In this week’s lecture we approached one of the final steps of the design process: determining build and market feasibility of a product. Determining these feasibilities is critical for estimating the success of a product. If, for example, research indicates that there was little market feasibility of a product, this would save the company a lot of money. Going through the process of creating and producing something only to have no one buy it in the target region would be financially devastating for a company.

In this final week of class, we were also able to tie everything together that we had learned so far in a project that encompassed all of our previous topics. I had a lot of fun taking all of the skills and different ways of thinking I have learned in this course and applying them to a product idea I created.

This project taught me a lot of things about the design process and what potential challenges there could be. I initially came up with an idea that I wasn’t able to use because I realized it wasn’t feasible in this region. Before this course, I would have never thought in that way and never would have realized how impractical and useless my original product would have been for this region. I also really enjoyed using the empathetic approach to needs statements when brainstorming project ideas. Putting myself in the patient’s shoes, thinking about what I would want or not want if I was in that position, helped me come up with a much better project idea.

Overall this class has helped me improve my way of thinking and has provided me a lot of new techniques for problem solving. I am looking forward to applying these techniques to my job in industry after graduation!