We had a group critique of our design sheets with Pip today. There were 7 of us in the group. One of the main things that became apparent was that my lights smart application was quite niche! Not quite as niche as Martha’s – a light in the shape of her Italian ancestral home that would be linked to the properties motion sensors and flash when edible dormice were running about to annoy her grandad, but niche! I could see the further potential for Martha’s idea though, which opened my mind to other, less niche uses that mine could be put to.
Martha’s movement sensors could be used for anyone with a second property either in the UK or overseas to alert the owner of movement and get someone to check it out, whether it be pest control for rodent visitors or police for human! My pressure sensors could be used for all sorts of things too – for anyone who keeps stores of anything and needs alerting when something needs replenishing, they could be placed under a doormat to count footfall or to trigger an intruder alert. I had been very focused/blinkered on the beekeeping idea without looking at the bigger picture, so the group critique opened me up to new possible end uses for my design.
Not much was said about mine, I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing! I had covered most bases – I had researched artists who had influenced my design, researched materials, researched the market for similar existing products, researched my target audience, all of which were picked up as areas to explore further with other members of the group.
It was interesting to see that everyone had developed an idea that would be useful or helpful in some way – nothing entirely aesthetic or frivolous was brought to the table. I felt really sorry for a couple in the group who had got so far with their idea’s only to find upon continued research that their product was either already in production, or had been rendered obsolete by new scientific thinking – lesson learned – do thorough research before investing too much time, energy or money in a project!
clairemaloney 