Zahra Mandviwala
Industrial Design
Raised in Dubai, a melting-pot of varied cultures and a modern design hub, I have an innate ability to adapt to new situations and people in a fast-paced environment. I enjoy working in teams, taking critical feedback and constantly improving my work.
Final year project
Heirloom
Heirloom
As an international student, I know how exhausting homesickness can be while at university. Heirloom is a product system consisting of a kitchen utensil, thermal imaging camera and an app. It allows students to recreate their family recipes, just like mama makes. It encourages the maintenance of family and cultural connections, mitigating those feelings of homesickness. Heirloom brings home to the kitchen.
Heirloom: interchangeable utensil
Heirloom features interchangeable utensil heads, to fully personalise the cooking experience. Whichever utensil your mother uses, you can too. Hence, you can recreate your family recipes exactly how they were meant to be created.
Heirloom: the student and the parent.
As Heirloom has two key users, the student and their family, two colourways are available in the product. This is to differentiate the two users, yet keep them connected across the world.
PATH: travel aid for the visually impaired (group project)
PATH is a travel aid for the visually impaired. It utilises a haptic pad and thermal imaging camera to provide clock-like directional vibrations to navigate the user. It provides safe routes, bus timetables, vacant seat identification and narration of the view outside to enhance the bus journey experience, empowering the user to use public transport independently and confidently.
PATH: travel aid for the visually impaired
Path utilizes an app system, with a physical phone attachment. Its sleek, minimal, and inconspicuous design, comparable to a pop socket, ensures its use without shame, giving its user the necessary aid without being obvious. The haptic pad has in-built actuators, in a compass formation to provide directional vibrations. Feedback is also given when
the bus is approaching, for vacant seat identification, when the stop is approaching and once the bus has arrived.
PATH: travel aid for the visually impaired
Minimal interaction with the app is required, and it has a simple user interface.
The UX of the app features appropriate contrast, adjustable text size and screen reader accessibility.
The navigation system is similar to Google Maps, using audio feedback and providing a familiar interface. Complementing the audio guide, the haptic pad provides tactile feedback. It draws on bus timetable data to give recommended routes. The user is able to choose the route most comfortable to them. A niche issue identified by users was finding an empty seat without the - often unwanted - assistance of other passengers. PATH allows the user to navigate to a vacant seat independently.
Nurture: UX energy project
Nurture is an app that provides a newly single parent with trustworthy, encouraging and insightful information to a newly single parent to provide a support system when taking care of their baby.
Nurture’s features include professional advice for when the parent feels lost as to how to maintain the wellbeing of their child while providing a space to log the baby’s routine to show in bi-weekly midwife visits to spot any anomalies in the upbringing. Alongside this, the app provides tangible goals for the parent to work towards by using energy-efficient methods that allow them to budget for the baby’s expenses. In this app, the baby’s well-being is the primary focus and enables the parent to feel more confident and independent when raising their child.
CO(Zoo)
CO(Zoo) is a smart recycling bin that encourages children to live sustainably. It is connected to the My Footprint App, keeping track of their carbon footprint, and collecting rewards for eventual donations to the WWF charity.
It uses image recognition to teach the child what materials may be recycled and includes a compost bin to further offset their carbon footprint.
Zahra Mandviwala
Final year project
Heirloom
Awards
Our group project, PATH, was shortlisted for the RSA Student Design Awards. Our travel aid for the visually impaired was recognized for its user-centred approach to providing better accessibility for public transport. It encourages confidence and independence for visually impaired passengers while using the bus transport system.
Work Experience
For my placement year, I taught as a Design and Technology teaching assistant and technician at Sevenoaks School, a leading private school in the UK. I taught as a full-time teacher to Years 7 - 11 for five months, including GCSE Technology. I curated lesson plans and teaching resources for all my classes, covering a broad Design & Technology curriculum. I provided appraisal feedback on students directly to parents during parent-teacher meetings.
Alongside this, I also acted as a technician for the school and took part in volunteering services, such as the Sixth-Form Bloodhound Races.
As my placement year was during Covid, I had to demonstrate flexible work practices, teaching remotely from Dubai during the pandemic lockdown from January-March 2021. This then evolved into a hybrid work environment.
My experience at Sevenoaks instilled my passion for design and sharing my knowledge with society. It developed compassion and maturity, encouraging 'outside-the-box' thinking as children can be unpredictable!