Clay Model Prototype

After exploring different sketches, I decided to put one design to the test, sketching it out in greater detail and then building a clay model. 

Sketching

My first sketch emphasizes the use of diamond hills and valleys as a way to direct the user for where to put their fingers. I was inspired by football lacing that implicitly teaches users to align their fingers a certain way when throwing a football. I also was partially inspired by Toblerone chocolate bars and their use of "mountains" to separate the different portions of chocolate.  I used diamond designs because they provide more flexibility for users to shift their fingers left-to-right compared to just straight raised bars. 

Clay Model

My first clay prototype used clay beads (left) to represent the joints the gripper would bend against, providing flexibility in the motion of the gripper. I molded a clay layer on top of these beads and from here added raised diamonds (right) to create the hills for better grip. Since I didn't have a bus strap on hand, for prototyping purposes I created a temporary strap out of duct tape and card-stock and molded it to have the flexibility of an actual bus strap.

Feedback

After exploring this design, I realized that the diamond pattern may be a little too rough on the users hands, no matter how much I attempted to smooth the corners of the diamonds. I also wanted to play a little more with the thickness of the initial top layer, but with the current clay-only model, I was struggling to maintain structural integrity. I needed to examine other materials which could provide structure but still maintain desired flexibility.