The Industrial Design Program has rich history of involving students and corporations in realistic design projects within the educational environment. Known as sponsored studio, these projects are carefully programmed to teach about the collaborative aspects of product development and offer realistic education about the client, market and design service. Students benefit greatly from participating in realistic design projects that has the presence of a client and the project guided by practical design considerations. For the corporate sponsor, it is an opportunity to involve a group of students in investigating a design problem that requires research, development and innovative thinking. Both upper level undergraduate students and graduate students participate in sponsored projects. Even though the sponsored projects tend to be semester long, they can be developed for shorter duration and with a specific focus on research, design investigation and testing. The results of the sponsored studio are rich and provide great benefit to corporate sponsors and the Industrial Design Program.

The recent sponsored projects include:

Aqualair Corporation
Located Dalonega, GA, Aqualair Corporation is a manufacturer of a new hybrid product called the showerspa. Students conducted user, market, technology and manufacturing research to determine needs and opportunities for new designs. Based on the research, many design concepts for specific markets were developed. For example, a high style design for the upscale condo market, a therapeutic design for senior market, a sporty design for the health spa market and a rest and leisure design for the hospitality market. Designed specifically for the American users and manufacture within Georgia, the new designs are intended to replace the Chinese made showerspas that purchased by Aqualiar and promote economic development in the state of Georgia.

Intel
The Intel Corporation’s Digital Health Group, based in Portland, Oregon, focuses on technology and medical applications in both hospital and home. The Digital Health Group asked graduate industrial design students to participate in their ongoing research related to the medication taking behaviors of the elderly and develop systems for prompting and medication compliance. Students studied elderly environment, human behavior related to medication taking and technologies employed to maintain compliance. They used ethnographic research techniques to study how the elderly maintains medication routine, forget patterns and the prompting strategies employed to maintain compliance. The particular problem space was around mobile medication prompting i.e., what devices can prompt when outside the home, how to track medication taking, how to carry or wear pills conveniently when outside the home. Students investigated issues such as male vs. female (that is pockets vs. purse), auditory, visual, vibration for prompting, and they explored technologies and designs that the elderly can carry, wear, and/or use to serve as a pill carrier/prompter. Deliverable included a documentation book of design research and thoughtful designs representing a wide range of concepts.

Washington Hospital Center and HKS
The Washington Hospital Center and HKS, a Dallas based architecture firm dedicated to nurture a culture of both invention and customer focus sponsored a graduate studio project. HKS is the top five architecture firms nationwide recognized for their award winning architectural, interior design and planning services. Their portfolio varies in type, scale and location but one of the major ones is healthcare facilities. Thorough the course, students were introduced to rigorous problem solving methodologies in industrial design education and practice. Case studies in healthcare design and service delivery, as well as futuristic scenarios were employed to examine the complex connections between design, health, technology and usability. Students had the opportunity to involve a real-life client to understand realistic considerations and pursue collaborative work and professional practice. Through research, design, development and testing, they engaged in creative thinking about opportunities and limitations in design and apply the results towards the development of successful real-life experiences and outcomes.

Note:
All work executed in the College becomes the property of the College and will be retained or returned at the discretion of the faculty. The faculty also reserves the right to refuse credit for any project executed outside the precincts of the College or otherwise executed without proper coordination with the instructor.