AERIE BRUSH
A brush for those with Parkinson's to paint watercolors with greater accuracy.
The goal of this project was to allow for people with Parkinson’s to enjoy finer and more precise control in painting watercolors, by translating larger arm movements into finer motion.
14 Weeks - Product Design Project - Medical/Creative Tool for Former Professional Painters
PARKINSON'S
Parkinson’s causes the entire body to shake, not just specific muscles. It has been described as “fighting my own body for control”. Precise control of hand movements is difficult due not only to shaking, but lacking grip strength.
FEATURES
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DEVELOPMENT
1,2,3
Goals, Process, Prototyping
MORE PRECISE
The goal of this project was to allow for people with Parkinson’s to enjoy finer and more precise control in painting watercolors, by translating larger arm movements into finer motion.
UNDERSTANDING THE TREMORS
A former professional artist with Parkinson’s uses wooden slats to elevate his hands above his painting. This was observed to help stabilize his shaking arm movements while painting.
ANGLING THE BRUSH
By adding an angle to the brush, I found that in usage, the wrist and finger movements required to achieve smooth lines, were partially transferred to arm movements instead
PLATFORMS
In line with what was observed with the professional painter, a raised platform system was made to test the effects. I found that it gave the hand a place to rest and added stability to general brush movements.
PANTOGRAPH
Pantographs work by principles of parallelograms. They can duplicate and downsize a given input by hand. The pantograph proved the effective function of translating hand movements across a distance. However, the size proved to be unwieldy.
DEVELOPING A GRIP
From testing the pantograph, the size had to be reduced. The breakthrough moment came through adding an angled grip to normal paint brushes.
In testing different iterations of grips, brush bases, plus different platforms, the ergonomics had to be considered.
DAMPENING
In the project, there was experimentation with a weighted brush, that functioned similarly to a steadycam system. The results made from MDF and hot glue were unwieldy, and precision was lost. Although the system did dampen the stroke movements, its effective range was very small.
TILT TO PAINT
The final breakthrough was in finding a better method for applying varied brush strokes to the paper. By allowing for the brush mechanism to pivot effortlessly, user input and grip strength could be reduced and the quality of the brush stroke still be maintained.
TESTING
The benefit of adding a platform to the base of the brush, is that the hand is able to rest upon said platform, allowing for the 3 axis of motion when holding a brush, to be reduced to 1 axis. The movement of Aerial mimics the usage of a computer mouse.
WHY PAINT WITH WATERCOLORS?
Source:
Sophie Canadé
(Parkinson’s Art Therapy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital / Registered art therapist and licenced professional counselor.)
REDUCE TREMORS
Art making can lower blood pressure and calm the central nervous system. Acceptance of a tremor can actually soothe the tremor.
COMBAT ISOLATION
An art therapy support group can be beneficial for those living with Parkinson’s as well as for care partners and caregivers.
SELF EXPRESSION
The act of creating benefits you, the artist, and the act of sharing what you’ve created strengthens your relationships with others.
DEEPENED FOCUS
When you are deeply immersed in art making, the focus shifts to creating with deliberate, novel motions, and you are less likely to freeze.
SUSTAINABILITY IN DISASSEMBLY
MAPLE WOOD + BRASS + MINIMAL PLASTIC
Aerie is easily disassembled for reuse or recycling of its different components.
