020 a difference and can really make it interesting. Think of ways that you interact with the music while exercising, instead of just ‘passively’ listening to it. A more focused study performed by Stephen H. Boutcher and Michele Trenske for the Journal of Sports and Exercise Psychology called ‘The Effects of Sensory Deprivation and Music on Perceived Exertion and Affect During Exercise’ looked into the differences in personal perception of fatigueness. Their study examined the effects of sensory deprivation and music on perceived exertion and affect. Volunteer women (N=24) performed three 18-min sessions on a cycle ergo meter at light, moderate, and heavy workloads during which perceived exertion, affect, and heart rate were monitored. Each subject participated in a control, deprivation, and music condition. No significant differences where found in heart rate between conditions. In contrast, significantly lower perceived exertion existed during the music compared to the deprived condition at the low workload. Similarly, there was lower perceived exertion during the music compared to the control condition at the moderate workload. Also, significantly greater levels of affect were observed during the music compared to the deprived condition at the moderate and heavy workloads.
Vision
As with most of my projects, I’d like to define a project vision up front, which I can use as a guideline throughout the rest of my project; this vision helps me decide in situations where multiple options are feasible. Like in my previous projects, I would like to focus on the experience, or at least take this as a starting point. To get an overall view on which elements are involved in the sport of ice hockey, I created a schematic overview of the most important elements. I focused on the game experience itself, not on the commercial areas around it; these might step in a later phase of the project. The schematic can be found on the right. What we see here is that in the sport of ice hockey, two main groups are involved: the Athlete and the Audience. Starting from the Athlete, I identified two groups, the professional players, with an age between 20 and 35, and the amateur player, of which the age varies between 6 and 50 years old. We also see that there is a choice about why they participate, for fun, health or performance. For this Athlete, the experience of ice hockey starts when he/she starts training. Depending on their choice of participation, the experience might spread out towards matches. Mostly, only the people that play for performance actually take this step. Otherwise their choice for playing is more fun or health related. During these matches, Audience plays a vital role for the experience of the Athlete. Playing for a crowded stadium is different than playing ‘just’ against your opponent on a training court.
Semester Report M2.2 | Laurens Doesborgh | FMP
For the Audience, the experience starts when they visit a match. I have not looked into the differences between a real or virtual (via television) visit to a match, because if I decide to design for the audience, I don’t want to focus on the homeexperience. For the majority of the Audience, fun or involvement are the main driving forces. Together with the rest of the Audience and the Match, they create their own experience. In my opinion, there is room for Technological Innovation at two points; between the Athlete and Training, and between Audience and Match; the blue dotted line in the schematic. As described in the previous chapter, I am very interested in the social aspect of things. Therefore I would also like to find that social aspect in this project, and see if there is a way to implement that in the concepts-to-be-generated. Since sport, and especially hockey, is highly competitive, the social factor is definitely present. As for now, I will use the following statement as the vision for my project: “Design a platform that allows players to be more actively involved in the game, and which stimulates them to keep practising.” “Create a platform that enhances the involvement of both the Athlete as well as the Audience in a way that it contributes to the overall experience of ice hockey.”
Process
Integrated in the schematic on the right is also the design process. Based on the mapping of the elements of ice hockey, I decided to take the technology innovation opportunity as the starting point of my project. Starting from a design opportunity instead of a design problem is based on the design process proposed by Hummels and Frens, called the Reflective Transformative Process. Also the idea is to go through a set of iterations, in which the product or service gets tailored more and more towards the customer. These iterations are centered around the middle circle: Ideating, Integrating and Realizing. By jumping from one circle to another, ideas develop on all aspects in a parallel instead of a sequential way. I really like this way of working because it allows more flexibility and individual preference, without losing track of the other areas.