Catapult Design have been absorbed in all things ‘cart’ as our project with Anza Technologies moves on to the next step.

With a little help from our friends we have designed, made and broken a bunch of early prototypes and constructed a set of sturdy detailed prototypes ready for testing on the rugged trails around Marangu. We have had access to some wonderful minds and facilities, from Martin Fisher’s contextual wisdom to San Francisco’s brand new Techshop (and it’s lasers). We’ve also used the famous topography of our wonderful city to test the physics and usability of our designs, from Golden Gate Park to Russian Hill.

Now we are off to the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania to work with our client to determine the potentials of the prototypes, and to discover first hand the contextual realities of our end user, their community, economy, and landscape. Through respectful inquiry we will uncover the local demands related to the mobility of resources, determine how they inform our design, and assess how well the prototypes are satisfying them. We will also be hunting for unexpected considerations,  disguised assumptions and insightful stories, with our ears and eyes hopefully doing more work than our mouths. In preparation for our trip we are collecting appropriate methods of inquiry to uncover this valuable information, and any input and ideas to help us on our way are welcome!

Stay tuned for updates as our trip progresses…We will return in early February to implement our discoveries into the design in preparation for pilot testing.