Projects

Every year the product design concentration focuses on at least one large scale project involving an outside partner or an real-world problem.  These projects are designed to engage our students in the real world of design and to introduce them to deeper design issues.  Through partnerships our students also learn first hand what it means to work directly with a client and to communicate with a variety of stakeholders.  Below is a brief description of past projects and linked Acrobat files of the final outcomes.

Product Design students worked with The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2004 to develop assistive seating for the museum.  It was determined that a significant proportion of the older museum goers were less inclined to come into the museum because of the existing low and uncomfortable wooden benches.  The students documented the museum so as to understand the fuller context of the museum (functionally and aesthetically).  Through interviews with docents, museum staff, and end users the students came to better understand the complex issues.  They worked in three groups and developed prototypes for testing directly with the users (user-centered design).  These early concepts were followed by further refined working models that were both functionally and aesthetically resolved.

Another large scale project involved designing for the new collaborative wired classroom (FUTURE CLASSROOM PROJECT).  Funded by a $30,000 grant from the NCIIA (National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance) this project teamed up Columbia College students with design students from Finlandia University (Hancock, Michigan).  The students worked together over a distance of 500 miles using a variety of collaborative softwares (Skype and Basecamp). The grant covered the project for a two year period allowing a series of student meetings, workshops, and two semesters devoted to refining their ideas.  The design outcomes were a direct result of research/interviews/scenarios created to understand the many ways in which the classroom is changing as a result of technology, new ways of teaching, and a changing workplace.  

Over the course of 2 Spring semesters in 2005/2006 students engaged directly with individuals impacted by Alzheimers.  The goal of the project was to design a low cost and customizable interface for the computer to allow individuals and their care givers to connect with ease to their social network using high speed internet, low cost webcams, and a customizable interface to simplify the interaction with computers.  This project involved user-centered testing with the individuals to help refine a Flash interface that could be easily implemented without costly software or hardware.

Other projects involved designing systems for real-time air monitoring (Center for Neighborhood Technology); researching new fitness products that deal directly with the growing obesity problem in the U.S. (Life Fitness) and most currently the Bike Project (working with the City of Chicago on their 2015 PLAN) on the implementation of greater 'bike culture' in the City of Chicago.  To learn more about the Bike Project go to the appropriate link to the right or click to download the various Acrobat files below.

PAST PROJECTS

MCA PROJECT (PDF)

FUTURE CLASSROOM PROJECT (PDF)

ALZHEIMERS PROJECT (PDF)