GSA Showcase 2021

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Glasgow Innovation School Product Design

Arwen Borris (She/Her)

I am a human-centred designer with a strong interest in user experience and service design. In my time at GSA the projects I enjoyed most were those in collaboration with the NHS and the general public where I had the opportunity to engage with others and view situations from other perspectives, designing from insights collected whilst in others shoes. My educational journey has been driven by Gandhi’s “You must be the change you wish to see in the world” and has steered me into designs and dissertations around education, healthcare, well-being, mental health and our environment. I intend to continue this path in meaningful designs that meet societal demands. I believe design, and more specifically designing together, to be the blueprints to creating a better world.

Contact
arwen.b1@Virginmedia.com
A.Borris1@student.gsa.ac.uk
@Portfolio
@Linkedin
Projects
Educushion
Stress Less

Educushion

The final project of my undergraduate degree was inspired by the impact of the covid pandemic on the family dynamic. Parents were forced to become educators and many had a new outlook on family values. Family spaces had to facilitate working and learning environments without encroaching on home life. My project wanted to explore how the family home could support and nurture child development. I created Educushion, a company supplying a series of educational textiles and fort kit to enhance family engagement during the homeschooling experience.

Project Links

Key Insight

My project began with a quote on Facebook by a father who had made this realisation that he had been given the opportunity to spend more time with his family during his furloughed time in the pandemic. His experience had brought him closer with his children and he embraced this treasured time with them worrying it would end once the pandemic was over and everything was "back to normal".
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Educushion Short Film

Use our Educushion textiles to welcome learning into your home. Our kits encourage children to start the conversation and we supply you with the answers.

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Final Designed Outcome

The pandemic had produced a lot of unforeseen struggles, particularly for the family dynamic. Parents faced issues of work life balance whilst their children faced the challenges of learning from home. The family home had to adapt to provide spaces to accommodate these new work and school areas without invading the homes privacy and personal space.
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User Journey

Mark and Sophie's journey using Educushion demonstrating it's three main values: Bonding, Education and Shared Ownership of Spaces.
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Teaching Aid (Front)

For every Educushion purchase, a complimentary teaching aid is given for the parent to refer to before educating their child on the subject. The three-fold leaflet provides a link to the Educushion webpage, a list of suggested games and activities relating to that specific Educushion, frequently asked questions, a brief summary about the topic and a QR code on the back to unlock the Educushion app.
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Teaching Aid (Back)

Illustrated on the back is a labelled diagram of the Educushion textile and a small summary about the topic at hand for the parent to consolidate their understanding before becoming their child's educator. The QR code can be scanned by a mobile device to unlock further guidance for the parent on the Educushion topic.
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App Pages

Accessed by the QR Code on both the teaching aid's manual and the Educushion Labels, this app unlocks lesson suggestions and frequently asked questions about the subject appropriate to your child's curriculum for excellence level. The app is designed for parents to refer to briefly prior to the educational family experience so as to create a fun non-digital learning time with their child.
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Personal Project Journal

This document shows my design process from conception to utilisation.

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Stress Less

Future Experiences is a collaborative project between GSA, the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre and the NHS. We were exploring how collective intelligence can be utilised in the future of cancer care and treatment. To view our collaborative work (part 1 of the project) please follow the link: https://pd.gsainnovationschool.co.uk/fe21/care-and-treatment/

From my individual research I discovered that the years preceding 2030 will have an escalating issue of staff burnout due to stress from increasing pressures in the job and a rise in the number of patients. I have designed a new future working role to address this.

Stress Less is an external programme that would oversee staff stress levels in the department and organise substitutions accordingly. A ‘Substitutions Coordinator’ has been implemented into the oncology ward to monitor staff stress levels and take action before burnout occurs. The coordinator cares for the mental health of the staff whilst they care for the patients. Staff will be supplied with a smart vest to go under their uniform, it will monitor their heart rate, energy, temperature, location when on the ward and their stress levels. It reports this collected data back to the Substitutions Coordinator where they can assess situations and supply support. This collective openness and mental health focus will improve the care and treatment they produce and prevent staff burnout.

Project Links

Key Insight

In 2030, medical staff are more stressed than ever; the increase in patients and change of environment to a more sanitary and technological, less social ward has taken its tole on the care and treatment team producing an increase in staff burnout. In the sports and fitness sector live data monitoring and wellbeing has been a priority for over a decade. Managers are able to understand their players energy levels, temperature and heart rate by the smart vests they wear under their uniforms and take action based on these results in order to support their team. Between these two key insights I recognised the potential in this sports technology and adapted it to be of value to the health industry.
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Poster

Stress Less: supporting stressed staff through the integration of a new role 'Substitutions Coordinator' a stress manager responsible for tracking emotional and physical health of staff on the ward in real time
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User Journey

In the world of 2030, Anna, an oncology specialist nurse has been feeling extremely stressed in her career. There has been an increase in patients over the last decade and whilst technology has brought relief by performing the majority of the surgical side of treatment, Anna has to provide care and empathy to all her patients every day which can become very emotionally draining for her. To aid her, George has joined her ward as part of the Stress Less programme, he is able to analyse situations and relieve staff stress by taking appropriate actions; in this case substituting in Stephen for Anna.
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Stress Less George McIntyre

This short film demonstrates a day in the life of George. It shows his place of work, how he is able to understand and communicate with staff on the oncology ward as well as the value of his job for both staff and patient as he relieves staff stress.

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Personal Project Journal

This document shows my design process from conception to utilisation.

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