Week 2 - Design capstone | Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

During the first week of Semester 2, I found myself still in a semi-holiday daze, struggling to absorb the course plans for Des 301 and Des 302. Other than thoroughly reading through assignment briefs and organising templates on a Miro board, I didn't make much progress. Realising this, I made a decision to kickstart my blogging journey in the second week. As a novice blogger, I opted to employ the Gibbs' Reflective Cycle to guide my reflections for the week.

• Description of the experience

• Feelings and thoughts about the experience

• Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad

• Analysis to make sense of the situation

• Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently

• Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate.

As a design student with a strong passion for technology, my project theme revolves around harnessing Neurofeedback technology in conjunction with interactive feedback to establish an innovative and sustainable mental health support system. This system aims to effectively address mental distress among individuals with physical disabilities in New Zealand. My inspiration for this project stems from my diverse background and unique perspective.

Having lived in both China and New Zealand, I bring a multicultural lens to my design approach, emphasising cultural inclusivity and accessibility. I firmly believe that designers should not only possess technical skills and creativity but also draw from diverse fields and cultural influences to drive positive societal impact. My multicultural upbringing has enriched my design philosophy, equipping me with a broader understanding of various perspectives and resources.

I initially prioritised the design methodology that will be consistently applied in my entire capstone project. The human-centred approach and iterative process (with steps overlapping) are well-suited to the 'emotional' theme of psychological issues, particularly in the realm of human-machine interaction where user experience plays a crucial role. However, there is a risk of bias when users are not adequately representative (due to factors like being non-specific, limited in number, or ethical considerations). For further insights and research findings, please refer to the IDEO human-centred design methodology refinement image.

After a month of reviewing the 300 proposals, I not only refined the methodology but also uncovered numerous overlooked details and identified long-term feasibility issues. While expanding on the selective reading and social precedents from the original proposal was straightforward, delving into the Business, Economic, and Sustainability strategy section proved to be unexpectedly enlightening. Despite knowing that this section was supplemental, I didn't anticipate immersing myself in professional economics to the extent that I did. Distinguishing between business and economic strategies alone took half a day, evoking memories of Peter's Innovation Entrepreneurship course (Des 220) from my university days, where circular finance was discussed. Drawing from this experience, I found relevance in my research on strategy, extending it to encompass professional economic analysis of companies, industries, markets, and customers. Additionally, I utilised the Sustainable Business Model Canvas from Des220 as a comprehensive framework to approach the issue from various perspectives.

The material exploration section includes an analysis of both hardware and software tools. During this exploration, I came across OpenBCI, a company that caught my attention with their head-mounted device named Galea, introduced in 2019. This device aligns perfectly with the functionalities I am currently envisioning for my project. Moreover, during the initial stages, valuable insights were shared by my stream leader Mairi and Dr Kunal from the Empathy Computing Lab, enhancing the direction of my project. Notably, while researching similar projects within the lab, I discovered that Dr Kunal had previously worked on a project closely related to my idea. This discovery sparked the idea of potential collaboration with Dr Kunal in the future.

Currently, my concerns lie with the technology and tools, especially after failing to find EEG (electroencephalogram) equipment related to brain-machine connection in the Fablab. I can only hope to rely on the Empathy Computing Lab (as these are the only two places I can access for now, although there may be other ways in the future). Fortunately, I can communicate with Dr Kunal from ECL regarding this issue, and I hope it can be resolved next week. I believe that once the hardware issues are resolved, software issues can be addressed by understanding which machines accept specific software, and then training through online tutorials or under the guidance of professionals. I am prepared to explore a large amount of code and modelling skills.

Next week, I plan to slightly integrate the main content of my project, such as the key ideas from the Des 300 proposal refinement, and contact Dr Kunal to confirm possible collaboration tools and ideas in the future.