Reframing, research & insights
I had a second reframing session with Laura. Through this session I learned what I can investigate further to improve my story that I want to tell.
How do you dispose the gelatin balance cushion?
It was difficult to find anything about this but I did find this video. It is very different from what I have been doing, in this case a swimming pool filled with gelatin. This inspired me to try something alike.
I made a saline solution with water and put a sample in it. After an hour it got softer than it was and I could easily pierce it with a spoon.
How do you store and clean the balance cushion?
Due to the bioplastics week in the first block, I saw that my samples are still good and have no fungus. This is because I kept them in a foil in a dark place, in my kitchen drawer.
What are the exercises you can do with the balance cushion?
I have not thought about which exercises the user can do with the balance cushion because it makes sense to me but perhaps not to other people. I will ask my physiotherapist about some exercises.
Third world countries and fitness
To do some inspiration Laura gave me a tip to look how people work out in third world countries.
In the article below Craig Weller tells about how he exercised when he spent a few years in different third world country during his time in the navy.
He had a rope and two rings that he could hang in an industrial place. In addition all he had were sandbags and rocks and with these limited materials he developed a fitness program. He used rocks for underwater weighted sprint exercises
A part of the program cosisted of:
Mobility warm-up (dynamic leg swings, high-knee running, etc.) Sandbag sprints, 6 rounds (2 overhead, 2 underhand, 2 rotational) Stone sprints, 5 rounds Underwater rock running, 1 round
New insights and conclusion
Due the reframing session with Laura and coaching/brainstorming with Marjolein I decided to change something in my concept.
Gelatin gets harder over time and keeping it soft all the time will be tricky for the user and the chance of fungus is also high because it also retains moisture if it stays soft.
It seemed logical to me at first to seal the balance cushion with transparent foil and keep it in a dark place, but there it started to get moldy.
I also realized that during the bioplastics week I left my samples next to my open window for a long due my laziness to clean it up and store it somewhere else. These samples were much smaller and in the next week I will try to maintain better supervision during drying.
Now I want the balance cushion to get harder over time. The user will do different exercises based on the hardness of the balance cushion. As a result, the exercises are no longer monotonous and the user has a different schedule of exercises every week based on the hardness.
I will also look for an mould in a local store where I will make my final product.
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