User-Oriented Design of the Lilypad Scale

What?
Using a user-oriented co-design process, I led product design of the Lilypad Scale for manual wheelchairs in conjunction with several wheelchair users.
Why?
Integrating the feedback and ideas of potential customers into the design of a new product helps ensure that initial customers will be satisfied with the product and feel that it meets their needs.
How?
Using skills from the User-Oriented Collaborative Design class at Olin College (the class that the original idea for the home wheelchair scale came from), I tested each new iteration of the scale design with wheelchair users. I created and asked them to evaluate looks-like and feels-like prototypes for both the scale and the handheld readout. I integrated their ideas on the fly to make new looks-like and feels-like prototypes and get their feedback on those too. I integrated feedback from these potential customers with technical constraints to make decisions about product features and design priorities. This collaborative co-design process led us to produce a product that has multiple 5-star reviews on Amazon. To learn more about the product that came out of this process, visit lilypadscales.com.
Using a user-oriented co-design process, I led product design of the Lilypad Scale for manual wheelchairs in conjunction with several wheelchair users.
Why?
Integrating the feedback and ideas of potential customers into the design of a new product helps ensure that initial customers will be satisfied with the product and feel that it meets their needs.
How?
Using skills from the User-Oriented Collaborative Design class at Olin College (the class that the original idea for the home wheelchair scale came from), I tested each new iteration of the scale design with wheelchair users. I created and asked them to evaluate looks-like and feels-like prototypes for both the scale and the handheld readout. I integrated their ideas on the fly to make new looks-like and feels-like prototypes and get their feedback on those too. I integrated feedback from these potential customers with technical constraints to make decisions about product features and design priorities. This collaborative co-design process led us to produce a product that has multiple 5-star reviews on Amazon. To learn more about the product that came out of this process, visit lilypadscales.com.