Project 2: Reflection

In project 2, we were to design a Product Service System as a group. It was quite a challenging task, mainly cause it took my group a few weeks to find a problem to design a PSS. It also took us quite a long time to TRULY understand what a PSS is. For example how the PSS can self sustain, what is the product's role in the PSS, how it is just a product with service/it is a product that helps the PSS etc. But after reading books, internet sources, lots of discussion between group memebers and a few weeks worth or consultation with out tutors, we finally came up with an idea. Our main concept were to remind elderly people daily to take their medication on time and with the correct dose. In addition to that, the product that we designed not only will remind the elderly to take their medicines on time, dispense them with the right dosage, but the system within the product will also give information of the medicine that they are taking, side effects, and any complications between all the medicines that they are taking, in order to minimise human errors within the medical field. A simple description about the PSS behind is, the elderly will go to the GP, GP type in prescription to a server that both the GP and the pharmacists have access to, then the elderly will go to the pharmacy, talk to pharmacists about their best option and prescription, get their first 3 months worth of medicine, in our designed medicine jars, then go home and put it into the machine and start using it. Every month, they would have to send the pills box back to the nearest pharmacy and get new jars of medicines, which were sent to the pharmacies by supply warehouses. The warehouse will refill the jars and by heat wash, wash away the barcode that provides information to the product (pills dispensing machine). The whole idea was inspirated by nursery homes. We wanted to give the same care from nursery homes, to the elderlies that lives at home. Within the whole process of the project, we went thru many frustration periods. Like, "OMG, our PSS already exists, we failed" "We can't come up with a shapeeeeeee, what is a modern medical device's shapeeeeeeee?" "Should we do it portable or not? If portable it will be tooooo bigggg" etc. And it almost became a cycle thru the weeks of the project, our mood drops thru out the week, we go to studio on thursday often feeling very miserable, thinking that our PSS sucks and it fails, then after talking to our tutors, we see some hope and get energised to work on it again! At times, I felt, I don't like group work, cause I can't work on my own pace, always need to have group meeting and always have to discuss with group mates. But it was actually really a good experience. Firstly, because there was so much research and work to be done. Secondly, without discussing and talking with so many people, it would be a lot harder to get the concept clear and working. Thirdly, the time we get to spend together as a group and work on something together was really precious, the support we get from each other and the fun time we had.

I think for industrial design students and designers, designing a PSS is a very good challenge. It is because you get to design something that can be shared among people, connects people together and yet it helps the world by reducing waste and carbon footprint etc. To me, it is a new way of design, to design a PSS, you have to truly understand people, you need to talk to lots of people (which were to be the users of your design).

In conclusion, it was a good challenge. Have learned that design is not simple at all, there are so many things that you have to consider, the function, the appearance, the user, the people around the user, the society, the world... However, we did not do a great job in the final presentation, which was a really disappointment for us. If we were to do the project again, we would make a much better and detailed model, prepare and structure the 10min we get in presentation a lot more better. Hope it did not make us fail : ( please don't!!!