This project's purpose was not to simply learn to design with a person outside the study or for a variety of problems that are not so obvious, but to understand the co-designer and learn from and with them. The case owner is a pregnant woman who already has a daughter and a partner, yet she is much more. Throughout the project, she had shown the group how strong she is as both a woman and a mother; since the first meeting with her, in both the observations and the visual notes it was noted in utter awe how impressive she is. This self-reliance caused a bit of difficulty early in the project as she herself did not see any place where she needed help.

 

When it came to the pregnancy, she had everything planned and was already experienced due to her first pregnancy. Even with the pregnancy, she never stops giving care to her child, even including care and time in her daily plans to keep her part of the pregnancy. All of this showed the group what kind of person the co-designer is, which became a primary part of plans moving onward. The co-designer clearly wants to keep her independence and still be in control of her life as much as possible. When the problems were finally pinpointed, and ideas began flying, it was agreed with the co-designer that every idea should not solve the problems but rather help her deal with it. This became the design philosophy for the remainder of the project and all concepts moving forward. This also meant that most ideas that included automatic mechanisms and electronics were discarded.

 

This philosophy has many ways of being implemented which allowed it to be kept for most concepts with relative ease. The first iteration of the final concept includes a lever to help close and open the steps. Later iterations of this concept removed the lever as it seemed to be in the way, disrupting its primary use but they include space for the co-designer to assist her child. Multiple minor aspects of the final design are made to assist the co-designer in her life rather than solve an issue for her. The whole purpose of the product is to help the co-designer get her child on the bike, not to get the child on the bike itself. Using the philosophy of independence was a challenge at parts but it resulted in a product that made both the group and the co-designer proud, a product that serves its purpose in every way and a product that can be used safely and effectively. In essence, the understanding and use of independence wasn’t just useful but also beneficial to the product’s creation.