Title the post “Brief” and post in “Writing”.

The Brief should have a strong narrative that ties together the Why, How and What of your project through clear, cogent writing. Tell the story of how your idea was born, developed, and manifest.

Create 1 post titled “The Brief” (v1 or v2 or final?) with text that includes the following 2 items, numbered:

1. A 1-2 sentence project description for your transcript. This will serve as the basis of the Project Description that appears in your transcript. This description should not include the name of the project and should be written in the third person. On Thursday you and your teammates will add this under project settings.
   examples:
   Night Light Blankie: A child's sensory blanket that provides comfort and privacy in the high stress environment of the hospital using weight, textures, and light. The blanket transforms into a mini light up fort over a child’s head.
   Cocoon: a shroud that explores human spirituality and the concept of life after death through the use of repetitive religious iconography. Composed of over 300 pieces of laser cut balsa wood lined with space tape, the icons are arranged using a mathematical strange attractor.

2. A 1-2 paragraph brief for your project based on the description below. This text will be edited by the NuVu writing coach. You will have the opportunity to revise this text before the final presentation. The primary purpose of The Brief is to explain, entice, and convince the reader that your project is amazing and important. Imagine your project on display in the Museum of Modern Art. The Brief is hanging on the wall next to your work. In 1-2 paragraphs, a viewer should understand what your project is, why it exists, and how you made it. More importantly, the viewer should be interested and care. You will draw them into your project through a compelling narrative. Your Brief MUST include concise and compelling information about the client you are working with, their condition, and how that relates to your project design. Resist the urge to say "Josh couldn't bowl so we designed a bowling apparatus for him."  Instead, think about how the client and their personality inform the narrative of your design process.
   
   Things to think about:
   • The what is a clear statement of the thesis or problem+solution. Your project description for your transcript (#1 above) can be adapted for this purpose.
   • The why explains how your project changes the world. It is the reason your project exists – what social issue is it engaging, who is your project helping, how does the project change the world, and what important social, intellectual, or technical questions does it raise? The scope of the why can vary widely.
   • The how briefly explains what technical prowess, innovative methods, or cool materials you used in your solution.
   • Think of the reader - it is good to imagine that a college admissions officer AND a potential employer in the field of your design should both be able to understand and be excited by the project based on your writing.

Write in the Third person in an explanatory fashion. Resist using I, WE, OUR, or YOU and focus on describing the work.

Here is an example from Penelope the Pain-O-Monster:

Pediatricians and other doctors find it challenging to collect accurate self reported information from children about their level of pain due to lack of communication skills, fear, anxiety, and discomfort. Traditional 1-10 pain scales do not fully address these issues, often leading to uncomfortable children and inaccurate symptom information. Penelope the Pain-O-Monster is a cute plush toy that uses integrated pressure sensors to allow children to express their source and level of pain through play.

A previous project, The EmoOwl, helped children with autism to express themselves by translating motion into color. Penelope the Pain-O-Monster grew out of the desire to expand children’s health menagerie with a different stuffed animal, one that makes the pain charts patients use to express their pain more interactive and easier for a child to use. Because research has shown that playing with stuffed animals can take children’s mind off pain, an additional “Fun” mode was added to distract from pain and anxiety. The handcrafted stuffed animal uses force sensors in different body parts that light up from blue to red depending on how hard they are pushed to show the child’s pain level. The hope is that, as one of many future healthcare friends, Penelope can help sick children feel safer while providing more useful information to care providers.

Our assignment was to create a simulation of a disease for the user to empathize with the victims. To do this we had to find and research a disease that could be represented mechanically. Parkinson’s proved to have physical symptoms that wished to recreate. We chose to represent the hand tremors and the poor posture. To represent hand tremors, we created a laser cutted hand plate that would mount on the back of one's hand. Atop the hand plate we vertically placed a motor surrounded by laser cutted walls in order to provide stability. A 3.5 centimeter ellipse was then meshed to the gear on the motor. On the far side of the ellipse was a 20 millimeter M6 screw with two M6 nuts holding it in place. The hardware was incorporated to provide additional force exerted on the hand with each rotation of the motor. This created for more realistic hand tremors. To power the motor, we created a wrist module to encase a 9 volt battery. We then soldered a wire connector to the motor leaving a connectable side for the battery. Sturdy fabric strips and velcro were used to secure both the wrist and hand modules. To represent the poor posture that is often associated with parkinson’s, we designed a back brace that forces poor posture. This consisted of creating one large curve and notching four additional pieces horizontally. The back brace also used fabric straps to secure itself to the user's back. Our project produced extremely realistic results. The hand tremors were very natural and made normal tasks exceedingly difficult. One of the best traits of our project is the hand modules ability to shake more vigorously when the user performs a task. When the user grabs an object such as a pencil, the hand module will tighten around the hand creating faster tremors. This is often how hand tremors affect those with Parkinson’s disease. The back brace creates an unbalanced feeling and forces the user to experience bad posture. The two elements create for an overwhelming, slightly scary, and empathizing experience for the user.