My Cloud – Gebläse Helm / Maske

In the time of the corona Pandemic, it was necessary to fight the virus not only in the pharmaceutical realm but also with everyday products. We often think about Surgical masks as the only means to fight the virus. But in truth, there is so much more we can do. From the Air, we breathe, to objects we interact with in public to personal items such as phones, glasses, and cloth. Our aim was not only to stop the spread of the virus but also to raise awareness of the World Health Organization Guidelines as well as prevent infections from happening in the future and be better prepared if we experience something else like this.

1. THE RESEARCH

The research phase in our project was unlike other projects, not just a phase but a cantinouse process that heavily shaped and impacted our end-product.

Following the recommendations of RKI and WHO was our top priority. Prof. Holger Jahn was the main source of our research material he kept us updated with what is happening on weekly basis.

2. THE ANALYSIS

In the Analysis phase, we kicked off by an observation exercise in which we documented our daily behavior, identified everyday journeys such as going to the supermarket. We highlighted the dangerous areas in which COVID-19 could spread. From there we defined some topic areas in which we could help by creating new hardware. We later mapped the priorities based on Urgancy and simplicity metrics which helped us define two Topic areas to prioritize.

2.1 UNDERSTANDING THE USER

After defining the Topic area, it was very important for us to understand the user and put the user in the center of the process. So we created multiple personas which we think are super critical to solve for at the moment. then we mapped their User-Journey and together imagined their future journey by creating User Stories.

2.2 IDEATION

Now that we know our users and which problem area we should solve. it was the time for a design-thinking ideation workshop.

We have conducted a design-thinking workshop based on the personas that we have created in the previous phase.

The workshop structure was as followed:

- Welcome & Introduction: Team Checkin, Intro to design thinking, Personas

- Problem definition: Jobs to be done + How might We

- Ideation: Crazy 8 + Flower Method

- Ideas presentation: Idea Dashboard

- Wrap up: Team Presentation, Feedback

The workshop itself went very well and at the end of the workshop, we had two ideas which then became of our basis for the prototypes. we received a lot of positive feedback on the workshop.

2.3 PRODUCT VISION

We were coming out of the Ideation workshop. It was essential for us to define the product we are creating in terms of materials, usage, and value to the user. Finally, we defined the MVP version of our Product as well as a Visionary very of it, and we were ready for the production phase!

3. Design

4. PRODUCTION

In the production phase. we kicked it off by defining team roles and pushing to work together as one unit to get the product first prototype in place. Some team members came from different backgrounds. the diverse backgrounds helped shape the specialities and scope of work for each member.

We had two different approaches for our Designs of Face-shields. One with a straight shield and a second one with a curved ergonomical deep drawn form. We were modeling the Frames in Fusion 360 and Rhino to 3D print these.

Printig Proces After the CAD designprocess, we Printed the two faceshild frames in PLA. We used PLA because its easy to print, cheap and perfect for prototyping. After the right positining in Cura we had to add some support strucktures for the print. The Printing Proces took about 10h.

Deep drawing proces On the contray to the just curved first mask, in the second design, we used deep drawing to form the shild. For that we had to print the form of the shild for further production. Because of the heat and pressure in the deep drawing process, we had to fill the 3D printetd form with plaster. Due the printing marks we smothed the surface up with sandpaper. The model was ready for deep drawing and so we puled the hot PET plasik over. We cut the unnecessary parts of and connected it to the frame. To the masks we added rubber belts and little air hoses.

5. THANK YOU

A warm thank you for all participants in the course, for the engagement, flexibility, openness, and work. As well as big thank you for our professor Holger Jahn for enriching our work with excellent research resources and guidance along the entire process. Moreover, for believing in us as a unit and pushing us to work together and even consider bringing the product to the market.

Thank you all! :)