 Welcome to Design at Home! I'm Tiffany, an educator at the Cooper-Hewitt-Smithsonian Design Museum. Today, I want us to talk about the way that designers consider the needs of their users in order to create more useful and inclusive designs. Take a look at these three objects. I want you to pause for a moment and consider how these things are different. Now, using your observation skills, what are some similarities that you see? If you're anything like me, you are probably able to spot some of these differences like that. But the similarities are a little trickier to spot. But there is one very important similarity that these three objects share, and that is their function, that they are all made to be used with your eyes. Now, wait a second. If these were all made to be used with your eyes, then why do they all look so different? That's because these were all made to meet very different needs of very different users. Let's take a moment and look at how each of these three objects meets the specific needs of the users they were designed for. These are a pair of goggles that were designed by the Alaskan Anupiat. They were made specifically to be used in the snow. Take a moment and think about what ways these goggles might be helpful if you use them in the snow. Think about on a snowy day, and you walk outside, and the first thing that you do is you squint with your eyes. Why do you do that? Part of it is because the snow is bright. It reflects the sun. The white, white snow reflects the bright sun. Another reason, though, is maybe the wind is blowing and pieces of the ice and snow get in your eyes. These goggles effectively squint your eyes for you. With those small slits in them, it creates the effect of squinting your eyes because they block any debris from getting into your eyes. But most importantly, they protect against what is called snow blindness. All of the ultraviolet radiation reflected off of the snow-covered landscapes can make you temporarily blind. These glasses serve their users who were having to move from place to place in the snow so that they could see what they were doing. Unlike glasses you might see today, these don't have any glass or plastic lenses. These goggles are hand-carved out of ivory, which is what would have been available to the designers. And you can see that the form is made to contour around the face so that no snow or debris could get inside. The next set of eyewear is this pair from the 19th century in France. You might notice that unlike the last set of eyewear that we looked at, those goggles with the sleek forms and the simple shapes, this is very ornate and fancy and that is because these were meant to be worn to the opera. What would happen is those who would attend the theater or the opera would take these with them and when it came time to look at the actors or actresses on the stage, they would hold them up to their face and peer down onto the stage and they could see all of the expressions as they performed their operas. These magnifying glasses are made out of cut steel. They have this motif, this pattern of organic shapes like flowers and botanicals. The user that was going to be wearing these not only wanted to be able to see with them, but I think that they also wanted to be seen. So they would also want them to be an object of beauty. Now this last set of eyewear might look a little bit more familiar to you and the designers might sound a little bit more familiar to you. These are the Google glasses that were designed in 2013 and they were meant to bring technology and the way that wearable technology could be used into the future. These are made out of modern materials like titanium, plastic, steel, lead, silicone, glass and they have this very futuristic shape. A shape that can make you think of the possibilities for seamless integration of technology into everyday life. These were designed so that the user could easily take a photo using their glasses by squeezing the area of the side of the lens. There's also a touchpad incorporated where you just simply have to put your finger towards the temple of the eyewear and all of the audio is transferred through a tiny little oval bone conduction speaker that sits behind your ear. So these are much more futuristic and were designed for a wearer who is living in our contemporary world who is wanting to move forward in technology and maybe have the latest gadget or gear. For today's design challenge, the user that you're going to be designing for is a delivery person who has to safely and quickly move their packages from point A to point B across a cobblestone street. Step one, consider the needs of the user that you're designing for. Take a moment and think about what a delivery person might need in order to safely and quickly deliver their packages from one place to another. Brainstorm these on a piece of paper. Now I want you to think of the challenges that the terrain or the environment might present. In this case, your delivery person is crossing over a cobblestone street. Take a moment and write some things down that you think might be a challenge in crossing a cobblestone street. Step two, brainstorm your design. Now with a pencil and a piece of paper, I want you to brainstorm your design. Don't forget to keep in mind the user's needs that you came up with and also some of the challenges that the environment might present. Step three, design a prototype for your design. What is a prototype? A prototype is a model made by a designer to test out their idea. A prototype doesn't have to be perfect and it doesn't even have to work. It's a way to get an idea out. Designers often make hundreds of prototypes before launching their design. Sometimes prototypes are made out of very complicated and sophisticated materials. But oftentimes, designers will make prototypes out of everyday materials that they can find in their apartment or home. And that's what we're going to be doing today. For your design, we challenge you to find seven different recycled materials from around your house that you can use to prototype your design. Here's a few things that I found from around my apartment. An egg carton, paper straws, a used paper towel roll, plastic cartons for berries, fruit mesh, packing styrofoam, and some cut up cardboard. I also got a pair of scissors and a roll of tape, but I'm not counting those in my seven materials and you don't need to either. Now, it's time to bring your design to life through building your prototype. Let's get started. A person could use to drive across the cobblestone street. You can see that I chose big wheels so that it would have a lot of surface area as it moved across the small and uneven cobblestones. I also made sure to include a small bucket seat so that the driver could be comfortable and also secure. The storage parts of the vehicle are also lined with this styrofoam so that the packages are kept safe from jostling when moving across this bumpy uneven surface. My design can either be closed shut or kept open, particularly if it needs to be unloaded and loaded. What were your design solutions? If you would like to share your prototypes from this design challenge with us, you can post them on Instagram or Twitter and hashtag Smithsonian EDU. We would love to see some of your design solutions. If you would like to continue this design challenge, we have more users and terrains that you can design for over at our learning lab. There you can also find more ways to design at home. For other ways to experience design, you can also head over to our website at kubernetes.org. Thank you so much for joining me today for a design at home. Until next time!