User-Oriented Design of a Surf Park
For User-Oriented Collaborative Design at Olin College in spring 2013, I and my four teammates undertook the task of designing a product for winter surfers in the New England area. We designed the intricate details and form of an Urban Surf Park. User-Oriented Collaborative Design (UOCD) involves extensive research followed by multiple user visits. In the user visits, we met with surfers at the beach, at surf shops, and at coffee shops to assess their life values and needs. We developed a set of preliminary products that we took to co-designing session in which the users pretended to use the products and gave us live feedback. By this unique design method, we were able to create a product that they would actually want and use, and would holistically improve their lives.
We learned that New England winter surfers are a committed, passionate, and varied set of people. From these varied individuals, we identified the following common (but not necessarily shared) needs that the Urban Surf Park could fulfill:
I loved learning about this design process. It challenged me to allow my creative and occasionally silly ideas to become real, developed products. It was very interesting to design with the user's perspective as the focus.
Please see the deliverable here.
We learned that New England winter surfers are a committed, passionate, and varied set of people. From these varied individuals, we identified the following common (but not necessarily shared) needs that the Urban Surf Park could fulfill:
- A source of consistent, controllable waves that are close to where they live so they can spend more time with their loved ones.
- A place to create a surfing community that can include amateur to expert surfers, friends, and family.
- A venue to showcase winter surfing to the larger community that is warm and dry.
- A product that will not negatively impact the ocean's health.
I loved learning about this design process. It challenged me to allow my creative and occasionally silly ideas to become real, developed products. It was very interesting to design with the user's perspective as the focus.
Please see the deliverable here.