W-7
Size still remains a high priority issue with the case. The first one was unacceptably tall, the second was shorter but still had a large footprint. Case 3 is both shorter and skinnier.
In order to get the case down to this small size, the PCB shield will need to be reworked and resized to match the footprint of the Trinket. The case was modeled around two stacked Trinkets. It’s very much an incomplete design - the switch wasn’t factored in anywhere, there aren’t slots to route the motor wires through yet, the tabs for the straps are extremely weak, and the cap doesn’t have a way to attach.
In addition to this new case, I also made a little bit of progress regarding the strap. I found three different fabric materials to test out: a soft polyester (I think), a soft cotton, and webbing.
The webbing (far right) was too thick to attach to any of the printed cases, so I only attached the softer two for testing. Early tests for the strap are showing that the two softer options are preferred anyway. The favorite so far is the polyester (far left).
The sample straps are just two layers of material sewn together, with the idea that the motor will be sandwiched between the layers. How it will be kept in place is still to be determined - so far the best idea I have is to sew a border around the motor so it can’t escape. Not the prettiest option, but it would work.
User Testing 2
I was able to conduct limited user testing over the past week. It just consisted of showing the case designs to anybody I could and asking for feedback. It can be easily summarized as case 2 looks very promising, but consider that it could get caught on sleeves. Case 3 is very new, so not much feedback has been collected about it but the response is very positive so far. Also, as previously mentioned, the softer strap materials have so far been the preference.
User testing 3 should yield a more in-depth report.
Goals accomplished from last week:
User testing 2
Refined case design, with a battery connection in mind
Next week:
Rework PCB shield
Continue case refinement + address the problems with it
Continue development for the straps
