The Journey of
Self-Empowerment
Through Shoes and Kinetic Energy
The project
Have you ever been in a situation where you wish you could charge your phone? Imagine walking to your car late at night and you notice your battery is at 1%. You want to call home but your phone will turn off immediately once the call is made. The problem space I gained inspiration from is that people are not able to be their own source energy to charge devices and home appliances at any moment. There is the dependability of utilizing outlets to power devices. This creates various uses cases of vulnerability. When they need a charge the most, it is not available.
On this project, I worked on collecting data through various research methods on how shoes can enable the user to become their own source of energy and power. Following the research, I created several concepts of potential designs in order to meet needs of the user. This report will take you show you through my inspiration for the project, process of collecting research, insights, concepts, and more.
Inspiration
Other than the problem space created, I had a few sources of inspiration in coming up with the idea of shoe that creates and stores kinetic energy.
In the movie Black Panther, the charter Shuri, sister to the Black Panther, creates an updated version of the suit that he wears while in combat. One of the many impressive features is the ability to create kinetic energy when it receives any kind of contact (gun shots, punches etc). As it collects this energy, it is able to send it back out. The ability to create energy from movement and impact is something that I want to constantly think about during the design process.
Recently, there has been several advances in the evolution of sneakers and other wearable devices. Brands like Nike, Adidas, Under Armor and more have created shoes that push the role of the shoe beyond its boundaries. Now, one can track their steps, make adjustments to how they run, and tie their laces with the click of a button. The new wave of including shoes in the internet of things. Also, I have always had the desire to create my own shoe. This quest to design a shoe originates from my passion in buying shoes. I have always admired designers like Tinker Hattfield, Kanye West, and others.
The concept of wireless has been been intriguing to me. However, brands have created products that take away the wire from the charging ones device, but it still requires them to place or lay it on something. Through this project, I want to be able to explore the capabilities of separating the device from “resting” or connecting to something physically in order to charge the battery.
Exemplars
Demographic of Participants
One Black Male
One Biracial Woman
Two white Women
Two White Males
One Muslim
Two Djs
5 Participants are involved on campus
Age ranges from 20-26
All are Undergrad Students
Feature 3
To explore my design space, I went through several methods to come up with an impressive amount of research to help create substance for this project. Having substance is important in order to provide rationale, understanding of the problem space and stakeholders, and to find new possibilities. This was vital because there is so many places to go with the idea of creating KH (kinetic energy) with the shoe being the tool that works alongside with the rhythm and pace of the users movement, exploring different experiences of walking, and to uncover new areas.
To gather this information, a series of research methods which consisted of exemplars, articles and academic papers, directed storytelling, site walks, and cultural probes were utilized. Each method served its own purpose and I provide reasoning for choosing each one.
Coming up with random designs could be a good exercise to get ideas on paper, it doesn’t practice inclusion of potential users and will potentially produce design that won’t meet the needs of stakeholders. In order to gather different experiences, I was able come up with abstract ways to gain insights on this topic. To do so, I created a tool kit that focused obtaining emotions, music, thoughts on tech, story telling, and personality. The tool kit consisted of 4 different exercises which were the following and was to be completed in a week.
Create A Playlist
Going on a Walk Listening to Created Playlist
Comic Strip Based on Scenarios
What If Cards
Create A Playlist:
The participants were tasked to create 3 playlist based on 5 moods. These moods were Happy, Sad, Peaceful, Angry, Hungry, Creative.
Take aways: It was mentioned by everyone that music is directly connected to their mood and it was the power of changing their state of mind. That it can pull memories from the past. The memories highlighted all moods. Some found themselves pulling up dark memories and would even cause tears.
Going on A Walk Listening to Created Playlist
The participants were required to walk while listening to at least of the created playlist. They were to provided their experiences while on the walk, the time spent and where they started and stopped. This exercise is to observe how music impacts their walking experience. What are they aware of, how do they react to others and more.
They were focused
Determined to get somewhere
Music gets you moving.
“Felt like dancing”
“Motivated to walk faster”
“Gets me out my funk”
Music is a source of:
Meditation
Relaxation
“Able to breathe”
Comic Strip Based on Scenarios
In this exercise, each individual chooses between three scenarios to create a story. These scenarios relate to potential design directions. By putting their ideas in a comic book form, the goal allows the participant to think about storytelling and approach directed storytelling in unique way that consist of art and critical thinking.
What if Cards
Each card aims to gain insights into what they think about the given ideas. These ideas/scenarios are: Shoes help people feel better about the day, Monday is usually looked at negatively, The weekend is for more stylish shoes, The participants mentioned they don’t do much activities, Not aware of how much walking they might do despite doing an exercise earlier.
Overall Takeaway: Powering devices, home and communities, Morphing Shoes, Music that helps you commute ( foot traffic), Shoes being a place to store memories, Green = sustainability
There was a lot of research obtained which provided amazing insights. With a lot of data, I was narrowed my finding to areas that focused on movement, reactions to unique situations, and agency. Here four key insights from the research conducted:
Users feel unsafe walking at night and what to feel protected in other scenarios. (Comic Book Strip)
People want to feel empowered by creating their own energy
Music effects pace and interaction while walking
In a high risk scenarios, users want to be able to respond quickly
Create A Playlist
DESIGN CONCEPTS
