Pain Point Analysis
IDEATION SKETCHING
PROTOTYPE
CLIMBER laundry hamper
In one of my earliest design projects, I created a journey map for the process of doing laundry through ethnographic observation. Of the pain points I identified, I focused on the transporting of laundry to and from the washing machine, which is a cumbersome process often involving going up and down stairs with a heavy load. This problem is especially hazardous for the elderly and mobility-impaired. To solve what was essentially a mobility problem in inclusive design, I found no need to reinvent the wheel. CLIMBER is a laundry hamper combining the age-old device of the wheelbarrow (a second-class lever that provides mobility and mechanical advantage) with a special set of stair-climber wheels. By empowering this demographic to carry out a routine chore safely and autonomously, the laundry hamper becomes a means towards self-actualization. (Admittedly, the prototype is more functional than aesthetic.) "ID 1: Everyday Things," OCAD U, January-February 2017.