Hi all,
I had an mediocre critique back in December and I am looking to strengthen this project! The two images below are my general thought path and then the final concept (as of December), but the rest of the project as it is is located [here]
The general feedback (our teacher invited some guest ID professionals, which was pretty cool) was that the form and materials of my solution (direction C in the ideation page) were probably not the most comfortable, especially for people who would be wearing this on a very regular basis. They were also worried how it might be powered – I was initially thinking of a combination of batteries and phase change materials, where the batteries would heat the PCM just enough for it to activate and provide heat, but the response was that it would be too complicated.
I am also wondering if a “ring” concept that fits in the upper palm is direct enough of a heating method – the idea is that the user would close her hand around the device as it is worn. I looked some other ideas (such as how a product might heat the fingertips directly) but these led to things like the “spidery” looking sketch and model in the upper right of the ideation page (IMO a little too techie-looking and complex), as well as just thinner versions of heated gloves.
Instead of the steel and aluminum route, I would like to play around with heated textiles and perhaps silicone (one of the thermally conductive samples I got a while ago actually works pretty well once heated up) as soft goods are a new thing for me.
I would love to hear any suggestions and ideas … thanks for the help!
