Laundry ComplicationsLaundry Complications

Presented by:

Ilana Sherman

& Brittany Rose

• We created a selection of 10 problems

• 5 things we wished had existed

• 5 being things to improve

• Agreed on the laundry issue

• Ultimately, came to the idea that the issue involved overcrowding

• Keeping in mind the idea of a laundry system that will prevent overcrowding, we began to research:

• Our findings included:

• It’s beneficial to hook up laundry rooms to the internet

• We have LaundryView on the QU app, which is a feature that not everyone is aware of

• Came across an article that stated that people rely on structure and order

• Predictability is a key factor that students appreciate in the laun-dry process

• “How might we create a better system for scheduling laundry to prevent overcrowding?”

• As a part of connecting with others, we found out the concerns of students

• Going into the process, we thought the problem was lying in the fact that there weren’t enough machines

• As we asked students entering the laundry room about their laundry experiences, we listened to their complaints

• Problem lies beyond our initial thought; may not be the overcrowding issue, but rather, respecting others machine time

• People are worried about others removing their be-longing from the machines, even during their cycles

• After spending some time in the laundry room we realized what is actual problem is.

• Instead of our original thought process of over-crowding in the laundry room, we diverted our attention to a different problem

• Problem: respecting other students machine time.

• Since we found out that overcrowding was not necessarily the problem we came up with a better question to ask based on the actual problem in the laundry rooms.

• The reason we had to change our direction with the issues in the laun-dry room was because from our research and questioning students we found that the problem was more towards disrespect of others property and time management.

• “How might we create a beneficial way to do laundry with respect to others?”

• Through our research, we found that students were getting frustrated that their clothes were getting thrown on top of the washing machine if they did not take out their clothes on time. That also brings in the topic of Time Management.

• While doing our research on the new problem we met with Muriel Garvey - a Librarian on campus.

• She helped us find more articles on this topic and found out that most colleges around Connecticut has something like our LaundryView in place.

• The best advice she told us was to keep going with what we have because we were on the right path.

• The ideation process was split into two separate workshops

• The first day, we took a different approach by separating from our project partners

• Being paired with a member from anoth-er group, we spent time thinking of solutions to our problem on our own and then sharing it with the other person

• Received feedback

• The second day of the ideation workshop, we came back to our partners with our own set of ideas to share

• Each discussing our ideas

• We were able to compare and critique our thoughts to better each other and create the final solution

• The way we agreed upon our solution was because we both thought of the same idea.

• We both thought this would be a good prototype and solution for our problem area in the laundry

room.

• Our solution: Only the person who puts the laundry in can take it out by Q-Card.

• Using Play Dough to create a 3D model of washing and drying machines, we were able to visualize our sketch and demon-strate our idea

• Using a pipe clean-er to create a person and then created a Q-card out of green Play Dough.

• We also used foam paper to make mini clothes to put in the washer and dryer.

• Why did we choose this solution?

• After listing our novel and relevant ideas, we came up with the idea that the card system

would be best to improve upon

• Most practical idea to continue further

• Our Experience making the prototype:

• We used Play Dough to create washing and drying machines that would be most malleable and easy to work with, creating a model that wouldn’t be hollow

• It took us a while to create objects that looked realistic and also were functional

• The process made it easier to explain to others what our idea was.

• Ilana’s Experience throughout the process

• Coming from an artis-tic mindset rather than

creative, this project was, initially, very chal-

lenging

• Coming up with novel ideas in the beginning

of the project was also difficult

• Once we were set on an idea that we both

agreed on and were in-terested with, the proj-

ect became easier

• Realized how much time and effort goes into

create a solution to a problem

• Brittany’s Experience throughout the process:

• They say opposites attract and I feel this is what happened with the two of us with this

project.

• The places I am not good at, Ilana was and vise versa.

• Example:

• I am good at being creative and coming up with Noble ideas where she is more artistic and bet-

ter with coming up with relevant ideas.

• This experience had shown me that creative pro-cesses take a lot of time and effort.

• Overall Experience:

• Together our experience in doing this project was complicated at times.

• In the beginning of our research we ran into com-plications with what exact research we needed and how to go about doing it.

• We learned that all of the planning and re-searching that goes into making a product does not happen over-night.

• There are multiple steps that goes into making a product.

• It is okay to change ideas in the middle of the process and go back to edit these steps if needed to.

• The explanation of our conclusion

• The newest laundry system for Quinnipiac Uni-versity could be having a card system attached to

each of the machines

• Only those who tapped their card at the begin-ning of the cycle could open the machine at the

end by tapping once more

• This will prevent people from taking out laundry that isn’t there

• Provides a safer system; no concerns about laun-dry being taken, moved, or misplaced

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1525/si.2002.25.4.437.pdf

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