Project Development
Mentor Involvement
On March 23rd, I had the pleasure of having a 45 minute discussion with my AP Psychology teacher, Mrs.Szmajlo, and Mr.Syrotiak, who's grandmother suffers from dementia. I asked them a variety of questions about my product, and received some very valuable feedback about how my product should work, what it should target, and what type of person my product would be for. Probably the largest takeaway I got is that the effectiveness of this product will be based pretty largely on the background of the person it will be used for. For example, someone who enjoys a more sedentary lifestyle would likely enjoy reading through their Memento, or having someone else read it to them. However, someone who prefers being active might not be as interested in the book, and it might not have very much effect. Additionally, it would be important to let customers know that the product would likely not have much of an effect during the early stages of dementia in which long term memories are still intact, and it's effectiveness would likely wane a bit during the later stages, meaning my product would be hitting a pretty precise sweet spot. More of these insights can be seen by watching the video linked below, as well as reading the attached Google Doc, in which I wrote down a condensed version of the answers I got to some of my questions.
Attachments
Prototype Design
With the permission of Mrs.Pelletier, I was able to create a full prototype based off of stories about her fathers time as a racer and engineer. I'm proud of the work that I've done, and with the combined use of data gathered during earlier, input from my mentors, and information supplied by Mrs.Pelletier, I feel I've been able to create a strong product. To see my prototype, enter the document below, which will contain a synopsis of how my prototype would work, and a link to the prototype itself.