PRJ62204 | COMPILATION & REFLECTION
24/10/2025 - 31/12/2025 (Week 1 - Week 15)
LIST OF CONTENT :
MIB
LINKS
Figjam Board :
G10 Figjam
App Figma : COOLTEEZ Workspace
Group Google Drive : G10 Drive Folder
PROJECT : COOLING THE HEAT, HEALING THE MIND
EMPATHY STAGE
Week 1
We formed groups of 5-7 people with a maximum of 2 from the same specialisation.
*You can click each member to see their personal blogs.*
Group Members :
- Khansa Raudlatus Syahiidah | UI/UX
- Feilycia Joy Kurniawan | UI/UX
- Erin Samantha Fenner | GD
- Brendan Fedya | UI/UX
- Subhana Salim | Entertainment Design
- Edlin Raihana Binti Mohamad Firdaus | Animation Design
Week 2
After reading all the project briefs, we decided on "Cooling the Heat, Healing the Mind". This project is a initiative by the Clean Technology Impact Lab to address the issues of heat stress and focusing on outdoor workers' mental health.
With climate change intensifying global temperatures, working conditions are becoming increasingly unsafe, leading to both physical and psychological heat illnesses. We focused on SDG 3 and SDG 8; decent work and public health, for this specific project.
Below is the client brief for this project.
Week 3
For week 3, our group met with Dr.Praveena, our client. The days leading up to the meeting we spent coming up with a list of questions to ask. I wasn't able to attend the meeting due to a prior engagement but my members managed to attend. The consultation focused on explaining the brief as well as explaining the expectations she had. We also started on our Task 1 this week.
Week 4
We started coming up with ideas of what we could do for this project and mapping out our ideas and research in our Figjam board. Afterwards, we compiled everything into a word document. Then, we created our user profile and specified our inclusion and exclusion criteria.
DEFINE STAGE
Week 5
We moved forward with selecting our specific target audience. Initially, we decided on traffic police and construction workers. However, we encountered a few issues so after consulting with Dr.Wong, we pivoted to outdoor vendors and student who have field studies. However, due to time constraints and schedules, I was not able to conduct any interview. So, instead, I helped to transcribe the interviews that Khansa and Edlin did with the outdoor vendors. These are our interview questions.
Week 6
We had our consultation with Dr.Wong during class where we showed our progress so far that we've done as well as our interview transcriptions. We also started on our slides for the next meeting with Dr.Praveena. This is our submission for Task 1.
IDEATION STAGE
Week 7
In week 7, we continued to finalise our interview transcriptions and we recieved feedback on our work during our online class with Dr.Wong. We also finished our affinity diagrams and our data summary from the interviews.
Week 8
In week 8, we continued to finish our slides and finished our HMWs and our user point-of-views. After, we collected the data and came up with a few ideas for our ideation.
Week 9
In this week, we voted on the three ideas we were going to proceed with for the ideation stage. Out of the five options, we decided to propose something wearable, something consumable and an app based ideation. After, we made a few sketches and put them into our presentation slides as well.
At the same time, we focused on preparing our presentation slides as well doing mock-presentations to check on timing and flow for the actual day.
PROTOTYPE STAGE
Week 10
In Week 10, we presented our second-phase presentation and recieved feedback from Dr.Wong and Dr.Praveena on how we could better focus our ideas for the next phase; prototyping.
We were advised to focus primarily on our wearable ideation; the cooling shirt, and only proceed with the application if there is a need for it. We also took notes on the other groups ideas and how they presented their slides.
Week 11
This week's consultation mainly talked about the changes about our slides that we need to change. Dr. Wong gave us feedback on the slides and how it supposed to be fixed such as: adding student information, client information, mention the design thinking process, highlight the most important "How Might We"s and other minor changes to the presentation slides.
Before making the physical prototype, we bumped into some trouble picking the materials, as we weren't able to find the exact materials we needed. So after discussing with each other, we settled on bamboo mesh fabric as our material. Bamboo mesh is very similar to polyester mesh fabric. The main difference is that bamboo mesh is more lightweight and more cooling which are more beneficial for our project, but the downside is it is less durable comparatively.
Week 12
During class, we showed Dr. Wong our prototyping progress. The actual shirt prototype was still in the process of creation. Additionally, we showed her our progress for our application. She gave us feedback and told us to make some minor tweaks.
After class, we discussed futher regarding our final prototype and what changes we were going to make. Afterwards, we divided the work us between the six of us. Edlin was in-charge of the actual physical shirt prototype while Feilycia and Subhana worked on the mascot and shirt design.
TESTING/FINAL STAGE
Week 13
Brendan and Khansa continued working on improving the application interface while I worked on the advertising poster for our COOLTEEZ. We also started looking for testers for the prototype test.
Week 14
In this week, we focused on finding our testers to test our products. We managed to find four testers; 1 vendor and 3 students. Brendan, Edlin and Khansa did the user testing so Subhana, Feilycia and me transcribed the user testing audio. At the same time, we were working on improving and finalising our slides. This is one of the testers for our shirt that Khansa interviewed.
Week 15
The day before our final client presentation, we had a group meeting where we rehersed our entire presentation flow.
On the actual day, our presentation went smoothly and we received good feedback from the client. We were advised to go for more of a B2B model rather than a B2C model. We were told that this was a feasible idea and we could work with business like CIMB for projects like PPR (Projek Perumahan Rakyat). We recieved compliments on our presentation style and flow as well.
REFLECTION
Experience
This minor project was both challenging and rewarding. Working on a real-world problem with Dr. Praveena from the Clean Technology Impact Lab made the experience feel meaningful and impactful. The project required us to go through the entire design thinking process, from empathy research with outdoor vendors and students with field studies to prototyping a cooling shirt and companion application. The timeline was intense, with weekly deliverables and constant iterations based on feedback from Dr. Wong and our client. Despite the pressure, it was fulfilling to work on something that addresses climate change impacts on outdoor workers' mental and physical health. I particularly enjoyed the collaborative aspects of the project, where each team member contributed their unique skills. Creating the advertising poster and helping transcribe interviews gave me a sense of involvement in different stages of the process. The hands-on nature of developing both a physical prototype and digital solution made the learning experience tangible and memorable.
Observation
I noticed how crucial flexibility and adaptability are in design work. Our initial target audience shifted from traffic police and construction workers to outdoor vendors and students, which taught me that research doesn't always go as planned and that's okay. The material selection process for the prototype also highlighted how theoretical ideas need to be grounded in practical constraints—we couldn't find polyester mesh fabric, so we adapted by choosing bamboo mesh fabric instead, which turned out to have beneficial properties for our cooling concept. I also observed how valuable continuous feedback is throughout the process. The consultations with Dr. Wong and Dr. Praveena at each stage helped us refine our direction and avoid going too far down an unproductive path. The way our team naturally divided tasks based on our strengths, with Edlin handling the physical shirt, Feilycia and Subhana working on design elements, Brendan and Khansa on the application, and me on the advertising poster, showed me how effective teamwork happens when everyone finds their role.
Finding
This project deepened my understanding of design thinking as more than just a linear process—it's iterative, messy, and requires constant refinement. I learned that good design must balance user needs with practical feasibility, as shown when we had to focus primarily on the cooling shirt rather than spreading ourselves too thin across multiple ideas. The experience of working with a real client taught me about managing expectations and communicating progress effectively. I also discovered the importance of thorough research and empathy work—although I couldn't conduct interviews myself due to scheduling conflicts, transcribing others' interviews still gave me valuable insights into our users' pain points and needs. Most importantly, I learned that design for social good requires thinking beyond aesthetics to create solutions that genuinely address SDGs like decent work and public health. Working on this project has made me more confident in my ability to contribute to meaningful design solutions and collaborate effectively in an interdisciplinary team. I feel proud of what we created together and how we navigated challenges along the way.