Co-Design Session 2
The second co-design session revolved around diving into the elaborated ideas from the first session, going into what aspects the case owner personally likes and for what exact reasons. This resulted in a more detailed definition of the product which was then finalized separately.
Preparation
Before heading into the second co-design session, the ideas from the first session were expanded upon. Specifically, multiple concept directions were developed and elaborated upon. In short, advantages and disadvantages were noted down per direction, together with a short list of ideas. To be exact, the directions are cart, bucket attachment and wearable. These concept directions are shown clustered below:
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Conceptualisation
After clustering, discussing and improving on each concept direction, four final concepts were drawn up. These concepts were the garden cart, the bucket attachment and two wearable inspired concepts, namely the square bag and tool wearable. The concept drawings are more detailed and specifically made to showcase as many of our ideas as possible without being overwhelming. Again, these are shown below:
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Further Preperation
Besides the concept development, a style collage was made based on the photos we received directly from the case owner.
Discussing the Concepts
After a quick introduction, we asked if Lisa wanted another icebreaker. She was enthusiastic to get straight into the concepts. Following this, we presented the four concepts to her and reiterated that concepts are flexible and can be combined. We then went over what components the Lisa liked and didn't like. Specifically for this session, we printed all concept visualizations and brought plastic sheets so everyone could draw over the original pictures to make adjustments. The following aspects were noted down.
First of all, the bucket attachment immediately jumped out at Lisa, since it more closely applies to her current routine of bringing two buckets along with her for gardening.
Second of all, she swiftly noted how the cart concept was a bit too bulky and the wheels could have troubles on the rough terrain of her garden. Furthermore, it doesn't really fit her routine of bringing two buckets along and moving around a lot. In other words, using this product would force her to change her entire way of working in the garden. In addition, regarding the wearable tool holder concept, it would indeed force her to carry tools along which is nice, but it felt too fancy. Plus the fact that the weed bag on the side was way too small for her liking. Making the bag large enough would in turn cause the wearable to be too heavy and thus uncomfortable.
Third of all, Lisa evaluated the square bag. Though it was too complex for her liking, especially the bulk of it and the required change in gardening behavior. However, she did find the idea of having a knee pad or a seat very appealing.
After some in-depth discussion, drawing and idea generation, the final decision became a combination of the bucket attachment and the square bag. Namely, the product would be a duo of tool holding bucket attachments which would be joined by some kind of double-use seat, while still giving the user the ability to throw away compost. Specifically during discussion, it was decided to solely focus on the smaller handheld tools, since those are used most often compared to the rest.
Discussing the style collage
The style collage was made as a tool to blend in the product with the style of the participant. She mentioned she usually likes bright colors, yet enjoys more earthly tones for her gardening projects.
The main aesthetic here is:
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Elegant
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Rustic and Organic: Wood, Leather, Plants
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Organized
Results
The main functions of the product were established together with the case owner and the style of the product was finalized. With the bucket attachments creating an attached storage to the bucket, while also giving the option for sitting or kneeling down, the product doesn't intrude into her routine. Instead, it accommodates her already existing gardening experience and makes it more energy efficient.
The last part of the co-design session was used to go through her altered routine with the product in use. This storyboard can be found on The Product page. Furthermore, after the second co-design session, Lisa sent us pictures of the buckets she is currently using so we could make the attachment fit her current collection of buckets. Specifically, we decided on using the Gamma bucket since it is a fairly popular bucket shape and size, meaning the attachment could be used by more people.
Final details regarding the exact dimensions, attachment to the bucket, compost depositing and such would be figured out later. After this rough prototyping was done until we got to our final prototype.