Project Overview:

STEM and music education in not accessible for the underprivileged community. This project aims to design a product that could promote affordable STEM and music education.

Team Members:

Kefan Wu, Enzo Smajlaj, Althea Ivins, Sage Gilbert-Diamond, Ammara Hussain, John Chandler

Objectives:

• Affordable STEM and music education kit

• Easy to assemble for middle schoolers

• Quality instrument with decent tone

• Can be used for long-term music education

Learnings:

• Market and customer research

• Product development and iteration based on customer feedback

• Experimentations with customers

• User-based product design

• Team management

Design Goal & Market Research

Design Goal:

The goal of our guitar education kit is to empower middle and high school students to independently assemble a functional guitar using clear, step-by-step written instructions.

Designed with affordability in mind, the kit enables students to explore fundamental concepts in both engineering and music without financial barriers.

To ensure the product meets the needs and expectations of our target users, we conducted multiple rounds of user testing and feedback collection, using the insights to iteratively improve the kit’s design and usability.

Design Details:

• Letter-coded screws and parts

• 3D-Printed affordable body

• Color-coded solderless wires

• Affordable electronics

• Pre-assembled copper shielding

• Detailed written instructions

Product Development

Experiment 1: Market Research

• Understand customer opinions before developing the physical product

• Approached parents and presented the two posters

• Capture preference between pure music and STEM experience

• Capture interest based on email sign-ups

• 71.4% of 14 parents were interested in the building aspect of the guitar

Experiment 2: Professional Opinion & Market Response

• Afternoon Tunes: Music Education Charity Program

• Presented our idea to the teachers, parents, and kids

• The program lacks the budget to provide standard quality instruments

• Offered our team the opportunity to hold guitar guitar-building seminar

• Parents prefer quality over price

From Concept to MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

Experiment 3: Hands-on Test

• Present the building kit to 7 & and 8-year-olds

• The kids loved the customized guitar

• Assembled the guitar relatively quickly

• Wires are intimidating for younger kids

• Too easy—Boring

• Desired a one-tool assembly process

• Prefer written & Video instructions

Experiment 4: Assemble Test with 8th & 9th graders

• More challenging/interesting task

• Detailed written instructions

• Students enjoyed the assembly and finished in 45 minutes

• Struggled with stringing and adjustments

• Teachers love the idea of promoting STEAM education

• Prefer more complex kits for educational purposes

Experiment 6: Ore-Adjust & Sound Comparison

• Pre-adjusted all the parts before assembly (neck, bridge, pick-ups)

• Assemble and test the tune

• Not super-comfortable to play

• Our guitar stayed in tune after 1 hour of playing

• Sounds good enough for customers to engage