Reflection

The experiment was started at roughly 8:00 each day. In both dates in April the water temperature exceeded 100 degrees Celsius by 12:00 before plateauing. This temperature was reached in just 4 hours. The reading taken on the 12th of March reached just under 80 degrees Celsius in the same time period and kept increasing slowly. All temperatures reached are suitable for Solar sterilisation as water only has to be heated to 60 degrees Celsius when paired with the UV from the sun’s rays reducing an 8-hour minimum sterilization time to under an hour.

Through the in-depth research, light was shone on areas which may and could have easily been overlooked. Lobitos has a growing tourism industry which could be massively improved with the introductions of incentives and schemes to clear and collect waste in exchange for extra usage of a product like UVH2GO.. The extensive research from the beginning aided in naturally providing direction for the design team towards the Water Segment of the brief and then onto specifically Sterilisation and Sanitation.

The back-and-forth input of weekly tutorials with university tutors ensured the project continued with effective direction. These entailed a short presentation and catchup informing them of where the work was currently at. These were followed by a series of questions and suggestions pushing the team to cover all aspects of the design process, double-back and reiterate specific areas while also generally having an external pair of eyes and opinions/feedback on the work. Then finally an allotted time where the team asked any questions or sought advice in areas.

Throughout the entirety of the project, the team were not able to physically meet to work. This pushed them to utilize other methods to ensure communication could be most effectively done. This included using regular Mini–Microsoft Teams meetings to discuss progress, delegate and allocate jobs. The introduction of shared access files through the project helped to organise and assist in what could usually be done over a table in a room. To further this, digital communal workspaces such as Miro were used to Brainstorm and map out work.

Multiple key skills were established or improved throughout the design process and producing a final outcome. For this project specifically, a key area the team focussed on was the financial situation or lack off in the locations. This pushed the team to constantly develop, and critique designs while using research to reinforce the project direction. In this project through the financial situation, it led the team to push for a design which put as little stress on materials that require external sourcing and in-turn pushed the team to evaluate the development of the final outcome at every stage from initial ideation. In some causes reverting back and choosing an alternative form or adaptation. To complete said evaluation effectively, empathetic considerations were a necessary skill to utilize and further during the project.

Throughout the various stages of ideation, development and finalising the product problems were encountered. The team used the extensive research sources available and previously gathered to find alternative routes or adaptations to get round these issues. The weekly tutorials also provided the team with opportunities to discuss the encountered issues and take on board suggestions for a different approach.

Overall, the project enabled the team to further their knowledge across many aspects of design while also enlightening them into areas which they may have once overlooked. The Solution created by the team demonstrates how good communication paired with hard-work and with this particular brief, a big focus on empathetic consideration can aid them as designers to efficiently, methodically tackle issues presented to them having no previous understanding of the context.