Yogesh khandelwal 20110239

Abhinav Kumar 20110003

Mumuksh Tayal 20110116
Piyush Dhirwani 20110138
PROJECT BRIEF

To design the tools for the safety of the cricketers while facing the bowling deliveries.

User:

Profession: Professional cricketer (could be playing at District/State/National level)

Age: 18 to 35 years (usually considered as the peak time for a sportsperson)
Sex: Male & Female both

Environment/ Context:

Environment: Safety equipment to be used while on the cricket ground

Context: While practicing/playing cricket, for the safety of the batsman

Design opportunities:

1. Armguard resists movement of wrist and arm while a batter attempts any
preferred shot.
2. When a batter attempts any shot, the armguard dislocates quite often, which is a
very irritating thing.
3. It has a bulky structure (i.e., it is not very compact).
4. Armguard doesn’t have a long life as it undergoes a lot of wear and tear.
5. Armguard is often seen as a sign of weakness/ inferiority by other players as they
have very simple-looking aesthetics.

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 SUPPORTING DOCUMENT

User interviews:

Different ways of interrogating/interviewing people:

1. Circulating google forms in other Whatsapp groups

2. Post questions on quora
3. Taking note of problems readily available on the internet
4. Interviewing our family members/relatives/neighbors
5. Interviewing people from different parks.

Below are the main questions that were included in our questionnaire for the
interview:
Q1. Do you wear an armguard, or would you recommend others to wear one while playing
cricket?
Q2. If not, is there any reason for that?
Q3. Do you think it is comfortable for you or for the players to use an armguard while playing
cricket?
Q4. Do you feel any uneasiness when you try to play cricket while wearing an armguard?
Q5. In your thoughts, what an “ideal armguard” should be?
Q6. Have there been any moments while playing cricket when you felt that the armguard is not
according to you?

We interviewed around 4-5 people whom we could approach easily. But because of the widely
spreading covid pandemic, we were restricted and were forced to work in a confined region.
Therefore, we followed other methods to gather user information, i.e., we conducted general
surveys through google forms, and its results are as shown below:

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We learned that only a few professionals wear an armed guard for their safety through the
survey, and most people did not prefer wearing an armed guard while playing cricket. So even
though the arm guard is meant for the players’ protection and safety, unfortunately, they are
bound to avoid using it.

Task analysis:

Photographs:

1)Discussing ideas about what all topics could be considered (wild guesses or brainstorming).

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2)Discussing and creating questions that have to be put in the survey and interview

3)Interviewing an expert in the field of cricket via online video call meeting.

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 4)Observing the armguard

5)Discussing the feedback and designing opportunities

6)Making project brief after all the gathered information

Study of the Environment:

Armguard is a product that has been designed to protect batsman’s arms from scurrying paced
deliveries. Unfortunately, though, we did observe that not many professional cricketers prefer
wearing it, which raised in us a curiosity to know the reason behind it.

After interviewing people and analyzing the survey outcomes, we learned that the existing
product in the market is not designed ergonomically. As a result, it causes a particular sort of
uneasiness for the players who use it.

Many factors play a role while using armguards, like climate, armguard weight, and some
people don’t prefer to use them in humid and sunny weather. For different reasons:-

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 1. It becomes slippery due to sweat and starts displacing from its original position.
2. It does not absorb the player’s sweat, which further adds to the user’s discomfort.
3. Some people don’t prefer it because it adds weight to the hand, which is not sometimes
user-friendly.

Tools Used:
The tools that are mainly used are:-
1. Sewing machine
2. needle
3. foam piece
4. Thread and elastic,
5. cutter
6. a scale for mapping size
7. amount of clothes.
8. A good quality adhesive.

Human Factors:

Safety: The arm guard’s primary function is to protect the arm of the cricketer while playing
cricket. While designing our product, we would try to develop the solution with no compromises
in safety.

Comfort: When the batter attempts any preferred shot, the arm guard dislocates from its position
and creates hindrance in arm movement, which is a significant discomfort of this product.

Inclusivity: Generally, any user who wants protection at arm position while playing cricket shall
use this product.

Intuitiveness: It is effortless to use this product; it does not require any prior knowledge and skill;
you have to wear it on your arm the same way you wear sandals.

Sum Up:

The pain points are as follows that generally, customer/user face while using armguard:
1). The position isn’t fixed for a time, and it changes typically while running.
2). The sweat makes the armguard slippery.
3). Rigid arm guards generally restrict the movement of the elbow while batting.
4). The long arm guard will create problems while batting.
5). The arm guard doesn't look attractive for users.

We have mainly focussed on the physical ergonomics of the product, which are as
follows:

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1. Regular guards do not provide proper air circulation, which hinders the natural flow of the
arm.
2. Regular arm guards have stiffness in it which reduces freedom of movement.
3. The foam which we use requires many stitches, which distort the arm-fitting thing.
4. Ordinary arm guard does not provide high stretchability.
5. The regular player feels some uneasiness while wearing less elastic arm guards.
6. The sweat is generally stuck inside the arm guards.

Opportunity/feature:
1. Velcro mechanism provides less support, so if one of the velcros tear, then it barely holds at
one place. Because of this issue, cricketers are forced to call another person for a new set of
gear between an ongoing match, which consumes match time and disturbs the flow. So it is one
of the features or opportunities to minimize that disturbance.
2. In order to make the product more feature-packed, companies generally overlook the pricing
of the final product, thus making them way more expensive and unaffordable for a common
person.

Annexure:

Following are the pictures that we gathered during a local ongoing tournament on a nearby
cricket ground. In these pictures, it is quite evident that probably no one has been wearing an
arm guard as most people find them to be uncomfortable while batting.

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