on the wall can make them reduce the stress. I want to  make the ward look bigger through the illusion way, but actually some old hospitals actually are very big (need to do the research). So before I decide on the illusion way I want to develop this idea, try to different ideas.

Through the talk with Jeanette, I found I need to careful about many things which are easily to ignore, but very important. Such as the plants, it can lead to the bugs in hospital and damage the hygiene in the hospital. Every things have their good effect and bad effect, when I consider a question, I need to be more comprehensive to think about it. However, before consider the questions, knowing what’s the real problems in hospital that people told you is also necessary. That will help me to get a good solution of the problem.

-WHAT I NEED TO DO NEXT STEP…

1. What are the problems in hospital or what is good things?
2. Think about whatever I designed need to be easily cleaned. Hygiene is very important in hospital. And material can be cleaned very easily, moved easily, like cables wires on the floor. Make sure nothing can be dangerous or have negative effect on anybody else in the ward such as patients or staff…like that…
3. Find people’s opinion of hospital, what works what doesn’t work, equally what the things people like in hospital as well.
4. It also worthwhile to table some restrictions what kind of my design will be.
5. Creating brief for my self, a guideline for me able to design things
6. Really clear about what type people I designning for, which age group, long team, several weeks.

Role play

Role playing means physically acting out what happens where users interact with products or services.

Why

Taking the role of the user and acting out their interactions with a design can prompt more intuitive responses and help you to refine your design. Role playing is particularly useful for prototyping interactions between people, for example in a service context.

How

Define a character or characters who will use or deliver the end product or service you are designing. Isolate key moments where these users interact with your product or service, and then act them out – with or without props.
Use your intuitive responses prompted by the enactment of the scenario to refine your design.

I think role play is a very good method to explore other people’s perspective to think about the problems that may exist. If you stand on other people’s view, you will get more reasonable and comprehensive answers.

As a team, Steph, Jun and I began to focus on each one’s project to run the role play. For me , I found the most important thing is set the right characters, if we didn’t set a right role, the answer would be deflected.

To my project, I set 3 roles at first, child who broken leg, dad and doctor. As a child, she needs a change of scene, different toys not more toys, friends, live entertainment and to be taught school in hospital, so we take more attention on how to make children happy, but not make patients happy. Then, we analyze the problem with Hazel, she said there are many stuff have been done for children, and few people will take attention on adult, so maybe change the role will be better. We changed the role of patient, who is around 50 years old male. The role play started again, and in this time, we got a lot of great ideas, such as mail box, voice recorder, press reduced place…

2ed poster

This is my second poster.  mdpresearchpostercontent2

Really appreciate to give some good suggestion! If you have experience to live in hospital, can you share your feeling with me?

Today Hazel told us to draw a picture which can stand for your project, and I did an image box, my aim is to reduce the stress of patients and bring them the nature.