Digital
CDHD - Communication and learning Helper for Deaf and Hearing people
Application for Hololens to aid Deaf people in learning and in communicating with hearing people.
Project developed during the Usability Engineering Masters course together with Pimchanok Sripraphan and Vivien Nwoye (2017).
Participated of the Accessathon - Hackathon for disabilities in Rhein-Waal University.
Digital
CDHD - Communication and learning Helper for Deaf and Hearing people
Application for Hololens to aid Deaf people in learning and in communicating with hearing people.
Project developed during the Usability Engineering Masters course together with Pimchanok Sripraphan and Vivien Nwoye (2017).
Participated of the Accessathon - Hackathon for disabilities in Rhein-Waal University.
Fabulaser
How might we market a user friendly laser cutter as an assembly kit?
project overview
Fabulaser Mini is a quality open-source laser cutter marketed as an assembly kit for educational purposes. Since the machine is complex, making sure the user can easily build and use it was a big challenge.
My main role in this project was to develop, together with my colleague, a user-friendly machine assembly manual, so that school children could build it on their own. In addition, I also worked on the machine usability and developed the website, the branding and marketing material.
My role
UX/UI Design (Assembly Manual & Website)
User Testing
Machine Usability
Branding
Marketing
Tools
Adobe XD
Adobe Creative Cloud
Google Tools
Timeframe
2020 - 2022
process
To create the assembly manual we started by building the machine ourselves, while documenting the steps, parts and tools. This also provided the first feedback on the usability improvements, for example, providing in the assembly kit a special tool to be used as spacer instead of rulers when parts needed to be assembled in a specific distance.
requirements
With the assembly steps defined, we proceeded to the manual design. After a research of similar products and brainstorming on possibilities with the team, we decided to base our visuals on Ikea assembly manuals: traced lines, clean graphics, with only the necessary amount of text. I then created a page template using InDesign to produce the manual in pdf format.
In parallel, I worked on the machine branding to develop a logo that not only resembled the machine technology but that could also be lasercut. After many sketches and feedback rounds, a final version of the logo was defined, followed by the visual identity (colors and typography).
The assembly manual was tested in several machine assembly workshops with the school children, in which I took notes of mistakes and difficulties in the machine assembly aided by the manual. These were then used for a continuous improvement of our product.
results
The final version of the assembly manual not only allowed a smooth machine building experience with no assistance, but became a reference for many other projects, internal and external. The steps are easy to follow, containing “bubbles” with details and “motion” depicted with red lines to assist in complex assembly. Each step also shows the parts and tools needed with illustrated icons to facilitate the finding of the parts. The document also includes a “How-to” section with general explanations, of how to tighten lock-nuts, for example.
The project was very successful, selling over 10 machine assembly kit with workshop in the first year, and paving the road to a bigger project: the Open Lab Starter Kit.
