Hello! I'm creating this blog to provide myself with a forum and motivation to write about a current interest -- the intersection between product design, technology, behavior change and health. Why this area? A few reasons. 1) I want to more consciously use design to change people's day to day lives in positive ways. I've spent most of my career understanding how to create products that fit into people's lives and make sense given their existing behaviors. That's critical to the design of successful new products. However, I'm currently most interested in pushing the boundaries of design research to learn how new products can not just fit into existing behaviors, but help people create new ones.
2) So many things can be done. I want to create new frameworks for understanding what should be done. There have been so many technological advancements in the past decade. Computing power is cheap and small. Manufacturing can be done swiftly almost anywhere in the world, including in your home or office. Global connectivity is at an all time high. I'm interested in pushing the boundaries of what's possible and exploring the best ways to employ all this technological possibility.
3) Healthcare is in flux. And health matters. Our healthcare system is broken and every individual working to make it better can make a difference. There are many places in the world where healthcare is a luxury, and there's a need to figure out how to provide care that is tailored to the particular constraints of those locations. At the same time, it's possible to empower individuals to take better care for themselves than ever before. I strongly believe that there are better ways to help people take care of themselves and others. Why not try to figure out how?
This blog will be a place for me to write about the projects that I'm involved in, personal and classroom experiences, current research, and interesting projects that other folks are working on. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Sarah