V I T A L S
School Project Group Research Individual Design 2021
Health Tracking System
Imagine a blood pressure monitoring solution that was convenient, attractive, and useful.
This studio project helped me further develop and acquire many new skills, such as sewing, use cycle planning, 3d printing, and solidworks complex surface modeling.
Initial Research
If you are interested in more in depth research see the project report
Design Brief
Imagine a time when eyeglasses were clunky, inconvenient and an unfashionable mark of age and sickness! hard to imagine? well that is because glasses are designed to be convenient, affordable, and beautiful so its not uncommon now for people to wear them as a fashion accessory instead of a health necessity.
Current blood pressure monitors are clunky, inconvenient, and label their users as sickly. I sought to solve these problems by utilizing a new technology to make BP monitoring convenient: The Design of a Continuous Blood Pressure Measurement System Based on Pulse Wave and ECG Signals provides continuous accurate BP tracking instead of the traditionally obtained intermittent results. Built into a smartwatch this technology is non-invasive and convenient, whereas traditional blood pressure monitors are a hassle. However this new system does require calibration every few weeks using a traditional blood pressure monitor, so in this project I focused on bringing all elements together into a unified system of blood pressure monitor cuff, smartwatch, base station, phone app and system design. Finally with convenient system in place, the blood pressure monitor can be used for more then necessity and it can become fashionable and beautiful.
V1 Prototype
The first prototype incorporated the 3 part system of smartwatch, inflatable cuff, and charging base station. The prototype was designed to store the blood pressure cuff conveniently in the base when it was not in use. A white LED matrix display would be used to show blood pressure values. The smartwatch would go face down into a slot for charging. The top of the stand would be formed using an acrylic sheet.
User Testing Feedback
Cuff needs to easily slip on and tighten with one hand
Bedside table is prime real-estate so this product should have a smaller footprint and use the space more efficiently by providing other uses such as usb charging for phones and a clock.
Concerns about unintuitive method of placing watch face down and scratching displays when docking.
Cuff Prototype 2
Slips on and tightens easily with one hand
Most cuffs make people uncomfortable when squeezing their arm with a slick plastic finnish. This cuff is coated a a soft neoprene for extra comfort.
V2 Design
For the second iteration I began to implement changes based on feedback from the user testing. I moved towards a more compact design and thought more about affordances like usb ports and battery access. I began to explore some wood materials thinking about how to make the device feel more classy.
Rethinking Aesthetics
Cnc wood parts are expensive to manufacture, but plastics are easily molded into modern organic shapes which better reflect the soft home environment, so I shifted the aesthetics to reflect the design language of the smartwatch design. I remodeled the cuff bucle to reflect these curvy forms as well, then re-designed the base model in illustrator.
Functional Buckle
Stylized Buckle
V3 Final Design
Modeled in solidworks, rendered in keyshot.
V3 Prototype
To test scale, use cycle, evaluating form and simulated display lighting I 3d printed and painted a prototype, covering the top with a stretch fabric and using printed paper and a headlamp to simulate the LED matrix display.
Use/Data Cycle
In Context Shot
