Team Designing a Prosthetic Leg for Surfing: Process

Process

Before you start designing make sure the team is fully equipped and the design studio fully stocked with:

A3 format sketching paper
Sketching materials such as pencils, graphic pens, copic markers and coloured pencils
Loads of creativity and inspiration

So, is your team ready to get Johnny Paddlesmith back on a surfboard?

Step One: The first client meeting and design brief
(group task)

The team has been called to the offices of the client to meet with Johnny and his sponsors so they may brief you on details of their requirements for Johnny's surfing prosthesis and give you some background information that may be useful for the whole team to know.

The whole team will be making notes and quick sketches of information or ideas during the meeting.

They begin with a presentation of some surfing techniques and information about surfboards and how the body is used to control and use them.

Johnny spends the presentation pointing out the functional considerations he thinks will be important for his prosthesis, explaining the way he uses his legs when paddling, mounting the board and in applying foot pressure to control the board.
As the team designing Johnny's prosthesis you should take note of the ways he uses his board.

Watch and interact with the presentation below:

Surfboard control

How to manoeuvre a surfboard

Foot use in surfing video

Surfboard control video

The client thought it might be useful for the whole group to have some knowledge about prostheses, not just the specialist, so they arranged a second presentation.

Johnny keeps asking questions about how the prostheses work and what they might help a person do, he appears to be trying to find a way to apply existing ideas to his problem. He seems interested in knowing what they're made of and how it would withstand sporting use and seawater.

Watch and interact with the presentation below:

Prosthetic devices overview

How prosthetic limbs work

How do artificial limbs work?

About lower extremity prostheses

About prostheses

Prosthesis designers

Gallery of existing prostheses

Sport prostheses

Sport prostheses

Historic prostheses

Historic prostheses

So that you and the team don't get your work mixed up and so you can watch your ideas develop in sequence later you should all make sure to label your ideas and sketches with your names and the project stage you are at.

Is the team ready to move on with the design process?

You have all made notes and sketches in response to the design brief and presentations.

Step Two: Back at the design studio- collaborative idea-generation
(group task)

Back at the design studio you will have your first team design meeting, sharing your ideas and sketches from the client meeting, the presentations and what Johnny was saying- never forget the user's needs.

As a team you will discuss and begin to come up with ideas and design concepts for Johnny's surfing prosthesis. As designers you will all be sketching your concepts and labeling them clearly with the ideas involved and the features.

It is normal practice for design professionals to give each other feedback and constructive advice on their ideas when working collaboratively. This is not personal criticism or intended to be hurtful, it is an integral part of the creative process and helps you to think outside your own perspective.

At this stage you will be looking to cast as wide a net as possible, come up with as many different ideas as possible and approach the task from as different ways as you can. Be as creative and innovative in your solution concepts as you can, as at this stage no idea is a bad idea.

For group-generated products such as mindmaps, label the ideas offered by each team member.

As professionals you will use many different methods for assisting your creativity and idea/concept generation. You should all be familiar with the use of brainstorming and mindmapping, but you should try some others to help your ideas and thinking be as diverse as possible.

Try some of these methods:

Mind mapping

Brainstorming

Absence thinking

Attribute thinking

Breakdown

Lateral thinking

Reversal

Is the team ready to move on with the design process?

You have all shared ideas, sketches and begun developing a wide range of concepts for Johnny's surfing prosthesis.
You have used a number of creative idea-generations strategies as a team to assist with producing design concepts.
You have all labeled your sketches, mindmaps and other idea generation products with your names and the current project stage.

Step Three: Specialist research, conceptualisation and design session
(individual task)

Using the group ideas from the meeting, you and the team will go off and do some individual research in your specialised areas.

As you conduct research, see if you can generate some more ideas or develop existing concepts using your specialist knowledge. Take care to note the difference between influences and simply copying existing ideas, innovation is important.
It will be of benefit to your idea generation and concepts to broadly research your specialist area.

You will be using sketching and labeling the ideas, design features and choices and any influences from your research. You should use any other visual communication methods you are comfortable using.

Try these resources below for your research:

Prosthesis Technician	Focus on: The functional, mechanical & technological features of prosthetic devices. The cutting edge technology used in prostheses. How will the prosthesis move and perform its required tasks in surfing?	How prosthetic limbs work Biomechatronic prostheses Air-driven prostheses Hydraulic prostheses Prosthesis mechanisms Prosthesis mechanisms Prosthesis mechanisms Nerve controlled, sensing prosthesis Knee mechanisms Foot mechanisms Bionic hand
Materials Engineer	Focus on: Material properties. Highly advance, emerging materials and potential prosthesis applications. The correct selection of materials for components for the tasks of the surfing prosthesis and its use in the ocean. How material selections will affect the prosthesis lifespan.	The materials selection process Materials used in prosthetics Plastics used in prostheses Material properties Selection of metals Selection of plastics The importance of mastering materials use New materials Materials library Materials library
Ergonomics Specialist	Focus on: How the prosthesis will fit and work with the human body. What tasks and movement the prosthesis must be capable of for surfing. How the prosthesis will work with the missing leg and interact with the surfboard.	Ergonomics Ergonomics and design Lower extremity prostheses Lower extremity prostheses Existing sporting prostheses Existing sporting prostheses Existing sporting prostheses Advances in sport-specific prostheses Gallery of sport-specific prostheses
Product Designer	Focus on:Aesthetics, product styling and how they can be applied to the prosthesis design. How the design will integrate functional features into the styling How styling and aesthetics have been applied to prostheses previously.	Aesthetics in product design The elements of aesthetics Gallery of existing prosthesis designs Custom prosthesis designers Custom prosthesis designers Next-generation prosthesis designs Next-generation prosthesis designs Next-generation prosthesis designs Next-generation prosthesis designs

Is the team ready to move on with the design process?

You have all generated individual ideas and developed existing concepts using your specific professional skills, knowledge and research.
You have focused on your specialist area.
You have all labeled your sketches, ideas and research influences with your names and the current project stage.

Step Four: Team design session
(group task)

The team assembles and present to each other the range of specialist ideas, concepts and knowledge they wish to apply to Johnny's prosthesis.
You will discuss each specialist's ideas and communicate any suggestions or inspirations you gain from each other, sketching new ideas and development of concepts as they occur.

The client has called to say that they will be visiting to see the progression of the design at some point during the day. The team should be ready to show the design progress so far and explain their design choices and influences.
The client will review the progress and may make some suggestions. As design professionals you will take these on board and utilise them in your work.

Using the range of concepts so far the team will decide which ideas and concepts are most suitable for the requirements of Johnny's surfing prosthesis, and begin to synthesise them into a single design.
The criteria for this should consider creativity and ingenuity, as well as the functional requirements of the prosthesis.
It is important to label and document whose ideas were chosen for the final design concept.

Using the final design concept the team will start to produce different design variations and details for the design.

Is the team ready to move on with the design process?

You have had a meeting with the client and received feedback.
The team has chosen a final design concept from the range of generated ideas and concepts.
The team has begun generating design variations and details for the final design concept.
You have all labeled your sketches and other design communication products with your names and the current project stage.

Step Five: Final team design session
(group task)

It is time for the team to produce a single final design. You will all share and discuss the design variations and details you have generated as a team and as before, choose the best and most appropriate elements to synthesis into the final design.

The client has called to say that they will be visiting again to see the progression of the design at some point during the day.The team should be ready to show the design progress so far and explain their design choices.
The client will review the progress and may make some suggestions. As design professionals you will take these on board and utilise them in your work.

The team will begin to prepare polished illustrations of the final design for use in assisting the formal presentation of the finished design to the client, Johnny and his sponsors.

The team will utilise a range of design visual communication techniques in order to effectively communicate the details of the final design.

These will be details such as technologies and materials used, its aesthetic and stylistic features, the functional and mechanical elements of the design and how it will assist Johnny to surf.

These are some visual communication methods the class may wish to use:

The use of line-weight in design sketching

Fast sketching and marker rendering

Pastel and marker rendering

Fast Photoshop rendering

Tips for design presentations

The team will also prepare to formally present the design concepts explored and give an explanation of the design choices made during the design process, detailing why ideas and features were selected over others. You should also reflect upon and explain the problems you encountered during the design process, the solutions your explored and explain your solution choices.
This will utilise the sketches and other conceptualisation products generated during the design process.

The teams will have access to digital projection equipment should you choose to use it to aid your presentation.

Is the team ready to move on with the design process?

You have had a final meeting with the client and received feedback.
The team has completed a final design.
The team has generated visual communication materials for presenting the design.
The team has prepared to formally present reflections on the design process and decision making.

Step Six: The big presentation
(group task)

The team heads back to the offices of the client to meet with Johnny Paddlesmith and his sponsors and deliver the formal presentation of their finished design for Johnny's surfing prosthesis.

It is here that you will use the visual communication materials that the team has generated to present your surfing prosthesis design and explain its features to Johnny and his sponsors (your teacher and peers).

You will give an explanation of the design choices made during the design process, detailing why ideas and features were selected over others. You will explain the problems encountered while designing Johnny's surfing prosthesis, the solutions the team explored and explain the solutions the team chose to use.

As design professionals you will conduct themselves formally, each discussing your specific professional aspects of the final design using visual communications to aid with presentation.

At the conclusion of your presentation the client, Johnny and the sponsors will pose questions about the design and its features to the members of the team and give the team feedback on your finished surfing prosthesis design.

Has the design team fulfilled the requirements of their contract?

The team has generated visual communication material of the final design,
The team has delivered a formal presentation of the final design to the client, Johnny Paddlesmith and his sponsors.
The team has assembled a design portfolio of the ideas, notes, mindmaps, sketches and any other creative products of the design process in a folder, organised into the stages of the design process. This design portfolio will also include a written copy of their formal presentation, design explanations and reflections on the design process, problems, solutions and choices made.