IntroductIon
Project Brief: For this project, I was asked to design a conceptual product that helps to ease relaxation before sleeping. The user would be chosen by the designer.
The DesIgn
"The user I decided on was 3-12 month old babies and their caregivers, as babies’ sleeping schedule heavily affects their parents’ lifestyle and sometimes this sleeping schedule can get parents to poorly manage work/life balance. My goal was to help babies develop correct sleeping habits and improve their sleep quality utilising a healthy rocking motion and white noise."
DesIgn Process
The initial sketch for this concept was aimed towards babies between 0-12 months. I featured a removable top surface for easy cleaning with heat and sound controls. It also had a single handle for rocking the cradle.
Prototypes
My prototype featured two removable surfaces (the bottom one touched the base while the top one carried the baby. It had eight bearings that carried the cradle which also helped the cradle to achieve a rocking motion. Also, ergonomic research revealed I needed to target babies between 3-12 months.
In the second batch of prototypes, I redesigned the base and the cradle. This version had a rail system to limit cradle motion. It still utilized bearings and a removable top surface, but this time the top surface was designed to be rigid in contrary to the old version.
In later prototypes, I added a removable base which elevated the height to ~70 cm. I also designed the base to have a second life cycle as a table to be used by the child.
In the last prototype, I added wheels and rubber feet for portability around the house, this enhances mobility for the caregiver as they need to be around the baby at all times. Also, I redesigned the cradle to ensure the baby would not roll over. I lastly redesigned the base to better incorporate the "table life cycle" for the base and added buttons for sound level with a sound selector.
