1.2 Find the Gap

1.2 - Find the Gap (P)

As you go through your day, make note of things that annoy you or cause you extra effort, time, money, or discomfort. In the language of this course, find some gaps in your user experience. Identify at least 10 of these gaps.

Select a gap that will form the basis of your class project. Your gap (course project) must meet these criteria:

• You personally experience the gap (i.e., you want to solve the design problem).
• You have access to at least five people who also experience the gap, or a closely related gap. This access is ideally face-to-face, not solely via the internet.
• You can imagine creating some kind of design and prototype of an artifact that would address this gap within the next 8 weeks. In other words, the challenge is not so complex that you cannot imagine addressing it in this course. (For instance, the gap “I really wish I could travel in outer space” would be a poor choice for a course project.)
• You can imagine the gap being addressed by an artifact in a domain that interests you personally (e.g., physical product, architecture, apparel, graphics, web design, furniture).

My Gaps

1. When I get home from work there is no place to put my computer bag. I usually end up leaving it at the top of the stairs. I don't like having it there but I have no other good place to leave it.
   
2. I don't have a central place to charge all my electronic devices. They end up plugged in different spots all over the house. I end up running around trying to find where I left them.
3. Our food pantry is a mess. We tried to organize it but failed. We can never find anything. The cabinet is too deep and things get lost in the back.
4. When I ride my scooter to school in the morning it isn't heavy enough to trip the stop light sensor in the roadway so I end up having to run a red light in order to get to school.
5. My tool bench is a mess. I have 3 tool boxes with tools and a pegboard with some tools hanging. I never quite know where my tools are and have to look in all 4 places before I find what I need.
6. I don't have an appropriate bench for using my compound mitre saw. I end up having to use a table that is too short or I simply put a piece of plywood on top of a pair of sawhorses. Neither option works well.
7. Our dining table in the kitchen is the wrong size and shape. When everyone is home for dinner we don't quite fit well. This is often the only space in the house that we all occupy at the same time so having a comfortable space would be great.
8. I don't have a space in my car to lock up valuables out of sight.
9. My shoes sit in a big pile at the bottom of my closet. I don't have many pairs but there isn't room for them all.
10. Our family room downstairs isn't being used much. We can't seem to decide what to use it for or how it should be used. We'd like to make better use of that space.

The Gap I Picked for the Project

Our dining table in the kitchen is the wrong size and shape. It's not comfortable and we don't fit around it well. The space isn't particularly welcoming or comfortable.

The gap I picked is number 7 above:
The one place in our home that we all gather on a regular basis is the dining table in our kitchen. In many ways this spot is the heart of our home. It's not a very inviting space. We've done some things to make it better like paint, new flooring, and adding artwork. I'd like to work on making the space more comfortable, usable, and appealing so that we'd spend more time together there. My hope is that a better designed space will lead to more and better family time.