JULIA ZORZANELLO BYRON Industrial & Interaction Designer julia.z.byron@gmail.com // (203) 715-5291
EDUCATION
Syracuse University / Syracuse, NY
8/2007-5/2013
Industrial & Interaction Design, School of Design, Class of 2013
SU Study Abroad Program / London, UK WORK EXPERIENCE
Spring 2012
appeThaizing / Syracuse, NY
6/2009-Present
MoreStick / Syracuse, NY
5/2013-Present
Thai restaurant. Began as server & worked up to manager. In charge of all serving staff & handled all customer issues. Returned to server in 2011 to focus on design work.
Freelance. Currently sole designer helping DeBorah Little bring her invention idea to market. Meeting with manufacturers, designing functionality, creating SolidWorks parts.
Small Potatoes LLC / Syracuse, NY
2/2013-8/2013
Central New York Regional Market / Syracuse, NY
Summer 2013
Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems / Austin, TX
Summer 2012
Freelance. Designing presentations for Martin Butts to be used in workshops nationally.
Internship. Purchased & sold produce, managed all money; developed web presence & social networking; established relationships with site contacts, farmers, wholesale vendors; developed merchandising & advertising strategies; designed communication materials.
Volunteer. Helped with ideation & model making of a lamppost retrofit design & communications design for a book they were preparing for publication.
SU Industrial & Interaction Design Program / Syracuse, NY
Fall 2011
Teaching Assistant to Professor Cas Holman for course Production Processes.
COMPUTER SKILLS
DESIGN SKILLS
Current Address: 400 Greenwood Pl, Syracuse, NY Permanent Address: 21 Abby Dr, Hebron, CT
Adobe Creative Suite: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator & Flash. SolidWorks & Hypershot. Drawing: Sketching, marker & pen rendering, computer 2D & 3D rendering. Model making: wood, paper, foam, MDF, patterns for CNC & laser cutting. Shop skills: Wood, metal & foam shops. Sewing machine. Design research: interviewing, observation, ethnographic research, rapid prototyping.
AWARDS
Philip H. Stevens Award- Redesign of bathroom vanity for wheelchair-bound individuals. “Gnome” Design Professors’ Award- Human factors group project for “Accessible Wearables.” Chancellor’s Scholarship, S.U. Merit Scholarship, Dean’s List
ACTIVITIES
IDSA Vice President, Habitat for Humanity, Alpha Phi Omega Community Service Fraternity, NYPIRG Earth Day Festival Committee, ID+ Gallery Show curator.
HOBBIES & INTERESTS
Making, fixing, repurposing, urban bicycling & exploration, photography, Radiolab, NPR, dystopian fiction, travel, & foremost meeting unusual & usual people.
An industrial designer with a holistic, empathic approach to addressing real world problems through user-focused research & design
Contents 1 Managing medication for seniors 2 STORYSHARE 3 Accessible Bathroom Vanity
Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength. Betty Friedan Writer & activist
1
Managing medication for seniors: Research & Strategy Delivering strategy to designers, in collaboration with Dan Sussman & Quinton Fletchall
The Situation Incorrect use of prescription medications are responsible for widespread health complications & deaths, costing billions of dollars annually. This issue is most prominent in the growing elderly population.
The Objective Phase 1: Develop an understanding of the problem & determine a design strategy to address it. Phase 2: Represent the research. Design tools to help designers understand the problem & strategy. image from www.telegraph.co.uk
Phase 1: Research
Visual degeneration
“I still keep going on like a Buffalo Soldier should”* Our early research focused on physically & emotionally putting us in the place of aging people.
Hunched posture, stiff neck
*From an essay by Henry Washington in The Merck Manual of Health & Aging
Young@Heart, a documentary that dives into the lives of seniors in a choir that sings edgy music
Decreased range of motion
Glen Hougan’s Empathy Suit
Phase 1: Research
Medication managing in context This is how my grandfather keeps his medication.
He attempts his own system but it is confusing, his meds overwhelm his home & he needs help to manage
Why do some medications stay in the cabinet & why do some live on the counter?
Saves all medication literatureCollects in unhelpful mess
Guide to the systemDifficult to understand
Multiple pill boxesHow do these work together?
What happens to his system every time he uses the coffee maker?
Phase 1: Research
What’s out there? We did a deep dive into the products & methods currently addressing the issue.
We found that pill boxes are most widely used yet have high failure rates, that family members are often intimately involved & that people prefer to consult medical professionals.
Pill Boxes 24-hour Nurse Hotline
Monetary Incentives
Prescription Bottles
Notes
Organizer Part of routine
Most widely used tool Main Support Network Coupling medication with treats Products & Methods
Family members, friends
Intrinsic part of life Medical Professionals Alerts
Blister Packs
Websites
Informational Packets
Doctors, pharmacists, nurses
Preferred source of info
Phase 1: Research
Evaluating by primary function We found positives, negatives & opportunities in our findings.
The most opportunities were in personal support.
Personal support
Motivate Support Intimately involved Availability
24-hour Nurse Hotline
Medical Professionals
Main Support Network
Can’t empathize Lack expertise Caregiver burnout
Inform & instruct Prescribe Demonstrate
Can’t empathize Many patients Limited availability
Availability Inform & Instruct
Can’t empathize Distant
How do we take advantage of the various means of support & overcome the issues of empathy & burden?
Educational aids
Rewards & Incentives
Assistive tools
Info Packets Prescription Bottles Websites
Coupling meds with treats Monetary Incentives
Blister Packs Pill Boxes Alerts Notes
Inform
Don’t: Adapt Elaborate Support Motivate
Motivate
Don’t: Educate Support Convince
Organize Remind
Don’t: Educate Support Convince Motivate
Phase 1: Research
Where else in the health world is personal support utilized? The major elements that result from people working together to achieve health goals are accountability, motivation, routine, tracking progress & learning from each other.
Health clubs Gym buddies Sports leagues Support groups
I shadowed a fitness program at “The Village� assisted living facility. Residents bond when they participate, which encourages them to reach health goals together.
Phase 1: Research
Design Strategy: A new type of social program A holistic approach: Combining elements of support, encouragement, education
SURROUND BY PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND - bond together through group activities - educate each other
HOLISTIC APPROACH TO HEALTH FOCUS ON WHOLE PERSON INSTEAD OF CONDITION - personalize for individual - offer variety of options
COUPLE WITH OTHER POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT - relate to other personal goals - encouragement & support - group activities - tracking progress - fun & rewards
Phase 2: Representing our research Research Part 2: Social group dynamics & benefits
Research Part 1: What’s out there
Designer’s Toolkit
The Strategy: A guide to compliance
We delivered the research & ideation tools in a simple, engaging way
Easily transportable package Lid doubles as whiteboard with stand
Arrangement of items leads designer through research
Overview & design brief
Ideation tools
Playing cards with personas, facts & questions to get designers ruminating
Challenge game introduces strategy objective
Phase 2: Representing the research The direction:
Research in use
The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them. Ralph G. Nichols
listening extraordinaire & founder of the International Listening Association
2
STORYSHARE
A year long, self-directed research & design project aimed at creating deep fulfilling interactions between strangers
We all know the storyPeople with nothing in common, brought together by fate. Against all odds, they overcome their differences to form a bond they never thought possible & gain a new outlook on life.
In real life, we rarely get opportunity to break through social barriers. When we don’t identify with someone, we avoid interacting with them unless some impetus brings us together.
Bringing strangers together Some inspiration photos
I wanted to bring the dynamic of these interactions to people like this
These girls both live in the Syracuse community, but attend vastly dissimilar high schools. There is barely any interaction between the two schools.
So I researched what makes people connect, Essentially, it comes down to neural mirroring. Mirror neurons make us feel compassion.
& found we can experience this effect from stories Because of mirror neurons, when we are absorbed
*From The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall
in a story we have an emotional & physical reaction similar to experiencing the situation,
effectively educating us & enhancing our ability to empathize.*
So then I looked into storytelling, & found that it is powerful because it is central to the human condition. Stories make us care about things outside of ourselves.*
*From The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall
How do people tell stories? I made a mind map; it became massive. To the left are some samples. I sorted them in different ways to find information, trends & design opportunities.
I found that people like straightforward stories, tell stories as much for themselves as others & often use a combination of storytelling methods.
For whom?
Intention Open to interpretation
Straightforward
Purely symbolic
A known, specific person or group
= number of methods
Means
Imagery
Spoken
An anonymous person or group
The person conveying the story
Written
Combining elements
Okay, but which stories do people pay attention to?
“She used it as an example of being grateful for what you have”
“My dad told my brother & I”
“It was said through words and lots of eye contact”
“It was just me and him in a room together for hours playing FIFA”
“It was in a town near mine and it worried me that it would happen “It was like a secret filled with emotion” Informational envelope
Finding patterns in my surveys I analyzed over 40 surveys
find similarities & reinforce
Common trends:
Category:
Personal Connection
Personal Connection?
make it “homey” & intimate
people like deeper meaning
Home Intimate
Lesson or Reinforced Realization a Value
Setting
Takeaway message?
Face to Face
have 2 people talk, face to face
One on One
Method of Delivery
variety of themes
Verbal
Emotional Themes
How do stories play out in real life? My surveys hinted that I was missing other elements of good storytelling so I took observations on deeply personal storytelling as it happened naturally around me.
- Giving full attention - Arranging bodies around speaker - Body language - Validating speaker’s feelings
“I had no idea it got that bad” “I had to go to therapy after that”
- Privacy
- Body language - No interrupting - Dedicating time to talk
“So then we were homeless for awhile...”
How do I draw stories out? I noticed that people needed stimuli to tell a story. I interviewed a student, Sam Jones, about how recalling memories works. He said memories are directly connected to the senses. We don’t remember an event as one piece- we remember it according to how it imprinted on the different senses.
How do I make them want to share? I had a hard time recruiting people to try my designs so I interviewed “Photography & Literacy Project� director Stephen Mahan. He has widespread success in getting Syracuse city students to share their stories.
Relate the subject to their lives
Make them feel special & important
Dedicate set time for storytelling Show someone is listening & encourage them
Design Direction To design a kit of parts that improve factors for
conscious listening to aid in a rich storytelling experience to foster connection between strangers in a community who do not typically interact.
IdentiďŹ cation & Empathy
Storytelling
Listening
Personas Mel i ssa
“I’ve never connected with someone so different from me”
Testing ideas Full dividing wall
Eye-contact attention tube
“Nice for getting into the process but too I want to look somewhere else”
focused.
Be than y
“Are you there? Are
Attention directing cones
you listening?”
Partial dividing wall
“They won’t talk openly with me”
C hristian
“I feel too
silly”
A cube space
“It’s too weird that I can’t see you. That’s all I’m focusing on”
“I can’t just ignore my phone”
Requesting a story on the spot
Joan n a “It’s kind of cozy, but I feel really boxed
“I just have so many things I want to say!”
in”
Listening to a story through a curtain to elicit memories
up
One image as a cue to elicit memories
Mark
“We never seem to want to talk about the same things”
“I’m having a hard time coming with a story to talk about”
“It was a nice story but I
didn’t relate” “Okay, we’re done talking about this picture.
Are we done?”
Trying different sense cues
Refining ideas Creating a curvy-walled booth
I can get my mind off what I was doing out there” “It feels like a completely different space.
Indicating the sense to be used
“Don’t ruin the surprise! I don’t want to know what sense I will use before I look”
Warm textured walls
“I like the warmth in here & the unobtrusive walls. The walls make this space seem very roomy!”
Using lots of cues
Even unfamiliar cues initiate conversation
“There are too many cues to check out. We jumped from one to the next & didn’t talk much about them”
The Final Design: STORYSHARE
Bringing people from different backgrounds together to discover their similarities It comes together as a booth that can be set up anywhere
2 cozy chairs with matching slip covers
Flexible wall to create an intimate environment
Outside view
Inside view
The environment lays the foundation for a successful experience Sensory cues to draw out stories
Warming, “homey� accents
body language
intimacy privacy focus Cue covers to add exploration & fun how to
3. share
1. meet
2. sense
Table for users to gather around
STORYSHARE
Instructions
proximity
The Process
1. Users begin by investigating the cues
2. They explore using the 5 senses
3. The process is as much about sharing
4. Both take part in listening & sharing
experience as about storytelling
What they are discovering:
AN UNLIKELY SIMILARITY
“My grandma always fed me dried fruit too!”
A PROVOCATIVE REALIZATION
“I never thought about my town that way.”
THE JOY OF REMINISCING
“I haven’t thought about that place in years.”
GOOD DESIGN CENTERS EXPERIENCE AROUND THE USER, NOT THE PRODUCT. STORYSHARE USERS DISCOVER NEW THINGS ABOUT THEMSELVES & OTHERS & EXPERIENCE A RENEWED SENSE OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF STRANGERS.
Independence is happiness. Susan B. Anthony Civil rights superhero
3
Accessible Bathroom Vanity Winner of the Philip H. Stevens Award
Competition Objective Address the needs of a wide range of users with disabilities by improving workow within the home environment. Choose a specific situation & setting to design for.
Which is the area of most need? Occupational therapist Joan Cramer says it’s
bathroom independence & safety
People post videos to demonstrate life in a wheelchair. They showed me that we need to look in a completely different lens than that of an able-bodied user
“My clients yearn to be independent & accomplished; the biggest issue with this is the bathroom. Their day is so full of waiting for helpers that the days fly by”
What adaptive devices for the bathroom are out there? Occupational therapist Joan Cramer described different products she uses for adapting bathrooms. It became clear the vanity has the fewest existing options & remains inconvenient for all users.
My strategy: create a single, convenient vanity system.
Toilet
“These work pretty well for most people”
Opportunities Improving aesthetics, addressing the people that system doesn’t work for
Bathing
“If they don’t have a tub, we put in a standing shower with a sloped drain, supports, hand-held shower head, & shower chair”
Opportunities Improving aesthetics & safety
Adaptive Devices: A Survey The Bad
Vanity
“I’ve never found an option for converting it, I have the whole thing removed. I replace it with a pedestal sink & wall of shelving. I wish there was a way to have everything in one place�
Opportunities Bringing all of the vanity elements back into one unit. Catering the vanity to the wheelchair experience.
utilitarian unaesthetic stigmatizing
The Good
discreet aesthetic
What’s it like to use the vanity from a wheelchair? I can’t do everything from one spot & have to keep adjusting my position. Also, reach needs to be considered with this system for every task
I attached my waist to the chair with a belt to also simulate limited torso mobility
The sink needs to be right under
Low things are out of reach
Faucet is out of reach
Outlet is out of reach
Fallen things are out of reach
Knees are in the way of the door
How do other people approach this issue? Aesthetics don’t say, “This is the home of a disabled person”
ADA Specifications gave me technical guidance
Adjusting required to use counterspace. Can I make counters more accessible? Reach radius
Drawers are still inconvenient to access. Need to reconsider traditional drawers Better faucet access
Clearances
Ample space underneath sink
Doesn’t address risk of things falling out of reach
Space needed to move in the bathroom
Initial Ideation Square= efďŹ cient
Sink out of way when not in use
Sketch modeling
Swivel
Drawers swing out by pressing lever
Shallow basin
First version of design Mobile sink & lateral access to the drawers allows user to use sink, drawers, and counter top without moving their wheelchair.
Faucet handles situated on front of sink
Flexible piping
Sink rests in counter top User can pull sink towards them Drawers end before maximum arm reach
ISSUES Out-of-reach counter space in back corners Doesn’t address items rolling off countertop Sink resting spot is unstable Functionality of countertop doesn’t adapt to user
Continued Ideation
Overlay of a person in a wheelchair to test on sketches
Final Design Every part adapts for the user, instead of requiring the user to adapt to it
Users glide sink to them & slide it back into place by squeezing a handle on either side of sink, which works by a squeeze-and-release mechanism
Drawers are suspended from a rod & pivot to open.
White circles indicate where to push for them to swing open.
A counter pulls out to hold & catch items while the user is doing tasks like applying makeup or shaving. Raised edges prevent items from rolling off
Traditional sink pipe is replaced by exible hose. The sink’s tracks lock into place underneath the counter
A small inset band runs along entire countertop edge, catching anything that might roll off
Outlet in the second drawer for easy access, is fire proofed so electronic elements can be stored safely
JULIA ZORZANELLO BYRON Industrial & Interaction Designer julia.z.byron@gmail.com // (203) 715-5291
much obliged