Eleanor

Eleanor is an artist/designer I've been absolutely enthralled with ever since I started Daap. Her minimal yet dynamic interpretation of recognizable animals and shapes never ceases to amaze and please. Her color palette is always sophisticated and appropriate for the subject matter at hand. I ripped off one of her prints in my ob/gyn render, so I figured I'd better give credit where credit is due.

Ob/Gyn Workstation

There are few things dreaded more by female patients than a pelvic exam. Besides the inherent invasiveness and discomfort of the procedure, the current exam room and chair are sterile, intimidating, and uncomfortable to use.

Working with a fourth-year resident gynecologist and twelve patients, I identified the innovation opportunities present in the current workstation. Two one-hour interviews with Dr. Leanne Olshavsky informed me that comfort was even more important than I had expected; many patients don’t feel comfortable being completely open about their sexual history, and some will choose not to go if at all possible. Feelings of discomfort associated with the examination often times discourage women from getting screened for cervical cancer, and unscreened women are at highest risk of cervical cancer.

Dr. Olshavsky also informed me that the less intimidating the room, the better. That means that the speculums, pap smear vials, and any other intimidating medical equipment should be stored out of sight when not in use.

Cleanability and a place to store and warm instruments like speculums where top priorities for her. Lighting and using a mirror to show a woman her anatomy where things that frustrate her about the current workstation.

The patient’s interviewed stated that a more home-like environment would put them at ease and allow them to relax prior to and during the examination. They requested a warm examination room, a place to store clothing and personal belongings, and an examination chair that didn’t look like a lego block. The expressed frustration with the fact that reading material is routinely kept on the other side of the room and requires them to walk across the room in a state of undress.

The proposed solution features storage units that resemble furniture patients might see in their home. Speculums, vials, and waste disposal are kept in the storage module in the credenza and are easily accessed by the physician while hidden from view from the patient. The physian’s stool is equipped with a snake light and camera that wraps underneath the seat of the chair and allows hands-free lighting without requiring the entire room to be harshly lit.

A dresser is available for patients’ personal belongings, heat lamps and light boxes warm and gently light the room, while the chair allows for heightened comfort and usability.

Things that suck

There are certain things that somehow stand in defiance to mankind's progression- things that for some reason, despite free markets, discerning consumers, and lots and lots of healthy competition, refuse to improve. Why the following haven't progressed at all is beyond me:

USB drives: This isn't necessarily a problem with any one particular USB drive, rather, the industry's refusal to introduce a standard as to which way the damned thing goes in your computer. On some drives the squiggly sign faces up, whereas on others it faces downward when inserted into the computer. WTF.

Cereal Bags: The big econo-bags get it. Why don't boxed cereals have easy open bags inside? After ripping countless cereal bags clear in half I've resigned myself to using scissors. I resent this.

More to come.

Happy Cup Chocolates

This is the final image board and sketches for our Descom Final. Happy Cup is a line of chocolates meant to be enjoyed with coffee and enhance an afternoon cup of joe. Our professor was extremely flexible with our projects this quarter; the original project brief was to design a teapot. Students picked topics that were in line with their specific interests, be it concept art, shoe design, or, in my case, branding. I think this type of flexibility always results in stronger work and an overall happier class.

Foreign Media

These early ideations were done in illustrator, at the request of our professor. At first I wasn't too worried about using illustrator- it used to be my drug of choice, after all, ages ago- but 15 minutes into the project I was ripping my hair out over the damned program. It's funny how utterly dependent we become on the programs we prefer. Those programs won't always be there; computers crash, licenses expire, sometimes clients prefer methods that simply aren't our preference. Fluency in a wide variety of mediums is the best way to ensure quality and consistency.

It doesn't look it, but these stupid concepts took me hours and hours and hours. I could have modeled them and rendered them in 20 minutes. But it was good to revisit illustrator. Even though it's evil.

Kate Spade USB Charm

Kate Spade USB Charm. Sterling Silver with exchangeable mini memory drives. The casing offers an easy, elegant solution to remembering and carrying around a flash job, and can hold a wide variety of different flash drives. They are available in 2, 4, and 8 GB.

Bleh

So here I am, 8 am last week of finals week, finishing up my blog. Not too impressive, if I say so myself. This quarter has been an odd one, in terms of trying to juggle school and work, staying on top of things, getting excited about what I would normally get excited about naturally. Anyways.

I think this entire blog has been about how behind I am on said blog. I'm sure that will make for a riveting, fascinating blog.

Anyways. Today I'll be posting my work this quarter, which all turned out surprisingly well once I rigged it all together last minute. I just realized that all of my descom stuff was on a desktop computer that has been disassembled and put in storage. The descom stuff, therefore, you will not see much of.

Yes.... Let the posting begin....