EMPATHY STATEMENT: Mia would like a more customizable backpack, unlike her current one.

1) Was your initial design the same or different than your final design?

When our group was brainstorming, we had a lot of ideas that were very outlandish and hard to actually incorporate into our actual prototype. We were trying to be creative, so we added features such as a microwave and a mini fridge. These features were what we wanted inside a portable backpack, but it isn’t quite achieveable using cardboard to create it. Based on practicality, we just settled on a backpack with normal features, but could still fit the empathy statement and was user friendly.

Our final design is as shown above. We tried to add as many features that we thought we would like in a backpack, and features that were more user-friendly and was for the benefit and convenience of the user. We achieved this by adding a water bottle holder so that the user could conveniently put their bottle in, a detachable fanny pack with dividers so its easier for the user if they want to carry around a smaller bag which is clearly organised. We also added many compartments to the interior, once again for the better usage of the user such as the detachable pencil case and laptop pouch. Additionally, we added an umbrella to the top so that the user could have their hands free to hold other things and not an umbrella when its raining.

To summarise, we kind of based our whole design on a better convenience for the user of the backpack.

2) Where did you get stuck?

One of the main challenges that we had to face and overcome was arranging what aspects or features of the bag we wanted to keep, and which ones we wouldn’t incorporate into our bag. Another challenge was figuring out who was going to do what. Since we decided to work as a large table group of 5 members (Sonia, Weilyn, Mia, Olivia, and I), we needed to split up the work so we could work efficiently and not have to argue over who was doing what.

In the end, we managed to split up the work evenly which resulted in the timely completion of the bag. Though we all worked on our own pieces and did finish them on time, we weren’t exactly in sync with each other all the time, so there were some difficulties (such as the bag straps) that we faced when it came time to assemble all of our individually constructed parts together.

3) Where did you get your best ideas?

I believe that our group got its best ideas when we put all of our empathy statements together. Since we were a group of 5, we had 5 different empathy statements. We then as a group combined our empathy statements and built our backpack based on that. Some of us wanted a customizable backpack, others wanted a utilitarian backpack, and some just wanted something comfortable and practical. We mainly went with the theme of a backpack that was utilitarian, meaning that it had useful functions that could benefit the user. Our best ideas came from what we wanted to see in a backpack that we thought would be useful.

4) How did you fit your partner’s needs?

My original empathy statement was to create a more customisable backpack for Mia because she wanted to be able to personalise her backpack. The end result was a backpack that could be easily customised by adding pins on it or drawing designs. Overall, I think my final product fitted my partner’s needs pretty well.